Rather use that money and go to the loma fightRuthless-RKO wrote: ↑13 Apr 2023, 08:13€765 is £673Ruthless-RKO wrote: ↑13 Apr 2023, 08:11 Still Tickets Left for Katie Taylor’s Homecoming but…
Irish fight fans wishing to attend the massive Katie Taylor Homecoming clash this summer can still get tickets.
However, the cheapest one available for the 3Arena hosted Matchroom promoted clash are as costly €765.
There are just over 20 tickets still on sale Ticketmaster.
The cheapest tickets left on general sale are in sections P, V and U Ringside at a price of €765.
Ringside tickets in sections Q, S and T are still available and cost a massive €1,525.
The cheapest resale ticket on site is in Block E and can be bought for €523.50.![]()
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Ringside €1,525 is £1342
Katie Taylor vs. Chantelle Cameron | DAZN - 20 May 2023
Re: Katie Taylor vs. Chantelle Cameron | DAZN - 20 May 2023
Re: Katie Taylor vs. Chantelle Cameron | DAZN - 20 May 2023
Everyone who took the MTK blood money can fook off with the mental health crap when the person funding the company caused proper problems - murder, addiction etc.
Re: Katie Taylor vs. Chantelle Cameron | DAZN - 20 May 2023
Definitely be a fun fight. It has swayed me to want to watch the card, that's for sure
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Ruthless-RKO
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margaret thatcher
- Featherweight
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Re: Katie Taylor vs. Chantelle Cameron | DAZN - 20 May 2023
ugh, step cully up more ffs, felix hasnt fought in a year or won in 2 years, never was that good anyway
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GreenLightning
- Light Heavyweight
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Re: Katie Taylor vs. Chantelle Cameron | DAZN - 20 May 2023
Taking on??Coco wrote: ↑10 Apr 2023, 20:45Where am I saying I'm up for taking on dangerous gangsters??GreenLightning wrote: ↑10 Apr 2023, 20:26You'd have lasted two seconds around Kinahan mate you have no fornicating idea who to trust
I'm making a comment on McGuigan promotions and what happened with Frampton
Last edited by GreenLightning on 08 May 2023, 16:03, edited 1 time in total.
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GreenLightning
- Light Heavyweight
- Posts: 915
- Joined: 20 Jul 2011, 15:23
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GreenLightning
- Light Heavyweight
- Posts: 915
- Joined: 20 Jul 2011, 15:23
Re: Katie Taylor vs. Chantelle Cameron | DAZN - 20 May 2023
Even before the Hutch feud this was a deadly dance
"
For those who knew him, it was obvious from a young age that Freddie Thompson was intent on making his mark on this world — and it was never going to be pretty.
Born on December 16, 1980 into a working class family of street traders in Maryland in Dublin’s south inner city, Thompson was a child who learned at an early age how to use his fists to get what he wanted.
In a neat and tidy Corporation home on Loreto Road in Maryland, he grew up with brother Richie and sisters Melanie and Lisa Jane.
His mother, Christine, struggled to bring her brood up alone after their father left when Thompson was only young, leaving the brothers to become the men of the house. Christine Roe came from a tough inner city Dublin family.
Her sister, Sadie, had married the notorious James ‘Jaws’ Byrne and together they had three daughters; Melanie, Maria and Joanne, along with three sons, James, Liam and David. The sisters spent a lot of their time together smoking and drinking cups of tea while the children played.
When he was still a child Thompson gained a reputation as a bully who would push and shove others out of his way to get what he wanted.
He was a nifty street fighter and was never afraid to use his fists to settle an argument.
Those who knew her, knew that Christine would always give her violent son the backing he needed to make sure that he was celebrated and not chastised for his behaviour.
Thompson was streetwise and sold newspapers on the corner of Clanbrassil Street as a child. But he also learned to steal and pilfer in order to bring home the bacon to his mother.
As he grew up he became more involved in petty crime and anti-social behaviour, and his fearless nature and aggression made him stand out early to gardai patrolling the notorious south inner city beat.
Many would have put money on the fact that Thompson was going to become a big player down the road. While Christine was a true Dublin 8 street trader, content at the stalls of Meath Street and Grafton Street, her sister Sadie had higher ambitions.
When she married the forger and fraudster ‘Jaws’ Byrne she vowed that they would elevate themselves from the grinding poverty which had coloured their own childhoods in Dublin.
Sadie loved a fur coat and gold jewellery – that would set her above her contemporaries in the flats.
And she knew that she was never going to have it all from the honest profits of a flower stall. If she wanted to get rich she would have to rely on ‘Jaws’ and his plotting and scheming to make a quick buck.
As a young teen, Thompson was excelling at his local boxing club, where he was deemed a quick and powerful fighter who stood out as a fearless opponent, never afraid to hurt or injure anyone he was pitted against.
READ MORE
Crime World Long Read: 'Fat' Freddie - The violent story of Ireland's most feared mobster (Part 1)
Crime World Long Read: 'Fat' Freddie - The violent story of Ireland's most feared mobster (Part 2)
He had stopped growing by the time he was around 13 and at 5ft 8ins he was hardly an impressive height, but he made up for his lack of stature with his ability to give savage beatings for little or no reason and in particular for any perceived slight.
With the Byrnes living in Crumlin and attending school there, a new circle of friends were opened up to him outside his Dublin 8 area.
Crumlin itself was a hotbed of crime and in the early 1990s to an impressionable and ambitious teenager, it was an exciting place of endless opportunities.
Around the young guns were countless veterans who had earned a good living from crime and many who had become rich and famous on their own reputations and ability to out-smart the police.
Thompson was hooked on the whiff of sulphur that hung in the air and he idolised the likes of Martin ‘The General’ Cahill, Martin ‘The Viper’ Foley and Larry Dunne and his family, who had become the first drug lords on the Dublin scene.
By the time he and his pals were old enough to become players themselves there was only one game in town – and that was to deal drugs and take a part of the massive profits to be made.
By 1994, when Cahill was murdered in nearby Ranelagh, 14-year-old Thompson was on the fringes of a large, young and rapidly forming drug gang who were about to make their own names in the books of gangland crime. Notorious criminal John Gilligan had certainly spotted their talents and was happy to use them to peddle his wares in the lucrative Crumlin and Drimnagh areas.
Gilligan was importing cannabis as a wholesaler and needed reliable salesmen. Two of Thompson’s superiors in the gang, Brian Rattigan and Declan Gavin, were perfect in his eyes.
The pair had become heavily involved in his supply chain while they were still only 15 and 16. In fact, on regular trips to Amsterdam and Spain, they had even been trusted to meet some of the suppliers that Gilligan used.
The youngsters were easily impressed by Gilligan’s success. By 1996, when he ordered the murder of Veronica Guerin, his drug business was worth a conservative €20 million a year – and he was living it up on holidays in Barbados and with a huge country pile in Kildare complete with his own private equestrian centre.
But the murder of the journalist would cause the equivalent of a tsunami in the delicately balanced underworld.
A massive political reaction to the daylight killing on the Naas Road, coupled with a major garda offensive on Gilligan and his gang, shut down the drug lord’s operation almost overnight, leaving a huge vacuum to be filled by anyone in the right place and at the right time.
Rattigan and Gavin were hungry for success and they instantly saw their opportunity and took it with both hands. The pair were still only teenagers but they had the skills and the contacts to fill the void left by Gilligan. Everyone moved up a notch – Thompson too.
