NEW YORK -- After 60 minutes and 30 rounds spent inside the ring together, the trilogy between Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano reached its conclusion with Taylor winning a majority decision in a far more calculated and tentative affair than their previous encounters to retain her undisputed super lightweight championship.
The fight capped off a historic all-women's fight card in front of an energetic sold-out crowd of 19,721 fans at Madison Square Garden, with a 2.63 million gate that streamed live on Netflix. However, unlike their other two thrilling showdowns that were narrowly won by Taylor, this was a much more subdued affair with the Irishwoman using a check hook and flurries to take a more definitive decision with two scores of 97-93 and one judge seeing it even at 95-95.
"I was obviously planning to come in here and fight a disciplined in this match," said Taylor of her performance. "I was planning to do it the first two times as well, but it didn't work out like that. Thankfully I was able to execute my game plan very well, move my feet and not let her get set on her feet."
Taylor and Serrano's previous two meetings were rousing encounters that Taylor won in disputed fashion but raised the profile of women's boxing overall. Their third meeting put a spotlight on women's boxing with 17 world titles contested across the fight card but didn't quite meet the extraordinarily high bar set by the first two fights.
Both Taylor and Serrano landed 70 punches each, a far cry from Taylor landing a combined 364 punches in the first two fights and Serrano landing 497.
"We tried something different," said Serrano. "It was all about working smarter, not harder. I tried to keep my distance and tried not to go in there and fight with her because, apparently, it didn't work in the first two fights. We tried to just stick with the long punches, the one two, and I guess it just wasn't enough."
Taylor and Serrano's first encounter took place April 30, 2022, at Madison Square Garden and had a global audience of 1.5 million viewers on Netflix. Their rematch last November as the co-main event to Jake Paul's decision over Mike Tyson became the most watched women's sporting event in U.S. history, averaging 74 million live viewers globally on Netflix.
"[We proved] the women can fight, we can sell, and we look good doing it," said Serrano, who found a silver lining despite falling short to Taylor again.
The duo had the stage all to themselves in New York and brought along the present and future of women's boxing with them. But it was the Pride of Ireland who put a stamp on the rivalry with a 3-0 sweep.
Unlike their previous two encounters, the pair spent the first two rounds being extremely cautious before Serrano began to ramp up the pressure in round 3. Taylor remained composed and picked her spots while Serrano flashed the jab and landed the occasional combination.
Taylor (25-1, 6 KOs) opened up more in round five and caught Serrano with the right hand and prevented "The Real Deal" from cornering her by circling away after every flurry of punches. Taylor started timing Serrano's advances in round six and bounced several combinations off her opponent's skull whenever she sought to advance. Although persistent, Serrano's refusal to let her hands go eventually became her undoing.
By the later rounds, Taylor was comfortable with the pace and stiffed Serrano (47-4-1, 31 KOs) with flurries and used a check hook to keep the Puerto Rican from charging in.
Fighting out of Carolina, Puerto Rico, Serrano simply didn't look like herself and only came to life in the final round with the decision well in hand.
With the win, the most important rivalry in women's boxing has come to a close and the future for both fighters is undecided. Even though the final chapter didn't reach the heights of their previous two encounters, Taylor and Serrano undoubtedly put women's boxing on a pedestal that it hadn't been on before.
Given a definitive conclusion in their final encounter, Taylor is happy to move on to other opponents or retirement.
"I don't know [what the future holds], but I just don't want to fight Amanda Serrano again," Taylor said. "She punches too hard."
In the co-main event, Alycia Baumgardner (16-1, 7 KOs 1 No Contest) retained her undisputed super featherweight championship with a unanimous decision over the previously undefeated Jennifer Miranda (12-1). "The Bomb" retained with scores of 98-92, 98-92 and 97-93.
It was a cat-and-mouse affair early with Baumgardner using her jab and trying to set traps to land her vaunted right hand. But Miranda was wise to the game plan and landed several counter right hands to pick off the champion's advances.
However, Miranda simply wasn't busy enough to and allowed Baumgardner to start and end one too many exchanges.
Baumgardner ended a long layoff with a win and said in her post-fight interview that she was rusty and wants to get back in as soon as possible. With Jake Paul anointing her as the future of Most Valuable Promotions chances are they'll keep her busy.