Katie Taylor v Amanda Serrano: What to expect?
By Tom Masters
On April 30, 2022, at Madison Square Garden, New York, Amanda Serrano and Katie Taylor are due to finally lock horns in a fight that will arguably be the biggest fight in women’s boxing.
Taylor, from Bray, Ireland is the undisputed lightweight champion. 20 fights, 20 wins.
Serrano, from Carolina, Puerto Rico is the unified featherweight champion. 44 fights, 42 wins.
It has been a fight we’ve been promised before, but each time, there was a withdrawal.
This time it seems there will be no such thing and two of boxing’s biggest names will finally go to battle.
Recent records
2021 saw both fight three times and with their records unsurprisingly they both won all three of those fights.
Taylor retained her WBA, WBC, IBF and WBO titles in her wins over Natasha Jones, Jennifer Han and Firuza Sharipova, all of which by unanimous decision, she will be defending those titles against Serrano in April.
Serrano already held the WBC and WBO featherweight titles before fighting Argentine Daniela Romina Bermúdez for the IBO title.
Victory in San Juan saw her add that title to her collection and she went on to defend all three belts against Yamileth Mercado before defeating Miriam Gutiérrez.
What have they said?
With such a big fight, there is always going to be a lot said by both fighters, especially with so much build-up.
However, unlike with many fights of this size, both have voiced their excitement rather than beginning a war of words.
Taylor said: “I think 2022 could potentially be the biggest year of my whole career, because of the opportunities I'll have to be involved in the biggest fights that women's boxing has seen.
“I don't know the order my fights will go in for sure, but I know that the next fight has to be against Amanda Serrano. I would be hugely disappointed if it wasn't.
“It feels like people have been talking about this Serrano fight for years now, and people are excited to finally see it happen. It's obviously been scheduled to happen a couple of times previously and fallen through for whatever reasons on her side. But hopefully this time it does happen.”
Serrano too is thinking more about the spectacle and the importance for women’s boxing than starting any sort of feud with the Irish 35-year-old.
She said: "It's the mega fight for women's boxing, it's two pound-for-pound girls going out there.
“You have an undisputed champion and a seven-division world champion facing each other and I think that's the mega fight for women.
"I think we're going to blow off those ceilings for women's boxing. A seven-figure payday for both of us, Madison Square Garden, the big theater, main event. I mean, it's going to be an amazing night."
What can we expect?
One thing is for sure, this fight will be tense – both fighters have enjoyed immense success, but a fight of this scale is a whole different story.
The styles of the two boxers certainly add to the interest too, as Taylor, whilst undefeated, has only won by KO on six occasions as opposed to Serrano’s 32 knockout wins from 44 fights.
Both at the same height, with next to the same reach, it will be a very tight fight and almost certainly would go the distance.
A knockout is possible, but these two fighters are clever, respect each other immensely, and taste defeat very rarely (Serrano lost her only fight in 2012) making the prospect of a mistake seem unlikely.