With his elevated status came new opportunities and soon Thompson was turning hundreds of euro into thousands and had a girl called Vicky Dempsey on his arm.
His ruthless approach to business, coupled with his boxing skills and connections, made him a feared figure in an already tough underworld.
READ MORE
Freddie Thompson brings High Court action over conditions of detention in Limerick Prison
Gangland killer Brian Rattigan teams up with John Gilligan on Spain's Costa Blanca
By the time he was 19 he was moving from dealer to distributor and had transitioned from selling drugs in flat complexes like Fatima Mansions to being the supplier to younger teens working the landings where addicts and prostitutes queued up for his wares.
Nobody got ‘tick’ and to remind the customers to pay up he often beat or stabbed them.
Thompson idolised Declan Gavin but never got on so well with Brian Rattigan and when the pair fell out he backed Gavin and brought his pal Paddy Doyle in as muscle.
Tit-for-tat rivalries started but when €1.7 million of cocaine and ecstasy was nabbed at the Holiday Inn Hotel in a garda raid things changed for good.
One trait shared by those involved in gangland is an insatiable greed for money. There is simply never enough. For Brian Rattigan and Declan Gavin, it was that greed that had been the glue that had held their one-time friendship together.
While they absolutely hated one another, they both still knew that they could make more money if they pooled their resources to buy supplies, and up until the Holiday Inn bust that trumped all else.
But when gardai burst in to the two adjoining hotel rooms – 24 hours into the preparation of the cocaine consignment – everything changed.
Graham ‘The Wig’ Whelan and his pal Phillip Griffiths were literally caught red-handed with the drugs, but Gavin was having a lie down and wasn’t physically touching any of the gear when the raid took place – meaning he had to be released after questioning.
While many may see that as a stroke of luck, in the paranoid drugs underworld there are no co-incidences and good fortune only exists for those who make their own.
Rattigan immediately pointed the finger at his business partner, accusing him of being a garda informant.
Gavin levelled the same accusations at Rattigan. In the days and weeks that followed, the gang drew battle lines and clearly divided forever more. Firmly by Gavin’s side was Thompson, his friend Paddy Doyle and money man Darren Geoghegan.
In August 2001, a heady mix of cocaine, alcohol and that underlying hatred would bring the tense situation to a whole new level. Then, the Rattigan clan gathered to celebrate the 18th birthday of Brian’s younger brother Joey. On the same night, Declan Gavin had gone into town and had a big evening out in Temple Bar.
Always popular with the ladies, he had taken enough cocaine to keep him up all night and by the time he took a taxi back to Crumlin, a local Abrakebabra takeaway was the only place where there was a bit of life.
Guests at the Rattigan party had made their way to the restaurant too, to bring supplies back to the guests still partying hard on lines of cocaine and bottles of vodka at the birthday bash. They spotted Gavin.
Brian Rattigan was red eyed and sniffing frantically when he got out of the screeching Nissan Micra that had transported him from the party at Cooley Road to Abrakebabra.
He lifted his balaclava and showed Gavin the large knife he had brought with him. “Do you remember me?” he asked, before he launched himself at Gavin with the knife.
It would be the first killing of 16 and in a matter of hours Freddie Thompson had stepped forward and become the new boss, promising to stop at nothing until Rattigan was six foot under.
READ MORE
Brian Rattigan had ‘a major falling out’ with Kinahan cartel killer in prison
Killer Brian Rattigan set to walk free from prison after 18 years behind bars
Just six months later, a paranoid Rattigan knew he had to strike again before he was hit himself, and when he heard that Freddie and a number of gang members were drinking in a city pub he drove past and let off a few shots. Later that night Thompson made his move.
Rattigan was asleep in a downstairs room with his girlfriend Natasha McEnroe when Thompson and his cohort burst into the house. McEnroe tried to wake Rattigan but he had taken so much drugs and drink that she couldn’t. In terror, she slipped into an en-suite bathroom and watched as gunmen pumped five bullets into him.
Amazingly, Rattigan survived, and during the seven rounds of interviews that followed his arrest for the shooting, Thompson repeated to gardai: “Nothing to say at this time.”
With Rattigan seriously injured, Thompson moved in. He first ordered the murder of a young man accused of making a call to the Rattigan home on the night of Gavin’s murder.
He survived the shooting but refused to make a complaint. In July 2002, Thompson was salivating at the thought of revenge and turned his sights on Rattigan’s little brother Joey.
This new style of warfare marked a change in gangland that would continue throughout the Crumlin and Drimnagh feud and follow on to the Hutch-Kinahan war.
It would even be a sentiment echoed years later by cartel lieutenant James Mulvey, when he was recorded telling a girlfriend while on the run: “They go after the ones you love. They kill the ones you love.”
Joey was at home with his girlfriend when he got the call from Paul Warren inviting him to go down to a pub in Dublin 8 for a pint.
It was a good night and at 2am as he headed for home he was shot in the head by a waiting gunman. He died instantly.
Rattigan was apoplectic after his brother died. This was an eye-for-an-eye and a brother for a brother– but he was sent to jail when he was caught with €27k worth of heroin and was also facing the Gavin murder charge and destined to be locked up for a long time.
Warren was quickly identified by gardai as working with Thompson and his chief enforcer, Paddy Doyle, as the gun for hire.
Behind bars in early 2004, Rattigan hired a killer called Gary Bryan who assassinated Paul Warren, infuriating Thompson. Within days, an innocent man was beaten by mistake and gardai told Richie Rattigan – Brian’s older brother – that there was a bounty on his head.
By December 2004, Thompson’s mother’s house on Loreto Road was shot up. Christine Thompson was asleep at the time but was uninjured and when Freddie was released from jail a few days later, before Christmas, he attempted to kidnap Rattigan man Joey Redmond but failed.
He would celebrate the festive season but as soon as it was over, he vowed, it was down to business.
By early 2005, Thompson was a walking murder machine and all over the city people were terrified of his capabilities.
Tensions were so high that Thompson and his close inner circle were moving from place to place, rarely staying in the same location for two nights in a row.
But still, the murders came. Rattigan’s lieutenant John Roche was next – in March 2005 he was killed in retaliation for Paul Warren. Thompson is said to have watched the murder and cheered and celebrated after his death.
READ MORE
Caged Kinahan cartel killer claims prison officers' 'lives put at risk' by other staff
Killer Freddie Thompson takes High Court case against Legal Aid Board over refusal to pay legal costs
A month after Roche was killed, drug dealer Terry Dunleavy was shot in Ballybough.
It quickly emerged he had owed Thompson a small debt and Paddy Doyle had gone to see him for the money.
By the summer, a sick relative of Rattigan had his home shot up and an attack on two Thompson loyalists followed – leaving one paralysed.
Days later gardai searched a house in Portarlington in Co Laois and uncovered a chilling list written by hitman-for-hire Alan Wilson, who they believe had been working for Thompson along with other feuding mob bosses
The list included criminal associates as well as relatives of Brian Rattigan. Beside the names of his sister Sharon, partner Natasha McEnroe and the sick relative, whose house had already been shot up, was scribbled ‘easy got.’
In November, Thompson’s money man Darren Geoghegan and his assistant Gavin Byrne drove to Firhouse for a pre-arranged meeting with someone. Geoghegan had set up an intricate network of investments and property purchases to wash the massive amounts of money the gang was making.
