Eddie Hearn has a lot of faith in the drawing power of his ace client Katie Taylor, the unified women’s lightweight champion from Ireland.

So much so that the head of Matchroom Boxing does not think that possible COVID-19 protocols in the springtime – the sort that would restrict international travel and thus prevent fans from her homeland from making the trip to the United States – will have such a negative effect on the April 30 women’s lightweight unification bout between Taylor (20-0, 6 KOs) and Amanda Serrano at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

Hearn believes Taylor’s celebrity is such that the Irish diaspora in the New York City metropolitan area will more than make up for any potential loss of visitors from Ireland.

“Don’t worry about traveling [ban],” Hearn told BoxingScene.com. “The Irish in New York, that live in New York, could fill up that place. Do you know what I mean? She’s a complete hero in Ireland.”

The boxing world has seen plenty of gates curtailed because of governmental policy measures in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. For example, the third match between Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder last summer, which Fury won by 11th-round knockout, underperformed because of a travel ban that barred Fury’s considerable British contingent from entering the United States, at least according to Fury’s promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank Inc.

For Hearn, there was never any question about staging Taylor-Serrano at the smaller, and more risk-proof, sister venue at MSG, the Hulu Theater, which typically cannot host more than 5,000 audience members. Although potential unsavory scenarios were considered, Hearn said the magnitude of the bout dictated that it take place in the “big room” of MSG, where it can seat up to 20,000-odd spectators. Indeed, Taylor-Serrano is the first women’s title bout to ever headline the famed venue. The bout should also benefit from the fact that the challenger, Serrano (42-1-1, 30 KOs), a seven-division world champion, is a New York City native. Her friend and business partner, the sporting lightning rod Jake Paul, figures to put a considerable spotlight on the fight as well.

“You’ve got to give the fight a big stage,” Hearn said. “If you go to the [Hulu] Theater for this fight, you’ll sell it out in an hour. So what? You’re in the Theater. This is a moment that will be remembered forever [so it needed to be in the big arena].

“We will have a bumper crowd on April 30th.”