MatchroomE boss Eddie Hearn has accused GAA chiefs of ''taking the piss'' in the pricing of negotiations for a Katie Taylor homecoming fight in Croke Park.
Taylor will take on unbeaten world light-welterweight champion Chantelle Cameron in the 3Arena on May 20, but the original plan was for an eagerly awaited rematch with Amando Serrano in Croker.
At a press conference in Dublin yesterday, it was put to Hearn that Matchroom pulled out of negotiations with the GAA because of fears that Croker wasn't selling out.
He denied that emphatically, instead putting the boot into GAA chiefs.
"When you are going to negotiate with someone and the cost is three times more than Wembley Stadium, to be honest, I think it takes the absolute piss,'' said Hearn.
"We have done national stadiums, we've done 90,000, 80,000 numbers so three times the cost of running a show there left a little bit of a bad taste.
"But that's our problem not Katie's problem, she wanted to fight in Croke Park and we'll work to make that happen."
Matchroom made a profit of nearly e15m last year, but Hearn dismissed suggestions that he was looking for too big a slice of the Croker pie.
"The business is successful because it makes the right commercial decisions. You don't go into a show of that magnitude to lose a lot of money,'' he said.
"Just like Katie Taylor will make sure she gets the right deal when she fights, it's the same for Matchroom or any business.
"I wouldn't say to Katie Taylor the numbers don't work out so you have to take a pay cut to make this fight happens, business doesn't work like that.''
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