They were both shot dead.
Initially, gardai who were called to the scene of the barbaric double shooting believed the murders had to be the handiwork of Rattigan – but soon investigations suggested that Paddy Doyle had killed both on the orders of Thompson, although it has never been properly established why he decided to kill his own friends in the middle of the feud.
Geoghegan and Byrne were the seventeenth and eighteenth gangland murder victims in 2005 alone.
Two days later, Noel Roche became the nineteenth – and the eighth victim of the Crumlin and Drimnagh feud – when he was shot dead in Clontarf after a Phil Collins concert.
His brother John was dead less than eight months and his killing meant that Rattigan had lost yet another of his soldiers.
Thompson’s enforcer Doyle became gangland’s most wanted man and spent weeks travelling around in disguise. Just like his boss, he would often dress as a woman and wear wigs to change his look, but a month after the three shootings he left Ireland for good, travelling first to Birmingham and then on to Spain for a new life.
In 2006 Wayne Zambra, one of the youngest and most trusted members of Rattigan’s gang was shot dead, but it quickly emerged that he was killed on the orders of his own after he was caught dipping into funds.
Drug addict Gary Bryan was understood to be the shooter. Fresh out of prison, he had been hired by Rattigan but Thompson, ever the strategist, had him shot dead before he could strike again.
A week later, in October 2006, Thompson was arrested in Rotterdam with machine guns and 7kgs of cocaine.
He was facing three years and the gardai were hopeful he would get the maximum sentence – but he had luck on his side and the Dutch magistrate threw the case out, ordering authorities to compensate him for each day he had spent in prison in Holland.
Back home Thompson made an alliance with the McCarthy-Dundon gang in Limerick and continued his trigger happy justice.
Rattigan cohort Wayne McNally was shot but survived, and then Thompson forced a terrified petty criminal to shoot his friend, Ian Kenny – who died two years later when his family turned off his life support.
Rattigan’s side was seriously weakened by all the losses but just when Thompson thought he was home and dry he found himself on the wrong side of Declan ‘Whacker’ Duffy, just released from prison after serving his time for his role in the Ballymun Bloodbath. Duffy wanted money but Thompson told the INLA thug to “f**k off” before high-tailing it to Spain for cover.
Thompson liked Spain and had regularly used the Costa for downtime if he had to lie low.
He loved the sunshine, the lifestyle and the feeling of being with the real gangsters of Europe, where he hoped to make his final elevation in the drugs world.
At that point, Spain was the HQ of Dubliner Christy Kinahan Snr’s operation and while the ‘Dapper Don’ was totally out of reach for the likes of Thompson, his sons Daniel and Christopher Jnr were not and mixed with plenty of his associates from home, including Gary Hutch.
Doyle had got himself a luxury apartment in Cancelada in a gated community close to the golf course and Freddie moved in. Hutch was living in the nearby Vista Golf and Thompson’s cousins David and Liam Byrne were regular visitors.
The group often hung out with the Kinahan brothers.
Their days would start in a gym, followed by a working lunch and the evenings were regularly spent in Peter ‘Fatso’ Mitchell’s pub and club Paparazzi.
For his part, Thompson was desperate to be accepted and in 2008 he carried out the unthinkable to prove his loyalty. Thompson was Paddy Doyle’s closest friend but when a plan was put in place to kill him Thompson and Hutch were there to make sure it was carried out.
After the murder he returned to Dublin but quickly went back to Spain when he realised there was a number of different bounties on his head.
Rattigan, despite being locked up, had continued to operate his own drug business with the help of an endless supply of mobile phones in prison and had a new enforcer, Anthony Cannon, at his beck and call.
Along with another associate, Gerard Eglington, the pair were collecting drug money and doing Rattigan’s bidding. Intent on shutting him down again, Thompson returned, clocking up his next victim when Shay O’Byrne, the partner of Brian Rattigan’s sister Sharon, was killed. By July, Cannon was shot twice in the head.
He was the last remaining hard man that Rattigan had on the outside. By December 2009, as Thompson continued his purge of his old enemies, Rattigan was jailed for life for the murder of Declan Gavin.
The mandatory sentence was a finality of sorts in the decade-long feud, and Thompson was happy he could set his sights on the true prize – a place at the top table in Spain.
There, a cocky confidence had grown in Daniel Kinahan, who vowed his operation would be bigger and better than his father’s when he finally got his chance to take the reigns of the operation.
Thompson didn’t go unrewarded for facilitating the murder of his one time best friend. On the contrary, both he and Gary Hutch got a big promotion from Kinahan as the ‘Dapper Don’ planned his retirement.
Within a year of Doyle’s murder, Hutch and Thompson were travelling between Portugal, Africa and the Netherlands, frequently hammering out drugs and weapons deals for the cartel. "
Note the Cartel did nothing to take on the INLA on behalf of Thompson ,too unpredictable, and after hiring them to do some hits, they knew they usually got the job done quickly and brutally, so Thompson was on his own hiding in Spain til Duffy got extradited
"
For those who knew him, it was obvious from a young age that Freddie Thompson was intent on making his mark on this world — and it was never going to be pretty.
Born on December 16, 1980 into a working class family of street traders in Maryland in Dublin’s south inner city, Thompson was a child who learned at an early age how to use his fists to get what he wanted.
In a neat and tidy Corporation home on Loreto Road in Maryland, he grew up with brother Richie and sisters Melanie and Lisa Jane.
His mother, Christine, struggled to bring her brood up alone after their father left when Thompson was only young, leaving the brothers to become the men of the house. Christine Roe came from a tough inner city Dublin family.
Her sister, Sadie, had married the notorious James ‘Jaws’ Byrne and together they had three daughters; Melanie, Maria and Joanne, along with three sons, James, Liam and David. The sisters spent a lot of their time together smoking and drinking cups of tea while the children played.
When he was still a child Thompson gained a reputation as a bully who would push and shove others out of his way to get what he wanted.
He was a nifty street fighter and was never afraid to use his fists to settle an argument.
Those who knew her, knew that Christine would always give her violent son the backing he needed to make sure that he was celebrated and not chastised for his behaviour.
Thompson was streetwise and sold newspapers on the corner of Clanbrassil Street as a child. But he also learned to steal and pilfer in order to bring home the bacon to his mother.
As he grew up he became more involved in petty crime and anti-social behaviour, and his fearless nature and aggression made him stand out early to gardai patrolling the notorious south inner city beat.
Many would have put money on the fact that Thompson was going to become a big player down the road. While Christine was a true Dublin 8 street trader, content at the stalls of Meath Street and Grafton Street, her sister Sadie had higher ambitions.
When she married the forger and fraudster ‘Jaws’ Byrne she vowed that they would elevate themselves from the grinding poverty which had coloured their own childhoods in Dublin.
Sadie loved a fur coat and gold jewellery – that would set her above her contemporaries in the flats.
And she knew that she was never going to have it all from the honest profits of a flower stall. If she wanted to get rich she would have to rely on ‘Jaws’ and his plotting and scheming to make a quick buck.
As a young teen, Thompson was excelling at his local boxing club, where he was deemed a quick and powerful fighter who stood out as a fearless opponent, never afraid to hurt or injure anyone he was pitted against.
