Madison Square Garden is at once a dream machine and an architectural oddity, with its famous oval dome plonked on top of the much-maligned Penn Station. On Thursday, an enormous screen advertising what will be the closing chapter of the Katie Taylor-Amanda Serrano trilogy dominated the entrance at Eight Avenue and 34th. It must have been a thrilling sight for Taylor – if she gets to see it. At 39 years old, the number of fights in her future are, of course, limited. While it is a shame that she may not get to experience the closing phase of an unparalleled boxing story in a Dublin stadium venue, this seems like the right venue to close out this enthralling rivalry.
It started here in 2022 when Taylor came out on the right side of a riveting fight which was awarded to the Irish boxer on a split decision. That April fight was garlanded with the ‘Event of the Year’ by Ring magazine. But a simmering unhappiness within the Serrano camp at the outcome of that result gave way to open resentment after an equally compelling – and brutal – encounter in the Dallas Cowboys stadium in Texas last September.
Billed as a prelude to the Mike Tyson-Jake Paul extravaganza, the electrifying combination of skill and unrelenting aggression completely overshadowed the main event. Taylor’s face was cut and badly swollen by midnight. Serrano was wreathed in blood and would receive eight stitches for a cut eye caused by Taylor’s head-forward attacking style. The Irish woman was docked a point in the eighth round by the referee and afterwards had to counter open accusations of headbutting, a narrative which the Puerto Rican did little to change in the six months since.
When the two women came face to face in the theatre as the centre piece for an all-female boxing night with a record breaking 17 world championship belts up for grabs across the card, they were clearly grating on one another. Three of those belts sat in front of Taylor. But Serrano, who is signed with the event promoters, MVP, was granted the ceremonial honour of being introduced last. She will also be last in the ring-walk rituals in the arena tonight for a fight that has a 136lbs weight limit although it was originally fixed at 140lbs.
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“That was in the contract,” Taylor said. “But obviously all these belts are still on the line. And I know that I am coming out on stage first here. I am being announced first in the ring on Friday night as well. But this is an MVP show. I don’t really care about that kind of stuff. My mindset doesn’t change. This stuff is just ... nonsense really. I just step in there with a champion’s mindset. I am as hungry as ever. And this is just an MVP show. I know that everyone behind MVP are against me. But that’s okay.”
Throughout her career, Taylor has maintained a notoriously sanguine demeanour in the build-up to fights. This week, she achieved a new level of feistiness, repeatedly correcting Serrano to remind the media and audience that she was “2-and-0” in the rivalry.
“Opinions are opinions,” she said. “But facts are facts. I guess I am just sick and tired of the whining and complaining from the other team. Just the complaints about the decision, the headbutts, whatever. The only thing that matters is that I am 2-and-0 against her and I plan to be 3-and-0 on Friday night.”
Since turning professional, Taylor has powered her way to this point after the gut-wrenching disappointment of the Rio Olympics, with a 24-1 record, that lone defeat against Chantelle Cameron in May 2023.
By the end of the year, she had reversed the result to regain her WBC/WBA/IBF/WBO junior welterweight titles. But the second half of her boxing life has been defined by the quality and unvarnished sporting drama of her fights against Serrano. It has also helped her career earnings. Taylor and Serrano define one another and, in the ring, concoct a mutual ferocity that takes them – and the audience – to a place rarely encountered in professional sport.
Taylor has not fought since Arlington. Her conditioning has always been exemplary. But only during the hour itself will she discover if her body still has the capacity to endure the punishments of 10 two-minute rounds which, in their hands, are likely to be defined by a furious rate of punches thrown and a wild unpredictability.
Serrano, for her part, dismissed the thought of a vulnerability to that eye. She was unbeaten in almost a decade when she first boxed Taylor. Her 47 wins have included 31 knockouts but her bouts against Taylor have been to-the-wire brawls.
“I wouldn’t take the fight if I had any doubts. If that cut happens, we prepare. We saw what I did – I fought until the very end in that last fight and I would do it again if I have to. I’m a warrior. I’m gonna use my head but not the way it was used on me. We are going to be smarter, work smarter. And I believe we will come out victorious.”
Beneath Serrano’s comments is a conviction that she is deserving of a result here, from the judges, from the boxing gods. And there’s no doubt that if this final act is as excruciatingly close as their first meeting, the judging panel will be under ferocious pressure to edge the scorecard in the Puerto Rican’s favour.
But there is a cold truth in Taylor’s assertion that when all the emotion and brilliant theatre was stripped from the Texas fight, she boxed better and finished with a slight but undeniably superior score count. That guiding light could be enough to see Katie Taylor silence the doubts and complaints through her gloves, rather than her words, on Friday night.
Taylor v Serrano will be streamed live globally on Netflix.
