The fight between Jake Paul and Mike Tyson on November 15 will be the star spectacle. However, the greater boxing class will take place in the co-main event when the exceptional boxers Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano clash in the rematch.
The first match between Ireland’s Katie Taylor and Puerto Rico’s Amanda Serrano on April 30, 2022 made history. The first women’s main event at Madison Square Garden in New York (USA) – and a “Fight of the Year”-worthy spectacle to boot. The hard-punching Serrano brought the “Bray Bomber” to the brink of a knockout in the fifth round, but the classy Irishwoman turned up the heat in the final four rounds to such an extent that she was able to take a victory by Majority Decision back to the Emerald Isle. Two professionals in top form who gave each other nothing, a close, not uncontroversial victory – it was crying out for a rematch.
This should actually have come soon, in Taylor’s Irish homeland. Before that, she defended her undisputed lightweight championship with a clear points victory over the previously undefeated Karen Carabajal. Serrano, on the other hand, boxed her way to becoming undisputed featherweight champion with unanimous points victories over Sarah Mahfoud and Erika Cruz. This momentum should have led to a rematch between the exceptional boxers – and then Serrano got injured.
Acclimatized to the limit
Taylor chased the next blockbuster fight, competing for the first time in her home country and for the first time outside the light-welterweight division to box against the undisputed world champion in the semi-welterweight Chantelle Cameron from England in May 2023. It was a bitter evening for the Irishwoman, who suffered her first professional defeat with a narrow Majority Decision (95:95 and twice 94:96). The two-time Olympic champion, who was spoiled for success, drew the rematch clause, presented herself better prepared for Cameron on November 25, 2023 and now won by Majority Decision (95:95, 96:94, 98:92). Above all, Taylor now seemed to have acclimatized better to the semi-welter, but erasing the defeat meant a longer wait for Taylor vs.
Following her recovery, her rival Serrano made successful featherweight title defenses against Heather Hardy in August 2023 and Danila Ramos in October 2023, as well as a stay-busy fight against Stevie Morgan in the semi-welterweight division on July 20, which she won by T.K.O. in the second. A few months earlier, Serrano had canceled her fight against German Nina Meinke at short notice, allegedly due to an eye injury.
Serrano takes a risk
The Taylor-Serrano rematch was originally scheduled to take place on July 20 as the co-main event of the fight between YouTube star Jake Paul and boxing legend Mike Tyson at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. However, a stomach ulcer suffered by Tyson meant that the high-profile spectacle had to be postponed, so the Puerto Rican looked for something else to do, which also gave her the 31st knockout victory of her professional career and her first experience in the semi-welterweight division.
Because for the seven-weight class world champion Serrano, the jump from feather to half-welter means a difference of three limits …
Text: Nils Bothmann
You can find the full story on Taylor vs. Serrano II in the current issue of BOXSPORT. It is now available in the app.
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