Eddie Hearn meets Conor McGregor as Taylor v Serrano Croke Park dream fades into the distance

Speaking to RTE Television in Dublin Airport prior to flying back to the UK, Hearn all but confirmed that the Taylor v Serrano fight on May 20th will be staged in the indoor 3Arena.

“It is realistic for us that May 20 will be in the 3Arena. But I think a stadium fight will follow suit and all of Katie’s fights will now be against undisputed champions and hopefully she can actually finish her career - whenever that may be – in Ireland.”

Hearn confirmed that he had spoken with McGregor. Earlier he tweeted a picture of them together in the Black Forge Inn which the MMA star owns.

“There are a couple of phases to this, the number one and the most important thing is to bring Katie Taylor to Ireland. Number two is to try and get her to fight in Croke Park.

“We talked about numbers, we talk about the cost, we talked about the time frame, TV dates. We talked about obviously the value of fighting at the 3Arena. He (McGregor) has fought there himself. He said the atmosphere there is unbelievable.

“We want to work together to see how we can make it happen in a big stadium as well. I don’t see the need to go anywhere else.

“For many years we talked about this and last year we were so close. I am not prepared to let it slip again. She must fight in Ireland on May 20,” said Hearn.

Pointedly Matchroom did not respond positively to requests for Hearn to speak to newspaper journalists.

There is still a gap of at least €750,000 between what Croke Park want in order to stage the fight and what Matchroom are willing to pay and the involvement of Conor McGregor in any future promotion could turn into a public relations disaster for the company.

The most probable scenario is that the 3Arena will host the May 20 fight and depending on the demand for tickets and the overall reaction of the Irish public to the promotion, Matchroom may look again at a Croke Park option.