'I went to Texas for the Katie Taylor v Amanda Serrano fight - and it was even more insane than you'd imagine'
Hawk Tuah Girl and Katie Taylor are not too people you would put together, yet here they were in the same room during a fight week like no other. Mike Tyson and Jake Paul headlined the most bizarre night in living memory for boxing
Texas is renowned worldwide for its cowboy culture and at times last week it certainly felt like being in the Wild West.
The state is so vast and spread out, with a population of over 30 million people, while it is around 10 times the size of Ireland.
Katie Taylor has seen it all and done it all - from two Olympic Games to Wembley Stadium, Madison Square Garden and so many other places. But even the Irish sporting great must have been thinking at times in the build-up to her rematch with Amanda Serrano, 'what the hell was going on?'.
READ MORE:Katie Taylor's net worth more than doubles as Irish superstar discusses what's next
The event, headlined by the awful spectacle of YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul and Mike Tyson, a 58-year-old man who was once known as the baddest man on the planet... a long time ago, smashed all sorts of records.
It was a monumental success on so many levels despite the extremely poor quality of the main event. It was watched by more than 108 million people worldwide, while the 72,300 people in attendance meant the gate of $18,117,072 was the biggest for any boxing or MMA event outside of Las Vegas in US history.
The fight week events kicked off on Tuesday ahead of Friday's bout at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, with the public workouts, press conference and weigh-ins all taking place at the Toyota Music Factory in Irving, a quiet city located some 27 kilometres away from the home of the Dallas Cowboys.
The workouts felt like being at a rap concert as tune after tune blared out in the sparsely populated venue. I would almost go as far as to say I enjoyed Tupac's music before last week, but I can safely say now that I am allergic to the former hip hop star.
Then amidst the rap fest, Taylor walked out to a hit by The Script before a couple of songs referencing God played during her workout. It was quite the difference to what had come before. The event ended shortly after Jake Paul arrived out for his workout with an artificial rooster attached to his head. Cuckoo indeed!
On the drive back to the hotel the taxi driver asked me where I was from and looked at me like I had just said Mars when I told him Ireland. "Is that in Europe," he asked. He had never heard of it.
Unsurprisingly, many of the other Americans I interacted with mentioned Conor McGregor when they heard Ireland. It begs the question: Is he now our most famous person? I'm sure Bono would hate to think so.
The locals were incredibly friendly, although the place was unbelievably quiet away from the media events. On a morning walk, I barely met another person before coming across a massive Mahatma Gandhi Memorial surrounded by a large flock of geese. I later discovered that the area has one of the largest Indian American populations in the United States.
It was impossible that the final press conference would pass without something happening and who better than Paddy Power to stage a stunt during such an occasion.
Tony Bellew appeared with a mic and began shouting abuse at Jake Paul, offering him a fight with a pensioner. It didn't last long and the former world cruiserweight champion was led away from the event by security, instructing them not to put their hands on him and later claiming that one of them waited until they got to a policeman with a gun before pushing him. Only in America!
Dallas has a population of more than twice that of Dublin, but there didn't seem to be much happening when I visited. There were plenty of impressive buildings and amazing architecture, if that's your thing.
When leaving the city, my taxi drove down an eerily quiet street where Katie Taylor, her coach Ross Enamait and manager Brian Peters were among the only people I saw. It was just a few hours before the public weigh-ins and was some contrast seeing them walking themselves with nobody bothering them to the massive fanfare in Dublin ahead of the two Chantelle Cameron fights.
The weigh-in was attended by the who's who of the boxing world, with a number of seats assigned to whoever Netflix had brought to the event. I soon realised I was sitting beside such seats - one of which was occupied by Hailey Welch, better known as 'Hawk Tuah Girl'.
A girl who became world-famous (over 2.7million Instagram followers) for a crude sexual comment in an on-street interview and Taylor are two people you would never put together but here they were in the same room. Once again, only in America! Disappointingly enough from an Irish perspective though, Hailey was cheering for Serrano.
The press conference ended with Mike Tyson slapping Jake Paul after the 27-year-old stood on his toe. It was the best shot Tyson landed all week!
Despite the brutal main event, the show was thoroughly enjoyable up until then inside an amazing stadium. Taylor produced another stunning performance to secure her place as the world's pound-for-pound number one and there was plenty of good action on the undercard, including Mario Barrios v Abel Ramos, which ended in a split draw.
The Taylor fight threw up a bit of everything, with Serrano's team furious afterwards, the massively American crowd booing the result and Eddie Hearn clashing with MVP's Nakisa Bidarian before being told he wasn't allowed on stage at the press conference. Brian Peters intervened and that was that.
It remains to be seen what is next for Katie Taylor, but it will take an awful lot to live up to the crazy events in Texas.
Over to you Croke Park...
Get the latest sports headlines straight to your inbox by signing up for free email alerts.
Related
Share this page
Guest Posts by Easy Branches
