By Chris Mannix
May 2, 2022
Source: SI
Photo Source: Erick Rasco
Billed as the biggest women’s boxing match ever, there was no need for caveats after Taylor’s hand was raised.
NEW YORK — Your winner, boomed the voice of David Diamante and from a few feet away Katie Taylor gazed straight ahead, expressionless. Six years after turning pro, five since she won her first world title, three since she became the undisputed champion at 135 pounds and here was Taylor, battered and bloodied after a hellacious, Fight of the Year–caliber war with Amanda Serrano, awaiting the judges’ decision.
Next to her. Serrano, the rugged, Puerto Rico–born, Brooklyn-raised seven-division world champion. Serrano didn’t pick up boxing until she was 18. If Taylor, the Olympic gold medalist, was bred for this moment, Serrano had to claw her way there, through fights in small ballrooms and on untelevised undercards, mixing in MMA matches to pay the bills until a young YouTube star came along with the goal of making Serrano a household name. She was the Marvin Hagler to Taylor’s Sugar Ray Leonard and now, like Hagler 35 years earlier, stood in the center of the ring wondering whether she did enough to win a decision.
And still, bellowed Diamante, immediately sending Taylor’s team into a frenzy. Taylor’s trainer, Ross Enamait, lifted Taylor into the air. In 2016, Taylor, her boxing career in shambles after an early exit from the Olympics, reached out to Enamait about training her. She moved to Connecticut and, in the quiet of a nondescript gym without a single picture of Taylor on the walls, rebuilt her career. And on Saturday, with thousands of Irish fans roaring inside Madison Square Garden, she added a crowning achievement.
“The best moment of my career,” Taylor said. “For sure.” Make no mistake: The outcome of this fight mattered. Taylor, 35, and Serrano, 33, had circled each other for years. They nearly fought in 2020, in the most challenging days of the pandemic, when Eddie Hearn was staging shows in his backyard. They were two of the most accomplished fighters in women’s boxing, top three on Sports Illustrated’s pound-for-pound list, and the win by Taylor not only cemented her place atop it but enhanced her case to be called the greatest women’s boxer of all time.
More important, though, was that this fight happened. And how it played out. MSG has hosted boxing matches for more than a century. You won’t find many atmospheres better than last Saturday night. More than 19,000 (mostly) paying customers churned through the gates. For every Irish fan, a Puerto Rican one, for every “Olé, olé, olé olé” a “Yo soy Boricua” to drown it out. Women’s boxers, past and present, filled the arena, from Christy Martin to Laila Ali, Claressa Shields to Seniesa Estrada. This wasn’t a significant women’s fight. This was a significant fight.
In the ring, it was a classic. The biggest fight in women’s boxing history before Saturday was between Christy Martin and Deirdre Gogarty, who in 1996 earned a spot on the Mike Tyson–Frank Bruno undercard and made the most of it, waging a memorable six-round war. Taylor has referenced that fight often, not just the significance of it but the value of it being entertaining. If Martin-Gogarty was the bar, Taylor-Serrano leaped over it. Taylor entered the fight the more accomplished boxer. Serrano, despite being the naturally smaller fighter, the bigger puncher. A quiet first three rounds eventually gave way to a slugfest. In the fifth, Serrano’s pressure got to Taylor. She cornered Taylor, unleashing crushing combinations. For the final minute, Taylor stumbled on shaky legs.
“Probably stood there a little too long,” Taylor said. “Made it into a bit of a tear-up, like I always do, unfortunately. I got stuck in a fight with her.”
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