Do you want the good news or the bad news first?
Presuming you’re Irish and therefore love absolutely nothing more than a bit of bad news, we’re going to guess that you selected the latter.
Well the bad news is that the St. Patrick’s Day boxing bonanza in New York City has been dealt a hammer blow as Katie Taylor will no longer compete on the undercard of Gennady Golovkin vs. Danny Jacobs on March 18.
In a battle of promoters, it would seem that Michael Conlan’s Top Rank were not happy that Taylor’s scheduled presence on the Saturday night card would take away from the Friday evening event, which is to be headlined by Conlan’s professional debut.
"They threw their toys out” https://t.co/pU10xE4Hvq
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) January 25, 2017
But, and this is the good news, New York’s loss is set to be the gain for either London or Washington as Taylor’s promoter Eddie Hearn has moved quickly to get his fighter a replacement bout.
Having already compiled a professional record of 2-0 since ditching the amateur scene after Rio 2016, Taylor is trying get as much ring-work in as possible and now that her March is wide open, she wants a fight.
And, luckily for her, she’s got a promoter behind her who loves nothing more than striking while the iron’s hot.
Hearn is eager to take full advantage of the understandable buzz around the Bray boxer and has already entered discussions to get Taylor a bout on the undercard of the heavyweight grudge match between David Haye and Tony Bellew at the O2 Arena in March.
“We’re going to make our own plans,” Hearn told RTÉ 2fm’s Game On.
“We’re either going to box on the Haye-Bellew card at the O2 on 4 March, or we’re going to box on 11 March in Washington, so we’re fine.”
One would have imagined that Madison Square Garden would have been bouncing at the sight of Taylor, one of Ireland’s most decorated boxers, given the huge Irish community in New York City.
But Hearn, as disappointed as he is that Taylor was forced off the March 18 card, knows that there are bigger fights down the road for the 30-year-old.
“Obviously Katie is a huge name and there was too much concern to let her spoil the party on the Friday night show,” he added.
“We had a number of meetings with US broadcasters last week and there’s many US broadcasters that are looking to have Katie Taylor on their show so I’m not too downbeat about it
“It would have been nice and I’m sure it will happen in the future, but it’s the world of boxing and there’s a bump in the road.”
