10 February 2023 , 15:57
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Jake Paul is not confident Conor McGregor is being serious in his efforts to secure Katie Taylor a fight at Croke Park.
Taylor, 36, was expected to defend her undisputed women's lightweight titles in a rematch against Amanda Serrano at the stadium on May 20 her win against the Puerto Rican in their epic fight last April. The commercial director of Croke Park, Peter McKenna, poured cold water on the idea when he revealed a six-figure rental cost was put on the stadium, moving the fight to the 3Arena in Dublin instead.
Former two-weight UFC champion McGregor kept hopes of the fight happening at Croke Park alive when he revealed his plans to cover the huge rental cost of the venue. YouTuber-turned-boxer Paul, who has been calling for a fight against McGregor for the past year, thinks the UFC star may have been "drunk" when he posted the ambitious tweet.
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“I think it's great but behind the scenes I don't know if there's been any progress with him actually doing that," Paul told the Daily Mail. "I think it's awesome that he would want to do that, and it only makes the fight bigger if he gets involved on Katie Taylor's side, rooting for her. I think it might have just been a drunken tweet of his that he likes to do, but hopefully he was being serious."
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Matchroom Boxing boss Eddie Hearn, who promotes Taylor, said he plans to fly to Ireland next week to hold talks with McGregor over Taylor's homecoming fight. Hearn hasn't lost hope on a potential Croke Park fight for Taylor just yet, but thinks the rental cost could be even more than the €500,000 McGregor offered to cover.
Conor McGregor is a big fan of Katie Taylor (Sportsfile via Getty Images)"I spoke to him a few times and I will be flying out to see him on Monday. Our date is May 20 which is immovable because it's built around the DAZN schedule. We have been communicating on Twitter messages. I noticed he followed me on Twitter and I saw his tweet that he wants to make it happen. He loves Katie Taylor and he would love to help get it at Croke Park.
"I haven't given up but there is probably a €600/700,000 deficit of where we need to be. Maybe he can fill that. But it's not a publicity stunt, I think he feels like it would be cool to be a part of that."