Katie Taylor Split Decisions Amanda Serrano In Thrilling Contest; What’s Left For Taylor?
Ireland\’s Katie Taylor (21-0) retained her undisputed lightweight championships with a thrilling split-decision victory over the seven-division champion and P4P#2 Puerto Rico\’s Amanda Serrano (42-2-1). The scores were 97-93, 96-3 for Taylor and a controversial 96-94 for Serrano.
Serrano and Taylor delivered a fight of the year contender on DAZN in front of a 19,137 sell-out Madison Square Garden in the biggest fight in women\’s boxing history. Taylor cemented her legacy as an Irish sporting and world boxing legend achieving the \’best moment of her career.
Taylor vs Serrano: Fight Recap
Katie Taylor boxed on the outside with fast feet and single-shot counters in the first 3-rounds easily winning with her hand speed advantage. In the fourth and fifth she made the mistake of trading with Serrano and was badly hurt in the fifth with her moments away from being stopped.
Taylor\’s heart and experience saw her last out the fifth round and after a shaky but sixth and seventh with her attempting to recover and incorporate plenty of movement, Serrano let her off the hook instead of capitalising.
The Irish star won the eighth and ninth and the first minute of the tenth before they had a spectacular trade-off in the middle off the ring with each taking the other\’s best shots. After the final bell in the tenth, the consensus was a 6-4, 7-3 victory for Taylor with the feeling that Serrano had let the fight go in the final few rounds.
Katie Taylor vs Amanda Serrano Rematch
In the initial press conference for Taylor vs Serrano, the discussion was already bought up about this being a trilogy rivalry and promoters Eddie Hearn and Jake Paul assured us that could be the case if the fight were exciting and competitive enough. There is no doubt that we got just that at MSG and in the ring there were strong talks of a rematch between the two.
They\’ve already sold out MSG, and had the big US fight so for the rematch we would like to see something different. With Taylor emerging as the winner, it makes sense for the rematch to be on her terms. Nothing would be better than a massive homecoming at Croke Park in Dublin in front of 80,000 fans – the support we know KT can generate.
Amanda Serrano deserves a rematch after the performance, she put in and how she had Taylor badly hurt in the fifth. The rematch between the pair would also elevate women\’s boxing to another level, even more, from yesterday night. Taylor Serrano is that one fight that changes the whole landscape of female boxing and for that reason, we must see it again.
Chantelle Cameron-Kali Reis Winner
Unbeaten WBC/IBF Champion, Northampton\’s Chantelle Cameron defends her unified titles against Victoria Bustos on the Buatsi Richards undercard at the O2. After that, she is expected to go into the undisputed fight at 140 with the other unified champion American Kali Reis.
Katie Taylor has already won a belt at 140 in 2019 and it would be truly legacy-making if she could be undisputed at two different weights classes in the four-belt era. It would surpass the same achievement of Claressa Shields because she would have to beat proven Pound-For-Pound champions to do it.
Cameron a strong favourite in this matchup with Reis would be the more likely opponent for the undisputed at 140 for Taylor. Katie has never sold out a big arena in the UK and it would be great to see Taylor-Cameron, Britain vs Ireland headline and sell out either the O2 or Manchester Arena. This fight wouldn\’t be possible till next year, so Taylor could still rematch Serrano first.
Jessica McCaskill Undisputed at 147
From the heavy Serrano biased commentary from Undisputed Welterweight Champion Jessica McCaskill last night, there is still an intense rivalry brewing between Taylor and McCaskill. A fight between the pair at a 141-pound catchweight giving Taylor the chance to be undisputed, but not at a massive size disadvantage with weight would be perfect for sometime next year.
McCaskill is one of the Top 5 P4P fighters in female boxing and an extremely worthy opponent. She beat champion Cecilia Braekhus in back-to-back upsets in her rise to fame. She dropped a decision to Taylor back in 2017. With the weight disparity and the ever-improving nature of McCaskill, it\’s another 50-50 fight for Ireland\’s Katie Taylor.
Other Options
130-Pound Champions Mikaela Mayer and Alycia Baumgardner are on a pathway to an undisputed matchup in 2022, the winner of that would be another big fight for Katie Taylor in the United States.
Amateur Rival and 2016 Olympic Gold Medalist, France\’s Estella Mossely called out Taylor before the fight and wants her name in the mix.
Liverpool Southpaw Natasha Jonas craves a rematch with Taylor after their exciting first contest. The problem here would be the Sky-DAZN network.
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