Before Katie Taylor’s farewell, the undercard fighters get their night at Croke Park

Dave Allen couldn’t care less. As the relentless Matchroom Boxing-powered Katie Taylor machine churns out platitude after hackneyed platitude about the lore of Croke Park, Allen has rocked up to the big show like an extra who never bothered to look at the script.

The English heavyweight is 34 now and Saturday’s fight against Dublin’s Thomas Carty will be his 39th and penultimate pro fight. When he reaches 40 bouts, Allen is getting the hell out of Dodge. But at Thursday’s undercard press conference at The Helix, it seemed part of him was already out the door.