NEW YORK —
Katie Taylor’s first two wins over
Amanda Serrano ignited the boxing world and produced thrills for days. But her third victory over the Puerto Rican star at
Madison Square Garden on Friday was her best performance of the trilogy, as she fought a disciplined 10-rounder that resulted in a majority-decision win.
Judge Mark Lyson saw the bout 95-95, but was overruled by Steve Weisfeld and Nicolas Esnault, who each scored it 97-93 for Ireland’s Taylor, who retained her undisputed junior welterweight title with the win, which followed 2022 and '24 victories over Serrano.
Following lengthy ring walks and introductions that produced a deafening roar from the crowd, Taylor and Serrano began Round 21.
Taylor (24-1, 6 KOs) took the center of the ring and put Serrano (47-4-1, 31 KOs) on her back foot as the two exchanged range-finding jabs and alternated the role of aggressor without any significant exchanges.
Taylor, 39, stuck to a simple, yet effective, strategy in the second — get in, get out and force Serrano to reset. Serrano wasn’t showing any visible frustration, but the rounds were going by quickly without her able to tag Taylor consistently or slow her down enough to let her hands go. By the third, she was getting closer, though, and a fight was starting to brew.
But in the fourth, Taylor’s disciplined attack returned, and while it wasn’t producing the action of the first two fights, it was allowing her to dictate the pace and location of the fight as Serrano was forced to adjust on the fly.
With five rounds to go, Serrano, 36, had to start turning up the heat. Just when she began closing the distance while pushing Taylor into a corner in the sixth, Taylor fired off a blistering combination to get free.
Serrano was undeterred in her forward march, though, perhaps counting on her pressure to eventually wear her opponent down.
The seventh was another close one, with Serrano continuing to stalk while Taylor was sticking and moving, neither showing signs of fatigue. In the eighth, the southpaw Serrano began letting her left hand go with more frequency, drawing cheers every time it landed, and with two rounds remaining it was looking to be anyone’s fight.
With the crowd chanting her name, Taylor upped her offensive work rate in the ninth, and the final two minutes were clearly going to be tense ones. And they were, Serrano looking to land anything, while Taylor potshotted, her speed still a factor before the final bell sounded.