Katie Taylor’s homecoming fight against Chantelle Cameron in Dublin on Saturday will take place amid an unprecedented security operation, i understands.
A briefing sent to officials spoke of a “real threat” which needs to be managed ahead of the first major fight in the Republic of Ireland in seven years. Ex-military personnel are being used and additional minders will be in place for promoters Eddie Hearn and the fighters themselves.
It is the first major professional fight being held in the Republic of Ireland since the Regency Hotel shooting in February 2016, when a weigh-in was targeted in an armed attack. Police believed the intended target was boxing promoter and advisor Daniel Kinahan, who has since been sanctioned by the US government as the alleged head of the Kinahan Organised Crime Group, recognised in the Irish courts as a major international drugs cartel.
The one fatality at the Regency was David Byrne, a Kinahan associate. Since 2014, the Kinahan group has been involved in a bloody feud with the rival Hutch gang which has left 18 people dead. Just last month, head of the family Gerry Hutch was found not guilty of murdering Byrne.
That acquittal has heightened tensions once again, though it is worth noting that the Kinahan family are no longer in Dublin and are believed to be in the Middle East.
Hutch, popularly known as “The Monk”, enjoys something of a cult following – i has been shown a number of social media accounts promoting his defence while his trial was ongoing. And Saturday’s card is being monitored particularly closely because a number of former Kinahan associates are involved. Matchroom did not respond to a request for comment.
Cameron, Taylor’s opponent, was previously signed to MTK Global, the now defunct promotional company co-founded by Kinahan, as were JJ Metcalf and Gary Cully, who fight on the undercard.
Earlier this week I asked Cully about his previous history with MTK, to which he responded: “This week I don’t feel any way about it, this week’s about Katie’s homecoming for me. It’s a special night for Irish boxing. I’m in fight mode and focused and ready for Saturday night.
“I can answer questions about that Monday morning, then you can ask me any questions about that. But this week I’m focused and I want to celebrate Katie’s career. I’d be prepared to answer those questions next week but this week is about Katie and I don’t think we should overshadow that.”
Jamie Moore, Cameron’s trainer, is also a former MTK trainer and was shot at Kinahan’s Marbella villa in 2014 in a case of mistaken identity. Moore was also asked at a press conference last month if he regretted his past support for Kinahan. He refused to answer, saying: “We’re not here to talk about that, we’re here to talk about the fight.”
Katie Taylor has no links whatsoever to Kinahan or any of his companies.
On the contrary it is believed Kinahan’s influence on the sport is the main reason she has never fought professionally in Ireland before.
There is no suggestion that Kinahan has any links to Saturday’s fight, though i has been told he is “still involved in boxing 100 per cent” despite ostensibly stepping away from his involvement in the sport.
Among the fighters he worked with in the past was Tyson Fury, the WBC heavyweight champion of the world. Fury famously referred to him in a video on social media in which he said made a “big shout out to Dan” for helping to arrange a fight with Anthony Joshua, which eventually fell through. When pressed on his association with Kinahan in 2022 after the US sanctions Fury said in an interview that Kinahan’s business was “nowt to do with me”.
Behind the scenes there remains some frustration that what should be a historic night for Taylor, who can become a two-weight world champion, is still being mentioned in the same breath as the issues that have hovered over Irish boxing in the seven years since the Regency.
Irish journalist Nicola Tallant has been at the forefront of reporting on the Kinahan cartel and has frequently discussed them on her podcast, Crime World. As she puts it, “Katie Taylor is loved and it’s taken her so long to come home that people are trying to ignore the elephant in the room beside her.”
A number of major hotels in Dublin have previously refused to host boxing events in the wake of the events at the Regency. It had originally been hoped that Taylor’s homecoming could be staged at 82,300-capacity Croke Park, but Matchroom could not come to an agreement with the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) over the use of its headquarters due to security costs.
It has been suggested to i that there is an ongoing reluctance to hold boxing in Dublin because of previous violence – aside from the Regency, other shootings having taken place outside the National Stadium and at Bray Boxing Club. Taylor’s father Peter was badly injured in the latter.
All events in the build-up are being carefully managed, with the location of the first press conference only confirmed at very short notice. Fight week officially began on Wednesday with an open workout, held in Dundrum around half an hour outside of Dublin City.
Gardai (the Irish police force) declined to comment.
