Former MTK boxer and Gerry Hutch’s friend Anthony Fitzgerald spotted at Katie Taylor event

Former MTK-Global boxer Anthony Fitzgerald was among a huge crowd present as Taylor worked out in Dundrum Shopping Centre in the run up to her clash with Chantelle Cameron in Dublin’s 3Arena.

It is the first major boxing event to be held in Dublin since the ill fated Clash of the Clans event which was cancelled after David Byrne was shot dead at the Regency Hotel.

Fitzgerald was in the Regency Hotel for the boxing weigh-in on February 5, 2016 and was due to fight on the undercard of the WBO European lightweight title fight between Jamie Kavanagh and Antonio João Bento .

Fitzgerald, a friend of the Hutch family, was seen putting members of his family into a car before speeding from the scene after Kinahan associate Byrne (33) was murdered.

At the time, a statement on the Irish-Boxing.com website said that after the “much publicised incident at the Regency Hotel both cards scheduled for Dublin this weekend have been cancelled”.

The statement said the incident was a “sad news for Dublin fight fans” and “frustrating for the likes of Jamie Kavanagh, Stephen Ormond, Declan Geraghty, Anthony Fitzgerald, Craig O’Brien, Sean Creagh who were scheduled to fight on Saturday.”

Taylor’s opponent Chantelle Cameron is one of a number of boxers who was signed to MTK before it was wound down after the US treasury sanctions imposed on Daniel Kinahan, his father Christy Snr and brother Christopher Jnr.

Her coach Jamie Moore once lived with Kinahan in Spain and was shot in a case of mistaken identity on the grounds of his luxury villa near Peurto Banus, an incident which was described during the recent Regency Hotel trial as a key moment in the ensuing Kinahan and Hutch feud.

Boxer Gary Cully, another former MTK fighter, is on the undercard for the 3Arena.

Days after the Regency Hotel, Fitzgerald quit boxing and was embroiled in several violent incidents believed to have been carried out by Kinahan associates.

Fitzgerald, a cousin of the family through Gerry 'The Monk' Hutch, is not suspected of involvement in any subsequent feud-related incident, but found himself a target due to his close connections with the Hutches and was slashed in the face in an attack in Dublin’s city centre in 2016.

Known as the 'The Pride of Dublin', Fitzgerald was attacked in Dublin's Parnell Street in broad daylight by a man carrying a knife who had approached him and slashed him across the face.

Fitzgerald also received stab wounds to his body during the assault.

Fitzgerald was a prominent mourner at the funerals of Eddie Hutch Snr and Gareth Hutch, who were murdered in the feud.

Fitzgerald, who had pleaded guilty to assault causing harm after he attacked a bus driver on the North Circular Road on November 18, 2014, was spared jail in January of this year for punching a man during a violent street brawl.

Judge Bryan Smyth gave him a six-month sentence suspended for a year after Fitzgerald, a father-of-three from Gloucester Place Lower, Dublin 1 pleaded guilty to affray on January 11, 2019.

The former professional boxer “unfortunately fell afoul of the feud in the inner city” because he had been pall bearer at a funeral and “people took umbrage at that and he became a target, Defence solicitor Yvonne Bambury told the court.

He had been under threat ever since and was stabbed twice because of his family affiliations.

Meanwhile, security around the Katie Taylor fight this weekend has been set at the highest level with organisers admitting that “Dublin is a lovely city but there is a very real threat” particularly with the “politics that go around boxing.”

Matchroom are flying a large number of protection officers in from all over the UK and have hired ex-military and other security personnel in Ireland.

They have told staff they have full support from gardai who are placing undercover and covert uniformed officers at the ticket only weigh in on Friday which will be “heavy handed” from a security point of view.

They have also urged all staff to keep an eye out for anything that looks suspicious, particularly people that keep showing up in strange places, at hotels and other venues.

Promoters Frank Smith and Eddie Hearn along with boxers Katie Taylor and Chantelle Cameron and their teams are to be shadowed at all times by Close Protection officers, in particular while in the ring on Saturday night.

None of the ex-MTK boxers or trainers or Katie Taylor have any involvement in criminality.