Katie Taylor successfully defended her Women’s Super-Lightweight Championship against Amanda Serrano on Friday night in Arlington, Texas, by an unanimous decision. The three ringside judges all scored it 65-64 over the 10 two-minute rounds.
It proved a highly controversial decision with the Netflix commentary team and the local crowd, much of which booed as the 38-year-old Taylor was interviewed on stage after a memorable slugfest that matched the Madison Square Garden fight for intensity.
The 36-year-old Puerto Rican featherweight world champion suffered a bad cut above her right eye early on, with her corner blaming Taylor's "dirty" tactics. The commentators didn't believe the Irishwoman was guilty of deliberate head butting; rather it was more the result of a southpaw (Serrano) clashing with an orthodox fighter. Nonetheless, the referee issued Taylor a warning and eventually deducted her a point in the 8th Round.
Asked on Netflix if she felt after the final bell she’d done enough to win, the Bray, Co. Wicklow, fighter said: "It's very hard to tell during the fight. I knew it was an absolute slug fest in there, an absolute war. Thank God I came out on the winning side.
"Thank you to Amanda, she's a fantastic champion. I think we agreed to 12, three-minute rounds in our next fight. The triple is on.”
When the interviewer commented upon her coming back from some tough opening rounds, Taylor said, ”That’s what a boxer does. We train to be able to recover from those punches. She's a hard puncher. A very tough warrior. I was prepared for that."
As to the booing and hearing the news that the commentators thought Serrano had the edge, the London Olympics gold medalist said, “The only ones who matter are the judges around the ring. So thank God.
"I definitely didn't agree with the point deduction. I certainly wasn't fighting dirty. Sometimes it gets rough in there,” she added.
Finally, Taylor said. ”This is an amazing moment for women's boxing. We put on another amazing show."
The Echo will have a full fight report from our correspondent Jay Mwamba in the paper's upcoming issue.
