Amanda Serrano versus Katie Taylor: Is it a fight fans want to see?
In boxing, there are fights that fans crave to see that sometimes take too long to happen. Seven-divisional champion Amanda “The Real Deal” Serrano and undisputed lightweight champion Katie “KT” Taylor is still a fight worthy of revisiting.
The boxing community had to wait five years for the mega-fight between Floyd “Money” Mayweather and Manny “Pac Man” Pacquiao. “Iron” Mike Tyson was supposed to fight Evander “The Real Deal” Holyfield back in November 1991. Unfortunately, an injury coupled with Tyson going to prison halted the fight from happening until November 1996. Lastly, there is Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and nemesis Gennady Golovkin. They did not finally lock horns until two years after being teased to the fans.
Despite all the fights listed above happening later than fans would have liked, it did not take away from the excitement of the boxing community and financial success.
A LOOK BACK AT WHAT HAPPENED
In case some of you have forgotten, let’s do a quick timeline of events. Back in 2018, Serrano signed a three-fight deal with Matchroom Boxing with the intent of avenging her sister Cindy Serrano’s defeat to Taylor. What should have been a glorious moment was hampered with several social media blow-ups that had fans glued to their devices.
Serrano vented about the contract for the third and final fight with Taylor never being delivered. This signaled the beginning of the growing mistrust the Real Deal harbored for British promoter Eddie Hearn. Things quickly escalated when Taylor moved up to face WBO Junior Welterweight champion Christina Linardatou in November 2019. Moreover, she did this after capturing the undisputed crown by defeating WBC champion Delfine Persoon. This was supposed to be the prelude to the Serrano showdown.
Wait, there is more! Cooler heads would prevail and in early 2020, they announced that Serrano and Taylor would finally step in the ring in May. However, the unforeseen force in the form of COVID-19 caused a financial hiccup with no fans being allowed and making it hard for fighters to train or travel due to certain restrictions.
The fight got rescheduled for a later date, but the Real Deal was not keen on the idea of taking a pay cut. This led to another big social media blow-up that once again had fans glued to their devices. This time cooler heads did not prevail. In the end, the fight was announced officially dead, taking the air out of the balloon for fight fans.
STILL A WORTHY FIGHT FOR THE FANS
It’s 2021 and things are starting to get back to normal despite both fighters moving in opposite directions. The question remains, is this a fight that fans would still want to see?
The Real Deal is a seven-divisional champion, and she is a unified champion for the first time in her career. Furthermore, she recently was victorious in defending that status, knocking out three-divisional champion Daniela Bermudez on March 25.
Katie Taylor will be fighting for the first time this year. She will be defending the undisputed crown against former junior lightweight challenger Natasha Jonas scheduled for May 1. Equally important, Amanda Serrano, during an interview with SecondsOut, when asked about a marquee fight, she expressed interest in fighting Taylor.
“Katie Taylor, I think that is the fight that everybody wants to see. I definitely want to see that fight. If everything goes well with negotiations, then I think that fight would happen, hopefully in 2022.”
The fight needs to happen. Otherwise, it will fall in the same category of missed opportunity fights to push women’s boxing like Ann Wolfe vs Laili Ali, Christy Martin vs Lucia Rijker, and we are still waiting on Mariana Juarez vs Jackie Nava.
By: Garrisson Bland
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