- Eddie Hearn confirms talks between Matchroom and Croke Park officials are 'very, very positive' — pitch availability remains the only real blocker
- Late August or early September is the target window once the All-Ireland football and hurling finals clear the GAA calendar
- Aviva Stadium and 3Arena remain in reserve, but Taylor's camp has made clear that Croke Park is the only ending they actually want
The Perfect Ending Almost Never Happens
Right then. Katie Taylor at Croke Park as her last walk to the ring is the kind of sporting story that you don't get to write very often. Sport almost never gives you the ending you actually want. The good news this week is that Eddie Hearn has gone on record saying the talks with Croke Park are "very, very positive" and the only blocker now is the GAA fixture calendar.
Let's not beat around the bush. Croke Park is the right venue. It's the venue the country actually wants. The Aviva would do, the 3Arena would do, but neither of those is the ending. The ending is the 82,000-seater with the All-Ireland history baked into the walls.
The GAA Calendar Is The Job
The blocker is the pitch. Croke Park hosts the All-Ireland football final in late July and the All-Ireland hurling final around the same window. The pitch needs time to recover and the stadium needs concert and event slots in the August-September window. Matchroom and Croke Park are talking about a late August or early September Saturday once those finals clear and the surface is properly back.
That is a tight window but a workable one. Taylor is 39, fully fit, and not waiting around past the autumn. She has said the next fight is the last fight. She has said Dublin or nothing. She has said Croke Park is top of the list.
Who She Walks To The Ring With
This is the question nobody has cleanly answered yet. Amanda Serrano is the obvious name but the Puerto Rican has been clear she is moving on from the trilogy. Chantelle Cameron sold out the 3Arena twice and is the cleanest active opponent. Sandy Ryan would be the home country story.
Cameron is the right fight. Two losses to Cameron is the only black mark on Taylor's record and she would not want her last walk to be against an opponent the casual fan dismisses. Cameron drags the legend back to her edge. The crowd gets a real fight. The story closes properly.
What Croke Park Adds That The Aviva Doesn't
Scale. The Aviva is 50,000. Croke Park is 82,000. That is 32,000 more Irish boxing fans who would otherwise be at home for the biggest sporting moment in Irish women's history. And on top of the gate, the Croke Park brand does something to the night that the Aviva does not — it places Taylor next to the GAA pantheon the country grew up on.
The Pick
Croke Park lands. Late August or first weekend of September. Taylor against Chantelle Cameron for the third time. The whole island stops. She wins on the cards in front of 70,000 plus, retires in the ring at full time, and walks off the canvas she more or less built.
That is the ending boxing owes her. If you know, you know — it does not get any bigger than that night.