MIAMI—It’s been discussed for well over a year, but the long-awaited superfight between Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano finally appears to be well within reach.
Serrano did her part to advance the forthcoming pound-for-pound showdown, as the seven-division titlist picked up a 3rd round knockout of Brazil’s Simone Aparecida Da Silva (17-15, 6KOs) in their January 30 clash at Meridian at Island Gardens in Miami, Florida. The bout was placed on the show—which came off-air prior to the DAZN livestream—on barely a week’s notice, though just enough time to register her first win of 2020 and to set up the biggest fight of her already record-setting career.
“Amanda Serrano is a beast,” Eddie Hearn, Taylor’s promoter—and also Serrano’s co-promoter along with Hall of Fame-elected Lou DiBella—exclaimed to BoxingScene.com after her latest win. “That fight with Katie Taylor is the biggest female fight of all time.”
The foundation for the pairing was established as far back as October 2018, when Ireland’s Taylor (15-0, 6KOs) soundly outpointed Cindy Serrano—Amanda’s older sister—on a DAZN card in Boston, Massachusetts. From there came a natural born rivalry, with the younger Serrano—who is trained and managed by brother-in-law Jordan Maldonado—and DiBella entering a three-fight co-promotional deal with Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing USA and DAZN. The last of the three fights was to come against Taylor, but the road to that point became difficult, to say the least.
Serrano began her pact with a 35-second wipeout of Eva Voraberger last January. The win added to her collection a vacant 115-pound title, advancing her already established record of having claimed more divisional titles than any female or any Puerto Rican boxer (male or female) in history. Efforts to return to the ring initially proved struggling before landing on an all-Brooklyn clash with then-unbeaten featherweight titlist Heather Hardy, whom Serrano widely outpointed over 10 rounds last September in New York City.
By then, Taylor—a two-time Olympian and 2012 Olympic Gold medalist—had established herself as the undisputed lightweight queen, dethroning then-unbeaten Rose Volante and fellow pound-for-pound entrant Delfine Persoon in March and June, respectively, following a 10-round win over unbeaten Eva Wahlstrom in December 2018.
Taylor—easily the most popular boxer in Ireland today—has since added a 140-pound belt to her résumé, snatching the title from Greece’s Christina Linardatou last November in her first fight in Europe since July 2018. The 33-year old Bray native has since relinquished the title, preparing to defend her undisputed lightweight championship, while Serrano—much as she did with her win over Hardy—looks to establish a second title reign at the weight.
For more than a year a question of if the fight would happen, all parties involved now agree it’s merely a matter of when.
“I believe end of March, early April,” confirmed Hearn. “London or New York will host.”
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox
