On Saturday 5 September, about twelve hours before Taylor walks out at Croke Park in front of 80,000 people, Matchroom Boxing are putting on a free 5k in Ellenfield Park. They're doing it alongside two north Dublin running groups who know the ground better than anyone, Artane Beaumont Running Club and Runners High Dublin. Thomas Lewis is the lead run leader on the day.
It's a nice bit of pairing. Artane Beaumont Running Club is an adult group built for all abilities, with tempo sessions out of Rockfield on Tuesday evenings, an early Thursday morning run and a long run on Saturdays. Runners High Dublin do a community 5k with the social side baked in. Neither of them is a club that asks what your PB is before letting you in the door, which is exactly the tone Matchroom are going for here.
The details
The run goes off at 9am and wraps up by 10. Ellenfield Park is flat, the pace guide is a generous 10 to 15 minutes per mile, and you can run, jog or walk it. There's no entry fee.
Registration is essential. Places are strictly limited and only registered participants will be allowed take part. There's no turning up on the morning and slotting in.
Afterwards, Everlast are opening the doors of the flagship Sports Direct on Henry Street for games, challenges and competitions, with refreshments, products and giveaways from Lidl Ireland, Ten Percent Club and Drip.
A series that travels with the fights
The Fight Day 5K isn't a one-off dreamed up for Dublin. Matchroom have been running these around big fight nights for a couple of years now, teaming up with local clubs wherever they land. Manchester Road Runners and Run the Streets MCR have hosted it. So has Belfast. In June it landed in Lower Manhattan with RunThrough USA ahead of Zayas–Ennis at the Barclays Center. The Matchroom runs are a few hundred people, a warm-up, a lap or three of a local park, and a handful of fighters mixed in among the runners. Eddie Hearn tends to show up and start the thing himself.
The last fight
Taylor faces France's Flora Pili at Croke Park with her WBO, WBA, IBF and Ring Magazine belts on the line, plus the vacant WBC super lightweight title. Win, and she retires as a three-time undisputed world champion. Pili is 12-0, the mandatory challenger for the IBF strap, and the top-ranked contender for the WBC belt, so this is no farewell exhibition.
It's also the first professional boxing event at Croke Park since Muhammad Ali fought Alvin 'Blue' Lewis there in 1972.
RTÉ have picked up the free-to-air rights, so the fight will be on RTÉ2 and the RTÉ Player, with commentary on 2FM. DAZN carry it worldwide. The main card starts around 7pm with ring walks expected close to 10pm.
Fight week itself is unusually open. Matchroom are releasing free tickets to the press conference, the public workout and the weigh-in, the last three of those Taylor will ever do.
Fight Day 5K, Dublin Ellenfield Park, Whitehall, Dublin 9 Saturday 5 September, 8:00–9:00 Free — registration essential, places limited
