By Ian S Palmer
There’s a huge women’s boxing title bout on tap at New York City’s famous Madison Square Garden this Saturday, April 30th as the main event will see unbeaten Katie Taylor of Ireland put her WBC, WBA, IBF, and WBO World Female Lightweight Titles on the line against Amanda Serrano of Puerto Rico. The 10-rounder can be seen live in most nations on DAZN. Taylor last fought in December when she beat Firuza Sharipova via a 10-round unanimous decision. Serrano last boxed in December as well when she took a 10-round unanimous decision over Miriam Guttierez.
The 35-year-old champion Katie Taylor enters the ring with a perfect record of 20-0 with 6 Kos. She’s boxed 164 rounds since making her pro debut in 2016 following a wonderful amateur career. She won a gold medal at the 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014 and 2016 AIBA World Boxing Championships and also captured a gold medal at the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London, England. She returned to the Olympics in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro and lost in her first bout after receiving a bye in the first round of action.
Taylor is quite a celebrity in her homeland as she was honoured with the International Boxing Association (AIBA) World Female Boxer of the Year Award in 2010, the People of the Year Awards – Sportsperson of the Year and the RTÉ Sports Person of the Year in 2012 as well as the Irish Times/Irish Sports Council Sportswoman of the Year for 2014. Taylor has exceptional boxing skills but not much in the way of power as her current knockout ratio stands at 30 per cent.
Her last stoppage came in 2019 and she’s gone the distance in her last seven outings. Taylor stands 5-feet-5-inches tall with a 66-inch reach and won her first professional world title in 2017. She’s beaten some of the top female boxers of her division over the years with wins over Anahi Esther Sanchez, Jessica McCaskill, Jennifer Han, Victoria Noelia Bustos, Cindy Serrano, Natasha Jones, Eva Wahlstrom, Rose Volante, Delfine Persoon (twice) and Christina Linardatou.
Taylor has weighed between 132.5 lbs and 139.5 lbs as a pro and has also captured the WBO world Female Super Lightweight Title along the way. She fought Amanda Serrano’s older sister Cindy Serrano in October, 2018 and came away with a wide 10-round unanimous decision by winning every round on the judges’ scorecards.
Amanda Serrano is a 33-year-old southpaw who owns an impressive record of 42-1-1 with 30 Kos. She has 182 rounds under her belt since turning pro in 2009 and now resides in Brooklyn, New York and also has experience in wrestling and mixed martial arts. She stands just over 5-feet-5-inches tall with a 65.5-inch reach so comes into the ring more or less the same size as Taylor. However, Serrano has much more power in her fists with a current knockout ratio of 68.2 per cent. Having said that, she’s gone the distance in her last two fights and four of the past eight.
She’s a former Staten Island, New York City Golden Gloves, and Empire State Amateur Champion and has won numerous regional and minor pro titles. Since turning pro, Serrano has also captured the IBF World Female Super Featherweight, WBO World Female Lightweight, WBO World Female Featherweight, WBO World Female Super Bantamweight, WBO World Female Bantamweight, WBO World Female Super Lightweight, and WBO World Female Super Flyweight Titles.
Her lone defeat came at the hands of Frida Walberg in April, 2012 when she lost by a 10-round unanimous decision in a shot at the WBC World Female Super Featherweight Title while her draw came three years earlier in a four-round affair with Ela Nunez. Serrano has weighed in between 118 and 138.5 lbs during her pro career and has actually won titles in seven different weight classes.
She also has wins over Kimberly Connor, Fatuma Zarika (twice), Calista Silgado, Yazmin Rivas, Dahianna Santana (twice), Marilyn Hernandez, Eva Voraberger, Heather Hardy, Daniela Bermudez and Yamileth Mercardo. Serrano is unbeaten in the last 10 years, which covers a span of 28 fights. All of her victories have come by way of stoppage or unanimous decision except for her pro debut which was a four-round majority decision over Jackie Trivilino.
Prediction…
This matchup features two of the top female pound-for-pound boxers in the world with the rounds being two minutes long. I’m expecting Serrano to take the fight to Taylor, but the champion is fine with that as she’s comfortable in that situation due to her excellent counter-punching ability. Serrano is naturally more aggressive and in the long run that could help on the scorecards since Taylor doesn’t really have the power to keep her at bay for 10 rounds. This should be a close fight and even though Taylor has the better boxing skills I think if Serrano punches in volume and keeps after her for all 10 rounds she should do enough to dethrone her.
