IKatie Taylor made history in the duel between the two most successful boxers in the world on Sunday night in New York. The 35-year-old Irish girl defeated Puerto Rico’s Amanda Serrano at a sold-out Madison Square Garden in the first major match between two women in the legendary arena’s 140-year history.
The 19,187 spectators went wild as Taylor jumped onto the ring ropes and cried out her delight. The makeshift laceration above her right eye testified to a spectacular ten rounds, at the end of which she remained the undisputed world champion.
But all the other female boxers in the world had also won. “Look what we just did!” exulted a weary Taylor minutes after her narrow points win over Serrano, which saw her retain her WBA, WBC, IBF and WBO lightweight titles: “We sold out Madison Square Garden. The greatest fight in women’s boxing history.”
Some legendary boxing matches have taken place in Madison Square Garden. The best known is the first duel between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier in 1971. However, female boxers had not previously been granted a fight in the important arena.
The duel was largely even. “I had to bang it all out,” Taylor said afterwards. The London 2012 Olympic gold medalist and five-time world amateur champion went down once in round five but recovered. Both agreed on a rematch while they were still in the ring.
“Let’s do it again, Amanda,” Taylor challenged her competitor. Serrano, who already had world titles in seven different weight classes and whose only defeat to date was in 2012, was there immediately: “Whenever she wants.”
