KATIE TAYLOR’S CROKE PARK swansong will not be a ‘typical’ boxing card.
Details will be drip-fed over the coming weeks and months – and perhaps this weekend as Taylor embarks on a four-day nationwide promotional tour before returning to her home in Connecticut to begin training camp – but Friday’s press conference in the Hogan Suite teased something beyond the ordinary.
“It will be an event, more than a boxing card,” promised manager Brian Peters.
“A night of history for Irish sport and Irish culture,” opined perma-grinning promoter Eddie Hearn.
What this looks like exactly remains unclear, but there will be a musical element.
The Katie Taylor Bus ahead of her nationwide promotional tour.
Rumours of Ed Sheeran circulated in the Irish press last month, no doubt stirred by the savvy Peters. Taylor herself is more of a Bruce Springsteen fan, but stayed tight-lipped on Sheeran.
“I haven’t heard,” laughed the Bray light-welterweight, who, for perhaps the first time, seemed to be enjoying media duties.
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“I know there’s rumours of Westlife, but I don’t know if that’s the reality either. I have no idea about the entertainment side of the show. But it’s going to be an amazing event. An event that people are going to be talking about 10 years from now, I hope.”
Peters, voice cracking repeatedly as he returned to a press conference top table for the first time since the ‘Bernard Dunne Days’, was back making jokes and ribbing journalists afterwards.
— Matchroom Boxing (@MatchroomBoxing) June 5, 2026
“It is just going to be an event, and a very, very special night. I don’t know what you will compare it to – some of you guys are too young to remember the Pope coming to Ireland!
“We are going to have a couple of stages, there will be entertainment. We are not sure yet, I know there are all kinds of rumours going around,” he added with a wink.
This ‘event’, this ‘celebration’, though, remains a legitimate sporting endeavour with an appropriate boxing headline act. However, Taylor’s attempt to become an undisputed world champion for a third time against the little-known, albeit legitimate, challenge of France’s Flora Pili is not as juicy as a fight with one of the bigger names in the sport, for example, a trilogy with Chantelle Cameron – or indeed outside the sport, with mixed martial artists Ronda Rousey and Holly Holm having been rumoured.
“I know the opponent is not what some would have wanted,” Peters admits. “But it is not really about the opponent. [Taylor] has fought everyone and anyone and we did approach some big-name fighters and they were just pricing themselves a little bit silly.”
Gary Carr / INPHO
Gary Carr / INPHO / INPHO
In professional boxing, it always does come back to money.
Through extended negotiations with Croke Park (“Everybody just tightened their belts to make it happen,” notes Hearn, who expects less of a profit on this show than an equivalent), as well as bringing on board Irish events behemoth Peter Aiken and a title sponsor in Lidl, the event/celebration/fight four years in the making has finally been made.
While the full range of ticket prices have yet to be revealed, it was confirmed that they will start at €38.70 – far cheaper than the average major boxing event – and that family packages seated in an alcohol-free area of the stadium will also be available, along with an early (for boxing) main event start time of approximately 9:00-9:30pm.
“I obviously want it to be a family event, an affordable show, I hope to see that stadium packed,” said Taylor before quickly clarifying that “I have nothing to do with that aspect of the show, by the way!”
Hearn was keen to focus on this aspect of the financials, pledging that “it will not be an expensive ticket.”
“Of course, you’ll have ringside and all that kind of stuff but that was so important – not just to me and to Peter [McKenna, Croke Park Stadium & Commercial Director] – but to Katie as well because that, for me, is what will make this a special occasion, making sure that all kinds of different people are able to come to this event.
“The people who will be coming to this event are not just fight fans. We want to see families here – we want to see young girls here, we want to see young boys and amateur boxers here. That will be reflected in the price point, which will be announced in the coming days.
“Everyone will be very happy with the pricing, we will have family tickets available and that’s important as well.
“We want to deliver something that people will remember forever on September 5th.”
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'More than a boxing card': Katie Taylor intrigued by rumours of big-name music act
KATIE TAYLOR’S CROKE PARK swansong will not be a ‘typical’ boxing card.
Details will be drip-fed over the coming weeks and months – and perhaps this weekend as Taylor embarks on a four-day nationwide promotional tour before returning to her home in Connecticut to begin training camp – but Friday’s press conference in the Hogan Suite teased something beyond the ordinary.
“It will be an event, more than a boxing card,” promised manager Brian Peters.
“A night of history for Irish sport and Irish culture,” opined perma-grinning promoter Eddie Hearn.
What this looks like exactly remains unclear, but there will be a musical element.
Rumours of Ed Sheeran circulated in the Irish press last month, no doubt stirred by the savvy Peters. Taylor herself is more of a Bruce Springsteen fan, but stayed tight-lipped on Sheeran.
“I haven’t heard,” laughed the Bray light-welterweight, who, for perhaps the first time, seemed to be enjoying media duties.
“I know there’s rumours of Westlife, but I don’t know if that’s the reality either. I have no idea about the entertainment side of the show. But it’s going to be an amazing event. An event that people are going to be talking about 10 years from now, I hope.”
Peters, voice cracking repeatedly as he returned to a press conference top table for the first time since the ‘Bernard Dunne Days’, was back making jokes and ribbing journalists afterwards.
“It is just going to be an event, and a very, very special night. I don’t know what you will compare it to – some of you guys are too young to remember the Pope coming to Ireland!
“We are going to have a couple of stages, there will be entertainment. We are not sure yet, I know there are all kinds of rumours going around,” he added with a wink.
This ‘event’, this ‘celebration’, though, remains a legitimate sporting endeavour with an appropriate boxing headline act. However, Taylor’s attempt to become an undisputed world champion for a third time against the little-known, albeit legitimate, challenge of France’s Flora Pili is not as juicy as a fight with one of the bigger names in the sport, for example, a trilogy with Chantelle Cameron – or indeed outside the sport, with mixed martial artists Ronda Rousey and Holly Holm having been rumoured.
“I know the opponent is not what some would have wanted,” Peters admits. “But it is not really about the opponent. [Taylor] has fought everyone and anyone and we did approach some big-name fighters and they were just pricing themselves a little bit silly.”
In professional boxing, it always does come back to money.
Through extended negotiations with Croke Park (“Everybody just tightened their belts to make it happen,” notes Hearn, who expects less of a profit on this show than an equivalent), as well as bringing on board Irish events behemoth Peter Aiken and a title sponsor in Lidl, the event/celebration/fight four years in the making has finally been made.
While the full range of ticket prices have yet to be revealed, it was confirmed that they will start at €38.70 – far cheaper than the average major boxing event – and that family packages seated in an alcohol-free area of the stadium will also be available, along with an early (for boxing) main event start time of approximately 9:00-9:30pm.
“I obviously want it to be a family event, an affordable show, I hope to see that stadium packed,” said Taylor before quickly clarifying that “I have nothing to do with that aspect of the show, by the way!”
Hearn was keen to focus on this aspect of the financials, pledging that “it will not be an expensive ticket.”
“Of course, you’ll have ringside and all that kind of stuff but that was so important – not just to me and to Peter [McKenna, Croke Park Stadium & Commercial Director] – but to Katie as well because that, for me, is what will make this a special occasion, making sure that all kinds of different people are able to come to this event.
“The people who will be coming to this event are not just fight fans. We want to see families here – we want to see young girls here, we want to see young boys and amateur boxers here. That will be reflected in the price point, which will be announced in the coming days.
“Everyone will be very happy with the pricing, we will have family tickets available and that’s important as well.
“We want to deliver something that people will remember forever on September 5th.”
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Boxing Croke Park Katie Taylor