Taylor edges Serrano on  points – split-decision

Irishwoman, Katie Taylor beats Amanda Serrano on points with a split-decision win in an instant classic at Madison Square Garden in New York and retained her undisputed lightweight title. No one ever envisioned selling out Madison Square Garden 19, 187 tickets to be exact.

Two of the three judges saw it for Taylor, who got  97-93  and  96-93, with one judge scoring 96-94 to Serrano. In the first four rounds, Serrano was the aggressor as the southpaw, and Taylor looking to counter at speed. Serrano would move in close and fire big shots, with Taylor happy to let the challenger advance on her. In the fifth round, Serrano cornered Taylor against the ropes and fired crunching shots connecting to the head of Taylor’s and spitting blood, and looked one punch away from hitting the deck. The sixth round was Katie Taylor’s greatest. The Irishwoman withstood the onslaught and discovered her feet in the seventh as Taylor could control the fight in the middle of the ring if she kept moving and finally it seemed like Serrano took her feet off the gas. After her slowest round, Serrano came out swinging again in the eight, eager to re-establish herself. In the final two rounds, Taylor was yet to hurt Serrano, but that was soon to change as in the ninth round Taylor managed to take some sort of control, but it was short-lived. In the final round, Serrano swung from the hips at times with Taylor responding with painful counters. The final 10 seconds was a feat of power and cardio from both women. Taylor edged it in a fight that was in very close. Every punch was cheered like a knockout blow. Amanda Serrano was near perfect, missing only the knockdown blow. Katie showed everybody women can pack out a crowd and put on a great fight as well.

Katie Taylor said “It was an absolute war for 10 rounds. I’m grateful to be in this position and sell out Madison Square Garden. Look what we’ve just done. I said before that when you think Madison Square Garden you think Muhammad Ali vs Joe Frazier, but now everyone will be thinking of Katie Taylor v Amanda Serrano. I knew I was going to have to dig deep and go to the trenches. I have a heart as well as a skill. I knew I was going to be able to pull through. She’s a phenomenal fighter.  A great, great person. It was a privilege to fight her again”.