Promoter Eddie Hearn described Katie Taylor’s upcoming Croke Park undisputed super-lightweight title bout against undefeated French fighter Flora Pili on September 5 as the biggest night of his career, while RTÉ confirmed live, free-to-air coverage for the sold-out stadium event.
Eddie Hearn on the Croke Park Extravaganza and Years of Negotiations
When Eddie Hearn stepped to the microphone to confirm what Irish sport had been waiting years to hear – that Katie Taylor will fight in Dublin’s Croke Park on Saturday, September 5th – the weight of the announcement was felt far beyond the walls of the GAA headquarters. This was the closing of a circle that had been open for the better part of a decade. Taylor had campaigned for a Croke Park fight since her first victory over Amanda Serrano in April 2022, with negotiations between Matchroom and Croke Park reaching several impasses over four years. There were moments when it looked like it would never happen. Earlier this year, she made her position clear: when asked whether she would consider the Aviva Stadium if Croke Park fell through, her response was unequivocal: No, it’s nothing but Croke Park for me.
EDDIE Hearn took some convincing before he agreed to sign Katie Taylor as a professional and the purse for her debut was a relatively paltry £6,000. In footage recently released on her Instagram account, Katie Taylor announced that she would have fought in Croke Park for free, saying, ‘Look at the life that boxing has given me, and look at the memories it has given me. I just wanted to elevate the sport and pursue my passion, and this is what I love to do.’ Her long-standing manager, Brian Peters, who has been central to the years of negotiations that finally brought this moment to fruition, did not hide his emotion at the press conference, wiping tears from his eyes. This is a fitting, final chapter to what has been one of sport’s great fairytales … she’s reigned as a World Champion for 20 years, and it’s been the most remarkable journey. Tens of thousands of fans rushed to secure their seats as soon as the fight was announced, with the historic event selling out in a matter of minutes.
Undefeated Challenger Flora Pili Steps into the Spotlight
FLORA Pili is viewed by some as little more than a sacrificial lamb but the unbeaten French fighter insists she has come to spoil Katie Taylor’s party at Croke Park on Saturday night. The unbeaten IBO champion has an opportunity to shock the world when she tangles with Taylor in front of 80,000 in Dublin and her manager Christian Cherchi insists she can take it. Pili (12-0) is taller than Taylor, she looked strong and fit with red, white and blue braids in her hair and says the whole of France will be, if not with her in Croke Park, at least behind her on Saturday night.
EDDIE HEARN | Katie Taylor in Croke Park SOLD OUT! | An Irish hero's swan song
“If you look at the CV of the fighters then Katie is the best of all-time,” said Cherchi at Tuesday’s press conference at the Helix in DCU. “Pili has come from nowhere but she’s younger, she’s hungry and this is the opportunity of her life-time. Katie has had a lot of wars, a lot of battles, she is 40… I’m sure she will come super-prepared but in boxing you never know. No fight is won before the bell. We saw a few weeks ago with Amanda Serrano that she was supposed to win easy and she had a very tough fight. In boxing you never know and Flora has prepared very well for this fight.”
The fight will be refereed by experienced and ever-impartial Belfast official David Irving and the judges at ringside will be Robin Taylor and Efrain Lebron (USA) and Germany’s Diana Dres-Milani. Honestly I don’t know how the officials will react on the night, said Cherchi. Because they will have a lot of pressure on them or maybe not pressure but the atmosphere can play a part. I don’t think Flora will knock Katie out but she can win on points. I think she has a chance.
I’m very proud to be here and I want to thank my team who have stood by me over three months in camp preparing for this big fight, Pili said. “We’re all aware of the task ahead of us and we’ve got the whole of France behind us so I’ll be very proud to take on Katie. I have nothing to lose and everything to win. I am the underdog for the fight so there’s less pressure on me and I’m going to be giving it everything I have from round one to the end. I’ll give everything I can and hopefully I’ll take away all the belts.”
Broadcast Details and Historical Parallels at Croke Park
RTE has announced it has secured the rights to broadcast the upcoming Katie Taylor fight in Croke Park on September 5, live and free-to-air on RTE2, RTE Player, and 2FM. The bout will take place in Croke Park before a packed stadium of 80,000 fans and is being seen as a landmark moment in Irish sporting history. The fight is expected to be the final chapter in Katie Taylor’s illustrious career. She will defend her WBO, WBA, IBF and Ring Magazine titles while competing for the vacant WBC Super Lightweight Championship against the undefeated French boxer Flora Pili.
"FLOODS OF TEARS!" | Eddie Hearn on Katie Taylor’s Croke Park Farewell vs Flora Pili
Declan McBennett, RTÉ’s Head of Sport, said RTÉ is delighted to broadcast the event, highlighting Taylor’s status as one of Ireland’s greatest sporting icons and the significance of her potentially final fight taking place in Croke Park before a national audience. The career numbers are staggering. Olympic gold, five World Championship golds, 12 continental golds as an amateur, followed by a decade-long reign as a professional. The venue’s significance is something straight off the silver screen. The last time Croke Park hosted a prize fight was 1972, when Muhammad Ali defeated Al ‘Blue’ Lewis. More than 50 years on, Taylor will become the first boxer to headline a fight at the 82,300-capacity stadium since “The Greatest” himself. The symmetry is almost poetic, greatness returning to the place where greatness once stood. It was Taylor herself who reminded everyone Ali was the last to fight in Croke Park, and coincidentally, September 5th will mark the 66th anniversary of Ali’s Olympic gold in Rome.