READ MORE
Crime World Long Read: 'Fat' Freddie - The violent story of Ireland's most feared mobster (Part 1)
Crime World Long Read: 'Fat' Freddie - The violent story of Ireland's most feared mobster (Part 2)
He had stopped growing by the time he was around 13 and at 5ft 8ins he was hardly an impressive height, but he made up for his lack of stature with his ability to give savage beatings for little or no reason and in particular for any perceived slight.
With the Byrnes living in Crumlin and attending school there, a new circle of friends were opened up to him outside his Dublin 8 area.
Crumlin itself was a hotbed of crime and in the early 1990s to an impressionable and ambitious teenager, it was an exciting place of endless opportunities.
Around the young guns were countless veterans who had earned a good living from crime and many who had become rich and famous on their own reputations and ability to out-smart the police.
Thompson was hooked on the whiff of sulphur that hung in the air and he idolised the likes of Martin ‘The General’ Cahill, Martin ‘The Viper’ Foley and Larry Dunne and his family, who had become the first drug lords on the Dublin scene.
By the time he and his pals were old enough to become players themselves there was only one game in town – and that was to deal drugs and take a part of the massive profits to be made.
By 1994, when Cahill was murdered in nearby Ranelagh, 14-year-old Thompson was on the fringes of a large, young and rapidly forming drug gang who were about to make their own names in the books of gangland crime. Notorious criminal John Gilligan had certainly spotted their talents and was happy to use them to peddle his wares in the lucrative Crumlin and Drimnagh areas.
Gilligan was importing cannabis as a wholesaler and needed reliable salesmen. Two of Thompson’s superiors in the gang, Brian Rattigan and Declan Gavin, were perfect in his eyes.
The pair had become heavily involved in his supply chain while they were still only 15 and 16. In fact, on regular trips to Amsterdam and Spain, they had even been trusted to meet some of the suppliers that Gilligan used.
The youngsters were easily impressed by Gilligan’s success. By 1996, when he ordered the murder of Veronica Guerin, his drug business was worth a conservative €20 million a year – and he was living it up on holidays in Barbados and with a huge country pile in Kildare complete with his own private equestrian centre.
But the murder of the journalist would cause the equivalent of a tsunami in the delicately balanced underworld.
A massive political reaction to the daylight killing on the Naas Road, coupled with a major garda offensive on Gilligan and his gang, shut down the drug lord’s operation almost overnight, leaving a huge vacuum to be filled by anyone in the right place and at the right time.
Rattigan and Gavin were hungry for success and they instantly saw their opportunity and took it with both hands. The pair were still only teenagers but they had the skills and the contacts to fill the void left by Gilligan. Everyone moved up a notch – Thompson too.
With his elevated status came new opportunities and soon Thompson was turning hundreds of euro into thousands and had a girl called Vicky Dempsey on his arm.
His ruthless approach to business, coupled with his boxing skills and connections, made him a feared figure in an already tough underworld.
READ MORE
Freddie Thompson brings High Court action over conditions of detention in Limerick Prison
Gangland killer Brian Rattigan teams up with John Gilligan on Spain's Costa Blanca
By the time he was 19 he was moving from dealer to distributor and had transitioned from selling drugs in flat complexes like Fatima Mansions to being the supplier to younger teens working the landings where addicts and prostitutes queued up for his wares.
Nobody got ‘tick’ and to remind the customers to pay up he often beat or stabbed them.
Thompson idolised Declan Gavin but never got on so well with Brian Rattigan and when the pair fell out he backed Gavin and brought his pal Paddy Doyle in as muscle.
Tit-for-tat rivalries started but when €1.7 million of cocaine and ecstasy was nabbed at the Holiday Inn Hotel in a garda raid things changed for good.
One trait shared by those involved in gangland is an insatiable greed for money. There is simply never enough. For Brian Rattigan and Declan Gavin, it was that greed that had been the glue that had held their one-time friendship together.
While they absolutely hated one another, they both still knew that they could make more money if they pooled their resources to buy supplies, and up until the Holiday Inn bust that trumped all else.
But when gardai burst in to the two adjoining hotel rooms – 24 hours into the preparation of the cocaine consignment – everything changed.
Graham ‘The Wig’ Whelan and his pal Phillip Griffiths were literally caught red-handed with the drugs, but Gavin was having a lie down and wasn’t physically touching any of the gear when the raid took place – meaning he had to be released after questioning.
While many may see that as a stroke of luck, in the paranoid drugs underworld there are no co-incidences and good fortune only exists for those who make their own.
Rattigan immediately pointed the finger at his business partner, accusing him of being a garda informant.
Gavin levelled the same accusations at Rattigan. In the days and weeks that followed, the gang drew battle lines and clearly divided forever more. Firmly by Gavin’s side was Thompson, his friend Paddy Doyle and money man Darren Geoghegan.
In August 2001, a heady mix of cocaine, alcohol and that underlying hatred would bring the tense situation to a whole new level. Then, the Rattigan clan gathered to celebrate the 18th birthday of Brian’s younger brother Joey. On the same night, Declan Gavin had gone into town and had a big evening out in Temple Bar.
Always popular with the ladies, he had taken enough cocaine to keep him up all night and by the time he took a taxi back to Crumlin, a local Abrakebabra takeaway was the only place where there was a bit of life.
Guests at the Rattigan party had made their way to the restaurant too, to bring supplies back to the guests still partying hard on lines of cocaine and bottles of vodka at the birthday bash. They spotted Gavin.
Brian Rattigan was red eyed and sniffing frantically when he got out of the screeching Nissan Micra that had transported him from the party at Cooley Road to Abrakebabra.
He lifted his balaclava and showed Gavin the large knife he had brought with him. “Do you remember me?” he asked, before he launched himself at Gavin with the knife.
It would be the first killing of 16 and in a matter of hours Freddie Thompson had stepped forward and become the new boss, promising to stop at nothing until Rattigan was six foot under.
READ MORE
Brian Rattigan had ‘a major falling out’ with Kinahan cartel killer in prison
Killer Brian Rattigan set to walk free from prison after 18 years behind bars
Just six months later, a paranoid Rattigan knew he had to strike again before he was hit himself, and when he heard that Freddie and a number of gang members were drinking in a city pub he drove past and let off a few shots. Later that night Thompson made his move.
Rattigan was asleep in a downstairs room with his girlfriend Natasha McEnroe when Thompson and his cohort burst into the house. McEnroe tried to wake Rattigan but he had taken so much drugs and drink that she couldn’t. In terror, she slipped into an en-suite bathroom and watched as gunmen pumped five bullets into him.
Amazingly, Rattigan survived, and during the seven rounds of interviews that followed his arrest for the shooting, Thompson repeated to gardai: “Nothing to say at this time.”
With Rattigan seriously injured, Thompson moved in. He first ordered the murder of a young man accused of making a call to the Rattigan home on the night of Gavin’s murder.
He survived the shooting but refused to make a complaint. In July 2002, Thompson was salivating at the thought of revenge and turned his sights on Rattigan’s little brother Joey.
This new style of warfare marked a change in gangland that would continue throughout the Crumlin and Drimnagh feud and follow on to the Hutch-Kinahan war.
It would even be a sentiment echoed years later by cartel lieutenant James Mulvey, when he was recorded telling a girlfriend while on the run: “They go after the ones you love. They kill the ones you love.”
Joey was at home with his girlfriend when he got the call from Paul Warren inviting him to go down to a pub in Dublin 8 for a pint.
It was a good night and at 2am as he headed for home he was shot in the head by a waiting gunman. He died instantly.
Rattigan was apoplectic after his brother died. This was an eye-for-an-eye and a brother for a brother– but he was sent to jail when he was caught with €27k worth of heroin and was also facing the Gavin murder charge and destined to be locked up for a long time.
Warren was quickly identified by gardai as working with Thompson and his chief enforcer, Paddy Doyle, as the gun for hire.
Behind bars in early 2004, Rattigan hired a killer called Gary Bryan who assassinated Paul Warren, infuriating Thompson. Within days, an innocent man was beaten by mistake and gardai told Richie Rattigan – Brian’s older brother – that there was a bounty on his head.
By December 2004, Thompson’s mother’s house on Loreto Road was shot up. Christine Thompson was asleep at the time but was uninjured and when Freddie was released from jail a few days later, before Christmas, he attempted to kidnap Rattigan man Joey Redmond but failed.
He would celebrate the festive season but as soon as it was over, he vowed, it was down to business.
By early 2005, Thompson was a walking murder machine and all over the city people were terrified of his capabilities.
Tensions were so high that Thompson and his close inner circle were moving from place to place, rarely staying in the same location for two nights in a row.
But still, the murders came. Rattigan’s lieutenant John Roche was next – in March 2005 he was killed in retaliation for Paul Warren. Thompson is said to have watched the murder and cheered and celebrated after his death.
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A month after Roche was killed, drug dealer Terry Dunleavy was shot in Ballybough.
It quickly emerged he had owed Thompson a small debt and Paddy Doyle had gone to see him for the money.
By the summer, a sick relative of Rattigan had his home shot up and an attack on two Thompson loyalists followed – leaving one paralysed.
Days later gardai searched a house in Portarlington in Co Laois and uncovered a chilling list written by hitman-for-hire Alan Wilson, who they believe had been working for Thompson along with other feuding mob bosses
The list included criminal associates as well as relatives of Brian Rattigan. Beside the names of his sister Sharon, partner Natasha McEnroe and the sick relative, whose house had already been shot up, was scribbled ‘easy got.’
In November, Thompson’s money man Darren Geoghegan and his assistant Gavin Byrne drove to Firhouse for a pre-arranged meeting with someone. Geoghegan had set up an intricate network of investments and property purchases to wash the massive amounts of money the gang was making.
They were both shot dead.
Initially, gardai who were called to the scene of the barbaric double shooting believed the murders had to be the handiwork of Rattigan – but soon investigations suggested that Paddy Doyle had killed both on the orders of Thompson, although it has never been properly established why he decided to kill his own friends in the middle of the feud.
Geoghegan and Byrne were the seventeenth and eighteenth gangland murder victims in 2005 alone.
Two days later, Noel Roche became the nineteenth – and the eighth victim of the Crumlin and Drimnagh feud – when he was shot dead in Clontarf after a Phil Collins concert.
His brother John was dead less than eight months and his killing meant that Rattigan had lost yet another of his soldiers.
Thompson’s enforcer Doyle became gangland’s most wanted man and spent weeks travelling around in disguise. Just like his boss, he would often dress as a woman and wear wigs to change his look, but a month after the three shootings he left Ireland for good, travelling first to Birmingham and then on to Spain for a new life.
In 2006 Wayne Zambra, one of the youngest and most trusted members of Rattigan’s gang was shot dead, but it quickly emerged that he was killed on the orders of his own after he was caught dipping into funds.
Drug addict Gary Bryan was understood to be the shooter. Fresh out of prison, he had been hired by Rattigan but Thompson, ever the strategist, had him shot dead before he could strike again.
A week later, in October 2006, Thompson was arrested in Rotterdam with machine guns and 7kgs of cocaine.
He was facing three years and the gardai were hopeful he would get the maximum sentence – but he had luck on his side and the Dutch magistrate threw the case out, ordering authorities to compensate him for each day he had spent in prison in Holland.
Back home Thompson made an alliance with the McCarthy-Dundon gang in Limerick and continued his trigger happy justice.
Rattigan cohort Wayne McNally was shot but survived, and then Thompson forced a terrified petty criminal to shoot his friend, Ian Kenny – who died two years later when his family turned off his life support.
Rattigan’s side was seriously weakened by all the losses but just when Thompson thought he was home and dry he found himself on the wrong side of Declan ‘Whacker’ Duffy, just released from prison after serving his time for his role in the Ballymun Bloodbath. Duffy wanted money but Thompson told the INLA thug to “f**k off” before high-tailing it to Spain for cover.
Thompson liked Spain and had regularly used the Costa for downtime if he had to lie low.
He loved the sunshine, the lifestyle and the feeling of being with the real gangsters of Europe, where he hoped to make his final elevation in the drugs world.
At that point, Spain was the HQ of Dubliner Christy Kinahan Snr’s operation and while the ‘Dapper Don’ was totally out of reach for the likes of Thompson, his sons Daniel and Christopher Jnr were not and mixed with plenty of his associates from home, including Gary Hutch.
Doyle had got himself a luxury apartment in Cancelada in a gated community close to the golf course and Freddie moved in. Hutch was living in the nearby Vista Golf and Thompson’s cousins David and Liam Byrne were regular visitors.
The group often hung out with the Kinahan brothers.
Their days would start in a gym, followed by a working lunch and the evenings were regularly spent in Peter ‘Fatso’ Mitchell’s pub and club Paparazzi.
For his part, Thompson was desperate to be accepted and in 2008 he carried out the unthinkable to prove his loyalty. Thompson was Paddy Doyle’s closest friend but when a plan was put in place to kill him Thompson and Hutch were there to make sure it was carried out.
After the murder he returned to Dublin but quickly went back to Spain when he realised there was a number of different bounties on his head.
Rattigan, despite being locked up, had continued to operate his own drug business with the help of an endless supply of mobile phones in prison and had a new enforcer, Anthony Cannon, at his beck and call.
Along with another associate, Gerard Eglington, the pair were collecting drug money and doing Rattigan’s bidding. Intent on shutting him down again, Thompson returned, clocking up his next victim when Shay O’Byrne, the partner of Brian Rattigan’s sister Sharon, was killed. By July, Cannon was shot twice in the head.
He was the last remaining hard man that Rattigan had on the outside. By December 2009, as Thompson continued his purge of his old enemies, Rattigan was jailed for life for the murder of Declan Gavin.
The mandatory sentence was a finality of sorts in the decade-long feud, and Thompson was happy he could set his sights on the true prize – a place at the top table in Spain.
There, a cocky confidence had grown in Daniel Kinahan, who vowed his operation would be bigger and better than his father’s when he finally got his chance to take the reigns of the operation.
Thompson didn’t go unrewarded for facilitating the murder of his one time best friend. On the contrary, both he and Gary Hutch got a big promotion from Kinahan as the ‘Dapper Don’ planned his retirement.
Within a year of Doyle’s murder, Hutch and Thompson were travelling between Portugal, Africa and the Netherlands, frequently hammering out drugs and weapons deals for the cartel. "
Note the Cartel did nothing to take on the INLA on behalf of Thompson ,too unpredictable, and after hiring them to do some hits, they knew they usually got the job done quickly and brutally, so Thompson was on his own hiding in Spain til Duffy got extradited
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GreenLightning
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Re: Katie Taylor vs. Chantelle Cameron | DAZN - 20 May 2023
"uncovered a chilling list written by hitman-for-hire Alan Wilson, who they believe had been working for Thompson along with other feuding mob bosses
The list included criminal associates as well as relatives of Brian Rattigan. Beside the names of his sister Sharon, partner Natasha McEnroe and the sick relative, whose house had already been shot up, was scribbled ‘easy got.’"
considering the Wilson were fond of gang-!raping and torturing female victims before killing them, thankfully they never got to any of Rattigans female family members, because they were sick, evil puppies those Wilsons
The list included criminal associates as well as relatives of Brian Rattigan. Beside the names of his sister Sharon, partner Natasha McEnroe and the sick relative, whose house had already been shot up, was scribbled ‘easy got.’"
considering the Wilson were fond of gang-!raping and torturing female victims before killing them, thankfully they never got to any of Rattigans female family members, because they were sick, evil puppies those Wilsons
Re: Katie Taylor vs. Chantelle Cameron | DAZN - 20 May 2023
This should surely be at least for off topic
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Ruthless-RKO
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Re: Katie Taylor vs. Chantelle Cameron | DAZN - 20 May 2023
Think Camera will win 7-3 on my score card and lose 7-3 on the judges.
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Ruthless-RKO
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Re: Katie Taylor vs. Chantelle Cameron | DAZN - 20 May 2023
KT should already have at least one loss on her record.
Could argue 2..
When judges make mistakes, it gets people hating on the boxers.
Josh Taylor didn't help due to his aftermath comments etc.
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Re: Katie Taylor vs. Chantelle Cameron | DAZN - 20 May 2023
Full card (subject to change)
Katie Taylor vs Chantelle Cameron (for Cameron’s IBF, WBA, WBC and WBO women’s super-lightweight titles)
Terri Harper (C) vs Cecelia Braekhus (WBA women’s super-welterweight title)
Dennis Hogan vs James Metcalf (super-welterweight)
Gary Cully vs Jose Felix (lightweight)
Thomas Carty vs Jay McFarlane (heavyweight)
Caoimhin Agyarko vs Grant Dennis (super-welterweight)
Katie Taylor vs Chantelle Cameron (for Cameron’s IBF, WBA, WBC and WBO women’s super-lightweight titles)
Terri Harper (C) vs Cecelia Braekhus (WBA women’s super-welterweight title)
Dennis Hogan vs James Metcalf (super-welterweight)
Gary Cully vs Jose Felix (lightweight)
Thomas Carty vs Jay McFarlane (heavyweight)
Caoimhin Agyarko vs Grant Dennis (super-welterweight)
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margaret thatcher
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Re: Katie Taylor vs. Chantelle Cameron | DAZN - 20 May 2023
one more woman's fight at the top of the bill there, and everyone watching would grow a vagina
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Ruthless-RKO
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Re: Katie Taylor vs. Chantelle Cameron | DAZN - 20 May 2023
Paddy Donovan has split with Top Rank and will make his Matchroom debut against Sam O’Maison
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Ruthless-RKO
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Re: Katie Taylor vs. Chantelle Cameron | DAZN - 20 May 2023
Katie Taylor’s world title fight against Chantelle Cameron on Saturday night will be the highest-grossing event in the history of the 3Arena with gate receipts expected to exceed €2.75m (£2.4m).
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Re: Katie Taylor vs. Chantelle Cameron | DAZN - 20 May 2023
Presser Quotes
Eddie Hearn, Matchroom Sport Chairman:
“Thank you Chris and Darren, and thank you everyone for your patience. A huge media turnout here as we approach in my opinion one of the biggest moments in the history of Irish boxing. One of the biggest moments in the history of Irish sport.
On Saturday night at the 3Arena Katie Taylor challenges Chantelle Cameron for the undisputed Super-Lightweight Championship of the World. Katie Taylor, former Olympic Champion, former five-time World Amateur Champion, six time European Champion, World Champion, Undisputed Champion, two division World Champion will fight in Dublin for the first time as she looks to make history and become a two-division Undisputed World Champion.
Chantelle Cameron the reigning 140lbs undisputed will be looking for one of the greatest victories from an English British fighter in the history of our sport as well as she looks to create her own legacy as a great among women’s and men’s boxing worldwide. This is a tremendous fight and I think we should pay homage to both fighters for accepting this challenge.
It’s so refreshing to see World Champions, undisputed champions willing to fight the very best. We don’t see it enough in boxing. When was the last time you would get a reigning undisputed Lightweight World Champion that was scheduled to fight a reigning undisputed Featherweight World Champion, with that fighter pulling out and within 24 hours the undisputed Super-Lightweight World Champion was in the fight? This is exactly what boxing needs and this fight will be epic on Saturday night in front of a sold-out 3Arena – the biggest gate in the history of the 3Arena, live and exclusive on DAZN around the world.
This is a huge moment for DAZN coming off the back of some incredible events. Ryan Garcia against Gervonta Davies, Canelo Alvarez against John Ryder and the return of Anthony Joshua. Of course this weekend, KSI last weekend, going into Leigh Wood against Mauricio Lara next weekend.”
Katie Taylor:
“This is absolutely incredible, we’re only two days away from making my homecoming fight. I think that one of the things that I wanted to achieve when I first turned pro six years ago was to fight here at home. This is a nation who love their sport, who love their boxing, and for a very very small nation we’re very good at it as well. It’s amazing to be bringing big time boxing back to this nation again where it belongs.
This isn’t any normal fight, this is undisputed champions versus undisputed champion. This is a very special fight, one of the biggest fights in boxing I believe. I think we’re definitely turning a new leaf for Irish boxing. Hopefully this is the first night of many here at home in Ireland. Even just looking at the public workout the other day, just looking at so many young fighters there, young girls that were watching the public workout. They’re looking up to myself and Chantelle and all of these other fighters, it’s absolutely fantastic. It’s great to be in a position where you’re influencing the next generation of fighters. They’re going to grow up with big dreams and big ambitions as well which is absolutely amazing. That’s what legacy is all about isn’t it, making the way for the next generation of fighters. Those generation of fighters are going to do even more than we’ve ever done. That’s what real legacy is all about.
When I was growing up as a 9 or 10 year old having these big dreams, I didn’t have the Olympics at the time, we had so many obstacles and so many boundaries in the way. Here we are making the path so much easier for the next generation of fighters. It’s amazing. Just a few hours ago I met up with Deirdre Gogarty who was my hero growing up. She was the only female fighter I knew of at the time. Just the influence that she had on my career is amazing, I could be that for some young girl coming up in the sport as well. I saw the fight slipping away for me, the May 20th date was slipping away. I don’t use social media much but when I do use it I guess I can make a big impact. I knew that Chantelle wanted this fight as well. It was a very easy fight to make. The minute the Tweet went out a few days later the fight was actually made. Two undisputed champions facing off against each other is absolutely huge for the sport and it has all of the makings of another epic fight. I never pick the easiest challenges – I want the biggest tests and the biggest challenges. I have a chance to become a two-weight undisputed champion on Saturday evening in front of my home crowd. This is so so special.”
