PETE TAYLOR has praised Conor McGregor for his efforts to facilitate a fight in Croke Park for his daughter.
Fresh uncertainty abounds over the who, when and where for Katie’s next bout after Amanda Serrano pulled out of their May 20 match-up due to an injury suffered in training.
Sharing an embrace prior to Katie’s bout against Elizabeth Carabajal in October where Pete’s fighter Gary Cully was on the undercard
Paul SharpConor McGregor outside one of his three pubs – The Black Forge[/caption]
Speaking to The Irish Mirror, her dad told of how even he was in the dark over the possibility of Katie fighting on that date.
He explained: “I don’t know if she has postponed it or if it is just a different opponent.
“It may mean that Serrano has postponed to fight at Croke Park, but there is still going to be a fight on May 20, maybe.”
Pete also said that Katie is not injured, and although he doesn’t know the deals that Eddie Hearn is making, he would assume “they will probably get a different opponent because you have the booking dates for the 3Arena and no doubt you have to pay a deposit.”
Katie’s long-awaited homecoming fight had already earned saga status before this latest curveball.
The breakdown in talks between Matchroom Promotions and Croke Park officials made front pages across national newspapers and even strayed into becoming a topic of heated debate on Liveline.
TWITTER OUT OF THE BLUE
Among the most surprising developments in the efforts to save the dream of the Olympic champ filling out GAA headquarters this spring was the intervention via Twitter of Conor McGregor into the discourse around it.
Out of the blue he suggested that he could cover the reported €500k stumbling block over security fees between Matchroom and GAA top brass.
Things got as far as Hearn flying to Dublin to meet with The Notorious in his Crumlin pub but nothing materialised from there.
However, Pete certainly seems to have appreciated the effort on McGregor’s part to try and make Katie’s home debut as a pro happen in a venue befitting her status and accomplishments.
He said: “It’s great for Conor as well. It’s great for everybody.
“It’s great to see one combat sports person looking after the other. Only positive things can come out of it.”