Katie Taylor: Dublin ‘god’ not feeling the nerves forward of homecoming
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t 36 years outdated and with 22 skilled fights to her title, Katie Taylor lastly has her homecoming struggle in Dublin on Saturday evening.
Ireland has been and not using a large struggle evening since a capturing at a boxing weigh-in in 2016 at Dublin’s Regency Hotel which led to the loss of life of gang member David Byrne.
Promoter Eddie Hearn has allayed security fears and performed down earlier ideas that Matchroom had supplied further safety to the occasion as Taylor steps up in weight to light-welterweight in opposition to undisputed champion Chantelle Cameron.
The 3A Arena in Dublin has lengthy been bought out and Ireland’s capital is presently in rapture to Taylor, who has been a national star lengthy earlier than turning skilled six years in the past.
Katie Taylor returns to Ireland to tackle fellow undisputed champion Chantelle Cameron
/ AP“She’s done her career back to front,” Hearn tells Standard Sport. “You expect to do this on your professional debut — most people have that first fight on home soil, she’s had to wait 22. Katie could have sold this place out on her professional debut, she could have sold this fight out against anybody.
“She’s just like a god here, loved universally by old and young. In fact, she’s the most loved athlete I’ve ever seen, because she’s both so humble and so brave. She’s purely there for the love of the sport and competing.”
She’s identical to a god right here … probably the most liked athlete I’ve ever seen.
Hearn expects the event to exceed Taylor boxing Delfine Persoon at Madison Square Garden in 2019, however insists she wouldn’t be undone by the enormity of the event with such earlier experiences.
“I asked her about nerves and she said, ‘It’s just another fight’,” he says. “She’s unfazed. She’s been to Madison Square Garden and, like that, this will be one of the greatest atmospheres she’s ever experienced.”
The softly-spoken Taylor grew up only a few miles exterior Dublin, and has lengthy earmarked combating in entrance of her adoring public. Her homecoming had initially been deliberate for a similar date as a rematch in opposition to Amanda Serrano earlier than harm pressured the Puerto Rican’s withdrawal.
Cameron then stepped in when Taylor uncharacteristically went on Instagram to name out the Briton to struggle in Serrano’s place.
“It’s amazing bringing big-time boxing back to this nation where it belongs,” says Taylor. “I want the biggest tests and the biggest challenges. I have the chance to make history and nobody is going to take that away from me.”
Cameron could not have the hype round her of Taylor and even a few of her combating friends, however the 32-year-old is undefeated in all 17 of her skilled bouts. Hearn describes Saturday evening and the step up in weight and energy as a “50-50 for Katie”.
“Everyone in boxing knows how good Chantelle Cameron is,” he says. “This is giving someone else a chance to take over this sport, it’s the opportunity to beat the great Katie Taylor.”