Ross Enamait, trainer of Taylor:
“Chantelle is obviously a tremendous fighter, undefeated versus undefeated. But Katie is as motivated as ever. She’s always wanted this fight. I know that there are people that thought she didn’t, but she’s wanted it all along. She’s firing on all cylinders and she’s ready to go. It’s great to be here, it’s special and I think it’s something that maybe we’ll look at afterwards, but up until we get the win it is just business as usual. It doesn’t really matter where we are. It’s great to be here, but I’ve been saying all along, I don’t care if we fight in a dessert with nobody there, we’re coming to get the W. The noise will be epic but she’s been there before, going back to the 2012 Olympics, we fought Serrano at Madison Square Garden, we couldn’t hear the bell ring in several of the rounds, so she’s been there before but when you’re in there fighting you don’t hear the noise, you tune it all out and you just worry about what’s in front of you. I’m sure she (Cameron is going to be aggressive. She’s big and she’s strong, and she’s busy, but Katie has been sparring 15 rounds with fresh opponents coming in every few rounds so if the plan is to wear her out, I think they’re going to need to think again. She’s seen everything, and she’s proven it time and time again. Like I said, she’s firing on all cylinders. I’m sure you’ll see the best Chantelle Cameron but you’re also going to see the best Katie Taylor.”
Chantelle Cameron:
“It’s unbelievable to be here. It feels like it was yesterday I was in Abu Dhabi thinking, ‘wow I’m undisputed World Champion, it’s not going to get bigger than this’ – I remember saying to Jamie the next day what’s next, what can I achieve now? I became undisputed – that was my dream. Fighting Katie Taylor now is my bigger goal – that’s what I always wanted. I never thought it would happen. For me this fight is bigger than becoming undisputed World Champion. Anyone in this division or round about this division has always wanted to fight Katie Taylor because she’s the pound for pound best and if you’re in boxing you want to challenge the best as well, especially if you’re a champion. You’ve got to set yourself them sort of goals and try achieve your own greatness. I’ve always wanted this fight and I didn’t think it would happen. I’m here now. I’ve got so much respect for Katie Taylor as well. When I saw that Amanda Serrano pulled out I thought Katie deserved a homecoming. What she’s done for women’s boxing, I wouldn’t be sat where I am if it wasn’t for Katie Taylor and Claressa Shields. The homecoming, I thought yeah let’s just jump in and take Amanda’s spot because I think Katie deserved this homecoming in Dublin. It was a no brainer for me. It will definitely be hostile but it’s going to be tunnel vision and I’ll be focused on the job at hand. I’ll let everything else go above my head, I’ve got one job to do and that is to win.”
Jamie Moore, trainer of Cameron:
“It certainly is. I don’t think you need me to try and sell it to you Eddie. It’s a phenomenal fight, two fighters probably at the peak of their game, willing and ready to fight each other basically at the drop of a hat. There wasn’t that much negotiations that took place in those few days from the point where Katie put that message out on Instagram. Chantelle accepted it straight away and that is how it should be. I think a lot of other fighters across the world can could take notes from the way these two have dealt with the situation. Talking about two undefeated undisputed Word Champions fighting each other – Chantelle has boxed a reigning undisputed World Champion two fights on the trot now – one above and one below. I don’t think that has ever been done as well. The calibres of fighters they are willing to fight each other with such short negotiations is something to take your hat off to. I’ve seen a difference in Chantelle this camp. She was two or three weeks into a camp to box on April 1st anyway when this came about so she was already in training mode. All of a sudden when this fight came around we saw her go up a gear, or maybe even two. People say all the time this is the best training camp they’ve had. This truly is the best I’ve ever seen Chantelle and if she’s ever going to beat Katie Taylor and give herself the best opportunity, she’s put herself in that situation. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to work out that if I tried to send Chantelle out to outbox Katie Taylor it would be crazy tactics. Who in their right mind would try and go and outbox someone of Katie’s calibre. You have to be a bit smarter than that and you have to use your best attributes. Chantelle has got some phenomenal attributes. It’s easy saying it, the hardest part is actually getting her into the positions to take advantage of her strengths against Katie. That’s going to be the battle early on. I have no doubt in my mind that Chantelle comes out victorious on Saturday. This has the potential to be one of the greatest female fights ever, in fact one of the best fights ever.”
Alfie Sharman, Vice President Marketing – DAZN:
“Thanks Eddie and thanks to everyone for coming out today and joining us in this beautiful location in the heart of Dublin. I just want to say from myself and on behalf of everyone at DAZN how proud we are to be involved in such a historic event. What a fight we have on Saturday as Eddie said. Two undisputed World Champions going head-to-head in Dublin, Katie going up in weight against Chantelle – a formidable opponent. Lots are saying this is Katie’s toughest test to date and I think that’s fair and we’re in for a cracker on Saturday. We’ve had an amazing few weeks at DAZN. ‘Tank’ Davies versus Ryan Garcia – the same night that Joe Cordina became a two-time World Champion. The we went to Mexico with Canelo Alvarez and John Ryder. Here we are now with Taylor vs. Cameron, Wood vs. Lara 2 next week and then we go into another longer period of fights with Matchroom debutant and DAZN debutant World Champion Sunny Edwards, as well as Regis Prograis and going into Claressa Shields and Edgar Berlanga all in June alone, further reconfirming DAZN purely does have the best schedule in boxing. On that note I just want to thank Matchroom, Eddie, Frank and all of the team for their continued support and putting on these fights. It takes a lot of work and we are very grateful for them to allow us to continue to provide the most value to our customers as part of their subscription.”
Eddie Hearn, Matchroom Sport Chairman:
“Thank you Chris and Darren, and thank you everyone for your patience. A huge media turnout here as we approach in my opinion one of the biggest moments in the history of Irish boxing. One of the biggest moments in the history of Irish sport.
On Saturday night at the 3Arena Katie Taylor challenges Chantelle Cameron for the undisputed Super-Lightweight Championship of the World. Katie Taylor, former Olympic Champion, former five-time World Amateur Champion, six time European Champion, World Champion, Undisputed Champion, two division World Champion will fight in Dublin for the first time as she looks to make history and become a two-division Undisputed World Champion.
Chantelle Cameron the reigning 140lbs undisputed will be looking for one of the greatest victories from an English British fighter in the history of our sport as well as she looks to create her own legacy as a great among women’s and men’s boxing worldwide. This is a tremendous fight and I think we should pay homage to both fighters for accepting this challenge.
It’s so refreshing to see World Champions, undisputed champions willing to fight the very best. We don’t see it enough in boxing. When was the last time you would get a reigning undisputed Lightweight World Champion that was scheduled to fight a reigning undisputed Featherweight World Champion, with that fighter pulling out and within 24 hours the undisputed Super-Lightweight World Champion was in the fight? This is exactly what boxing needs and this fight will be epic on Saturday night in front of a sold-out 3Arena – the biggest gate in the history of the 3Arena, live and exclusive on DAZN around the world.
This is a huge moment for DAZN coming off the back of some incredible events. Ryan Garcia against Gervonta Davies, Canelo Alvarez against John Ryder and the return of Anthony Joshua. Of course this weekend, KSI last weekend, going into Leigh Wood against Mauricio Lara next weekend.”
Katie Taylor:
“This is absolutely incredible, we’re only two days away from making my homecoming fight. I think that one of the things that I wanted to achieve when I first turned pro six years ago was to fight here at home. This is a nation who love their sport, who love their boxing, and for a very very small nation we’re very good at it as well. It’s amazing to be bringing big time boxing back to this nation again where it belongs.
