Nov 15,2024
It would be a stretch to say Katie Taylor stands on the brink of greatness. As a two-weight undisputed champion, she already has two feet on that podium.
But beating Amanda Serrano for a second time, in Texas tonight, would strengthen the argument for the Irish woman to be considered to the best female boxer of all time.
Taylor's first fight against the Puerto Rican, in April 2022, would already have been memorable for its historic status as the inaugural women’s bout to headline (and sell out) Madison Square Garden.
But the epic nature of the contest, the Bray native surviving a fifth round when she looked out on her feet to recover and outbox her opponent for the remainder, more than justified the hype.
Serrano should have finished it then but she didn’t and Taylor took a deserved split-decision victory after they closed out the tenth and final round with a furious 30-second brawl.
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The reason we can’t say Taylor (23-1-0) is the greatest if she wins tonight is also one of the main reasons she is the deserved (slight) favourite again: weight.
Claressa Shields was also one of the first group of women to win Olympic gold at London 2012. She reclaimed the middleweight title in Rio and has since claimed professional world championship belts at five different marks: most recently light heavyweight and heavyweight in the same win over Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse in July.
That was at 175lbs or 79 kilogrammes, 37lbs/16.7kg heavier than the limit of 138 that Taylor and Serrano had to weigh in at yesterday. She is also three inches taller than the Irish woman. Weight divisions exist in combat sports for a reason. Shields would likely batter both of tonight’s fighters so the debate on who is the greatest will have to stay in the frame of 'pound for pound’ speculation, at least if she is involved.
But two of the other main contenders can stake their claim in front of what is expected to be a world-record audience for a female fight, it being no extra cost to Netflix’s 282 million subscribers worldwide.
The superb Serrano (47-2-1) has won nine world titles across a record seven divisions but is a natural featherweight, where she was the unified champ from 2019-23 and still holds two of the belts. She admits tonight’s catchweight is an advantage to the reigning unified super-lightweight champion.
"It's always hard for me and uncomfortable when I have to leave my weight class where I feel comfortable at," Serrano said. "[I’ve had] to eat a lot more protein, a lot more carbs just to make sure that I feel good at the weight. I'm hoping that I can make at least the 138 [after last night's weigh-in], but it is what it is. I'm chasing greatness and that's going up three divisions to face Katie Taylor once again, and I will be victorious."
Following the classic clash at 135lbs (lightweight) in New York, Serrano's promoter and YouTube star Jake Paul - who you may have heard is fighting 58-year-old Mike Tyson afterwards tonight - proposed $2m for a rematch at 126lbs, which Taylor rightly laughed off, saying "I’ve never heard someone say something as stupid as that to be quite honest."
The champ doesn’t come down to the challenger’s weight, it’s the other way round. Just like when Taylor went up to super-lightweight (140lbs) for her first career loss – and first professional appearance in Dublin - against then undisputed champ Chantelle Cameron in May last year.
Taylor had no complaints about her majority-decision loss that night – unlike Serrano and Cameron - and it seemed foolish pride to immediately pursue a rematch against a naturally bigger fighter who is five years younger. But she delivered the most impressive performance of her career when taking deserved revenge over the English woman at the 3Arena last November to join Carl Frampton and Steve Collins as Ireland’s only two-weight champions.
Katie hasn’t fought since, which is a slight concern, aged 38. This box-office sequel was supposed to take place last summer until the challenger suffered an injury. Then, an illness for Tyson pushed back the initial date for this card, from June.
Even moving up in weight, southpaw Serrano packs more power – she has won 66% of her fights by KO – than Taylor. But then most opponents do. Katie hasn’t added to her six career stoppages since Rose Volante in March 2019.
Her strengths are her movement, hand-speed and accuracy, landing flurries of combinations and then getting out of trouble to edge each round on the scorecards. Serrano is more of a front-foot fighter but landed only 28% (173 of 624) of her punches to Taylor's 38% (147/375) last time out.
If she hasn't lost any speed, then the big danger is that she can’t resist getting sucked into a brawl, even though that would suit Serrano better.
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Serrano will think she should have inflicted at least a career-first knockdown on Taylor last time and will be confident of doing so tonight. Taylor reckons surviving the fifth to win in New York showed that she can take the worst Serrano has to offer. She has repeatedly refused her opponent's offers of three-minute rather than two-minute rounds, and clearly feels she has a stamina advantage at this weight.
What next? If she loses tonight, Taylor will want a rematch for a series decider with Serrano, though promoter Eddie Hearn has suggested that the long-desired Croke Park showcase seems unlikely.
Hanging up the gloves might be the wisest move after another victory, but Taylor said last week that she would "at least have to have the trilogy with Chantelle to retire".
A warrior to the last. Let’s hope the scales tip even further in her favour tonight.
