Irish Katie Taylor defeated Amanda Serrano in the biggest fight in the history of women’s boxing.
The undisputed lightweight champion won by split decision after going through all 10 rounds with the Puerto Rican boxer during the first women’s bout, which led to Madison Square Garden in New York.
After a difficult number of rounds in which Taylor stumbles in some cases, she managed to bring him back with an impressive battle in the last few.
Serrano, a nine-time world champion in seven weight classes, was at the top after the middle rounds, striking several powerful blows and leaving Taylor with a bloody nose, but she failed to secure victory.
Image: Katie Taylor retains her status as the undisputed world champion in the lightweight category. Photo: AP
The judge’s final cards are 96/94 for Serrano, 97/93 for Taylor and 96/93 for Taylor.
It was perhaps the toughest test of Taylor’s career, but she extended her unbeaten record to 21 wins from so many battles, retaining her WBC, WBA, IBF and WBO titles.
Speaking after the match, the 35-year-old champion seems to have confirmed her desire to take part in a rematch.
“Let’s do it again, Amanda,” she said.
Her promoter, Eddie Hearn, later seemed to support this, saying he could “see a big rematch later in the year”.
He suggested that the couple should fight in Ireland to give Taylor a chance to appear at Croke Park in Dublin for the first time in his career.
Mr Hearn, who also represents people like Dillian White, Anthony Joshua and Alexander Usick, went on to describe the event as “one of the biggest battles in the history of Madison Square Garden” and thanked the audience for their support.
Image: Katie Taylor (right) and Amanda Serrano during the first round of their match. Photo: AP
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Taylor also took some time to recognize his rival, saying: “What a fighter Amanda Serrano is.
“I think we’re both winners here tonight – look what we both did – the sold-out Madison Square Garden.
“The biggest battle in the history of women’s boxing and we’ve both broken down so many barriers in our entire careers.”
Welcomed by the boos from the stadium, Serrano promoter Jake Paul said she would be “absolutely” ready to fly to Ireland for a rematch, as he expressed disappointment with the result.
“It was a draw at best, we thought we won,” he said. “Amanda performed amazingly, it was a lifelong battle.”
“The crowd is whistling, but everyone is a winner here tonight.”
“Let’s bring him back, as Eddie said in September, October, the second match just got a lot bigger,” he added.
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