This isn’t any normal fight, this is undisputed champions versus undisputed champion. This is a very special fight, one of the biggest fights in boxing I believe. I think we’re definitely turning a new leaf for Irish boxing. Hopefully this is the first night of many here at home in Ireland. Even just looking at the public workout the other day, just looking at so many young fighters there, young girls that were watching the public workout. They’re looking up to myself and Chantelle and all of these other fighters, it’s absolutely fantastic. It’s great to be in a position where you’re influencing the next generation of fighters. They’re going to grow up with big dreams and big ambitions as well which is absolutely amazing. That’s what legacy is all about isn’t it, making the way for the next generation of fighters. Those generation of fighters are going to do even more than we’ve ever done. That’s what real legacy is all about.
When I was growing up as a 9 or 10 year old having these big dreams, I didn’t have the Olympics at the time, we had so many obstacles and so many boundaries in the way. Here we are making the path so much easier for the next generation of fighters. It’s amazing. Just a few hours ago I met up with Deirdre Gogarty who was my hero growing up. She was the only female fighter I knew of at the time. Just the influence that she had on my career is amazing, I could be that for some young girl coming up in the sport as well. I saw the fight slipping away for me, the May 20th date was slipping away. I don’t use social media much but when I do use it I guess I can make a big impact. I knew that Chantelle wanted this fight as well. It was a very easy fight to make. The minute the Tweet went out a few days later the fight was actually made. Two undisputed champions facing off against each other is absolutely huge for the sport and it has all of the makings of another epic fight. I never pick the easiest challenges – I want the biggest tests and the biggest challenges. I have a chance to become a two-weight undisputed champion on Saturday evening in front of my home crowd. This is so so special.”
Ross Enamait, trainer of Taylor:
“Chantelle is obviously a tremendous fighter, undefeated versus undefeated. But Katie is as motivated as ever. She’s always wanted this fight. I know that there are people that thought she didn’t, but she’s wanted it all along. She’s firing on all cylinders and she’s ready to go. It’s great to be here, it’s special and I think it’s something that maybe we’ll look at afterwards, but up until we get the win it is just business as usual. It doesn’t really matter where we are. It’s great to be here, but I’ve been saying all along, I don’t care if we fight in a dessert with nobody there, we’re coming to get the W. The noise will be epic but she’s been there before, going back to the 2012 Olympics, we fought Serrano at Madison Square Garden, we couldn’t hear the bell ring in several of the rounds, so she’s been there before but when you’re in there fighting you don’t hear the noise, you tune it all out and you just worry about what’s in front of you. I’m sure she (Cameron is going to be aggressive. She’s big and she’s strong, and she’s busy, but Katie has been sparring 15 rounds with fresh opponents coming in every few rounds so if the plan is to wear her out, I think they’re going to need to think again. She’s seen everything, and she’s proven it time and time again. Like I said, she’s firing on all cylinders. I’m sure you’ll see the best Chantelle Cameron but you’re also going to see the best Katie Taylor.”
Chantelle Cameron:
“It’s unbelievable to be here. It feels like it was yesterday I was in Abu Dhabi thinking, ‘wow I’m undisputed World Champion, it’s not going to get bigger than this’ – I remember saying to Jamie the next day what’s next, what can I achieve now? I became undisputed – that was my dream. Fighting Katie Taylor now is my bigger goal – that’s what I always wanted. I never thought it would happen. For me this fight is bigger than becoming undisputed World Champion. Anyone in this division or round about this division has always wanted to fight Katie Taylor because she’s the pound for pound best and if you’re in boxing you want to challenge the best as well, especially if you’re a champion. You’ve got to set yourself them sort of goals and try achieve your own greatness. I’ve always wanted this fight and I didn’t think it would happen. I’m here now. I’ve got so much respect for Katie Taylor as well. When I saw that Amanda Serrano pulled out I thought Katie deserved a homecoming. What she’s done for women’s boxing, I wouldn’t be sat where I am if it wasn’t for Katie Taylor and Claressa Shields. The homecoming, I thought yeah let’s just jump in and take Amanda’s spot because I think Katie deserved this homecoming in Dublin. It was a no brainer for me. It will definitely be hostile but it’s going to be tunnel vision and I’ll be focused on the job at hand. I’ll let everything else go above my head, I’ve got one job to do and that is to win.”
Jamie Moore, trainer of Cameron:
“It certainly is. I don’t think you need me to try and sell it to you Eddie. It’s a phenomenal fight, two fighters probably at the peak of their game, willing and ready to fight each other basically at the drop of a hat. There wasn’t that much negotiations that took place in those few days from the point where Katie put that message out on Instagram. Chantelle accepted it straight away and that is how it should be. I think a lot of other fighters across the world can could take notes from the way these two have dealt with the situation. Talking about two undefeated undisputed Word Champions fighting each other – Chantelle has boxed a reigning undisputed World Champion two fights on the trot now – one above and one below. I don’t think that has ever been done as well. The calibres of fighters they are willing to fight each other with such short negotiations is something to take your hat off to. I’ve seen a difference in Chantelle this camp. She was two or three weeks into a camp to box on April 1st anyway when this came about so she was already in training mode. All of a sudden when this fight came around we saw her go up a gear, or maybe even two. People say all the time this is the best training camp they’ve had. This truly is the best I’ve ever seen Chantelle and if she’s ever going to beat Katie Taylor and give herself the best opportunity, she’s put herself in that situation. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to work out that if I tried to send Chantelle out to outbox Katie Taylor it would be crazy tactics. Who in their right mind would try and go and outbox someone of Katie’s calibre. You have to be a bit smarter than that and you have to use your best attributes. Chantelle has got some phenomenal attributes. It’s easy saying it, the hardest part is actually getting her into the positions to take advantage of her strengths against Katie. That’s going to be the battle early on. I have no doubt in my mind that Chantelle comes out victorious on Saturday. This has the potential to be one of the greatest female fights ever, in fact one of the best fights ever.”
Alfie Sharman, Vice President Marketing – DAZN:
“Thanks Eddie and thanks to everyone for coming out today and joining us in this beautiful location in the heart of Dublin. I just want to say from myself and on behalf of everyone at DAZN how proud we are to be involved in such a historic event. What a fight we have on Saturday as Eddie said. Two undisputed World Champions going head-to-head in Dublin, Katie going up in weight against Chantelle – a formidable opponent. Lots are saying this is Katie’s toughest test to date and I think that’s fair and we’re in for a cracker on Saturday. We’ve had an amazing few weeks at DAZN. ‘Tank’ Davies versus Ryan Garcia – the same night that Joe Cordina became a two-time World Champion. The we went to Mexico with Canelo Alvarez and John Ryder. Here we are now with Taylor vs. Cameron, Wood vs. Lara 2 next week and then we go into another longer period of fights with Matchroom debutant and DAZN debutant World Champion Sunny Edwards, as well as Regis Prograis and going into Claressa Shields and Edgar Berlanga all in June alone, further reconfirming DAZN purely does have the best schedule in boxing. On that note I just want to thank Matchroom, Eddie, Frank and all of the team for their continued support and putting on these fights. It takes a lot of work and we are very grateful for them to allow us to continue to provide the most value to our customers as part of their subscription.”
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Ruthless-RKO
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Re: Katie Taylor vs. Chantelle Cameron | DAZN - 20 May 2023
Katie Taylor, Chantelle Cameron Weigh In: Taylor 139.7, Cameron 139.7
Re: Katie Taylor vs. Chantelle Cameron | DAZN - 20 May 2023
Haha who moved this to the womans section
