“I think I earned the shot” – Heather Hardy makes pitch for Katie Taylor fight

Katie Taylor wants a fight on August 22, and a leading contender have vaulted her arm up.

Talk is rife of Katie Taylor's next bout being as part of 'Fight Camp' at Matchroom's headquarters in Brentwood, England, later this summer. Amanda Serrano is top of Taylor's list but Heather Hardy wants in. Over the weekend, Taylor took the unusual step of going online and declaring 'no more excuses' to multi-division world champion Serrano. Taylor posted:

'We both signed contracts, all financial barriers have been removed and any training/travel issues are the same for both of us as I'm also training in the US. No more excuses, this is a fight to elevate the sport. August 22 is our time to make history. You in?'

Those comments sparked a long-running back-and-forth between the various factions and promoters but no real progress was made. Since then, Cantelle Cameron and Delfine Persoon have tossed their names in the hat to fight Taylor. Serrano defeated Hardy last September to tee up a bout with Taylor but contract wrangling and the Covid-19 pandemic have led to lengthy delays. Taylor wants an opponent for August so she can head into training camp. With the Serrano deal not sorted, Hardy has let Eddie Hearn know she is up for a fight. https://twitter.com/HeatherHardyBox/status/1278031103194996737 Hardy is a former WBO champion and has a 22-2 record, as well as a high profile due to her four-fight stint with MMA promotion Bellator. She has an Irish grandmother and says she considers herself an Irish-American who would love to fight here at some stage of her career. During an interview on Carl Frampton's TKO podcast, last year, Hardy spoke about her boxing and MMA careers and mentioned how Taylor is the only female fighter earning close to $1m for fights but how it still should be more. The New Yorker said:

"I don't think anyone is getting paid like Katie but, in the same hand, she is... [unifying] all the belts in her weight division, she's an Olympic gold medallist and she's not getting paid like a man. "And it goes back to what you said - that women should be grateful [that the situation is improving]. I'm sure she has this blanket over her head, of feeling, 'I'm still making more than every other woman'. But it still isn't right. No freedom 'til we're equal, man."

If the super-fight against Serrano fails to materialise, Hearn and Matchroom would seriously consider both the Hardy and Persoon options as both are bouts they could raise hype over. Fight camp is set to begin on August 1 and run for three consecutive weekends with the headline bout being a heavyweight clash between Dillian Whyte and Alexander Povetkin on August 22.

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