Katie Taylor's promoter Eddie Hearn has effectively ruled out the possibility of a homecoming fight at Croke Park, signalling that a proposed 20 May bout against Amanda Serrano would instead happen at the 3Arena in Dublin.
Last December, Taylor confirmed that her team were pushing to have a rematch of the April 2022 fight against Serrano booked for Croke Park, with the stadium's director Peter McKenna stating that dates in the first half of this year had been ringfenced for the potentially historic occasion.
However, speaking on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani, Hearn said the proposed rematch would instead "quite possibly" take place at the 3Arena on 20 May, citing the costs and time constraints of staging the event at Croke Park.
The indoor Dublin venue would only accommodate around 9,000 spectators as opposed to 80,000+ on Jones' road.
"The cost of hire, the cost of everything involved with the event is three times nearly more than staging it at Wembley Stadium," said Hearn. "It's unbelievable. It's so frustrating.
"It's a business. Ultimately, Katie Taylor has her financial demands for this fight. So does Amanda Serrano and we want to make sure we deliver on that.
"But we're so far out on the possibility with the cost of running that show, and we're out of time in terms of delivering that date to the broadcaster so we've got to move."
Serrano's next fight will be against Erika Cruz this Saturday at New York's Madison Square Garden, after which the situation in regards to a Taylor rematch would be clearer, Hearn added.
"So now we'll be in a big arena in Dublin, subject to Serrano winning (against Cruz) and subject to tying up a deal and then hopefully in September we revisit Croke Park. It's frustrating," he said.
"But at the same time, I promised Katie Taylor would be in Ireland for her next fight. It will be the most sensational atmosphere wherever we are but we'll see what happens then."
When asked if the possibility of a Croke Park fight was "dead" for now, Hearn confirmed that was the case.
"Sooner or later you have to make a decision, you have to make a move and the move is we want to go on May 20th.
"That's the date, so unless we go now, it's going to be another moment that we miss a fight for Katie in Ireland."
Hearns further elaborated to Boxing King Media: "If we do it at Croke Park, even with a sellout, with the cost that they want to charge, it’s not possible to give the fighters what they deserve."
He also suggested that the Irish government should have helped to ensure the fight took place at the larger venue.
"When you talk about government help or support, people think you shouldn't be asking for that.
"I'm not having a pop at the Irish government -but if the government are supporting sporting events - which they do - how can you not support an event that will be quite simply one of the greatest events in the history of Irish sport?"
