The Katie Taylor vs. Amanda Serrano match is being seen as the greatest match ever to happen in the sphere of women's boxing. The match will happen on Saturday, April 30, 2022, at the Madison Square Garden in New York, USA. The two are the top-ranked pound-for-pound boxers. It will be for the first time that both the women boxers are going to fight a boxing match inside the legendary venue. Both boxers can now envision the Katie Taylor vs. Amanda Serrano match and walk toward the ring in Madison Square Garden. It is sure to give both these boxers some jitters and goosebumps before the big day. There will be a huge number of fans cheering for both of them and raising the flags of their respective nations. There is a definite buzz in the air even a couple of weeks before the Katie Taylor vs. Amanda Serrano match.
This is a match that both the boxers wanted to fight on the biggest stage. In the previous years, both of them have mentioned wanting to be involved in the biggest matches against the top rivals of their division. They are now getting what they wanted with this match. According to official statistics, the last time the top pound-for-pound boxers met in the ring was nearly fourteen years ago. This was when Manny Pacquiao took on and defeated Juan Manuel Marquez by a split decision. The boxers finished that year as the top boxers in the pound-for-pound list after the retirement of Floyd Mayweather. The Katie Taylor vs. Amanda Serrano match is promising a lot of things for the fans. This is a match that has been many years in the making. There have been multiple contracts signed in the past. But it has seen various interruptions because of the pandemic.
Now, the involvement of a superstar from social media is creating more value that is helping both the boxers earn seven figures for this match. This amount of money is virtually unheard of in women's boxing. Everyone involved with the match had thought that it was not going to take place. But it has become a reality now. Serrano said, "From even when the fight was first offered to me, it's been back-and-forth negotiations. It's been good negotiations, bad, good. It's been the pandemic stopping the whole fight."
The primary thoughts regarding the Katie Taylor vs. Amanda Serrano match started six years ago. This was before Katie Taylor had started competing as a professional boxer. This was when the Olympic gold medalist was thinking about moving to the professional divisions. She had created a wish list of boxers that she wanted to go against in the ring. In that list, one of the top boxers listed was Serrano. The latter had already been the WBO featherweight champ, the IBF junior lightweight titleholder, and the WBC lightweight titleholder. But Taylor was going to have to work her way to fight against her. Serrano was getting championship belts in different divisions. She had held championship belts in more than six different ones. But Taylor was one of the most dominating in the lightweight division. Then came the point that the match between the two seemed like an inevitable outcome.
Promoter Eddie Hearn was also thinking about hosting the match in the Hulu Theater. It is a side room in the Madison Square Garden. Another option considered was the O2 Arena in London, United Kingdom. In March of the previous year, the match was set to happen in Manchester, United Kingdom. Serrano was going to get a paycheck of six figures for the match. But only a week after the deal was finalized, the coronavirus pandemic struck around the world. It shut off most activities around the globe. The match between the two had been postponed by the end of that month. Hearn thought about relocating the match to the Matchroom Headquarters in Brentwood, United Kingdom. He wanted the match to happen without fans as part of his series on Fight Camp. The match would have been rescheduled to July. But New York was still under lockdown. Thus, Serrano did not have so many avenues to train herself for the match.
The match was then scheduled for a few months later at the headquarters of Matchroom. In June of that year, Serrano and her manager did not give their consent to the match because they said that the match had a low purse figure. This was even though the purse was more than $250,000. The complete change in the trajectory of the match happened before anyone knew that it was happening. In April of the next year, Serrano expressed her interest in being involved in a match as an undercard for Jake Paul. Some months later, when Nakisa Bidarian and Jake Paul were negotiating with Showtime for a partnership, they both mentioned that they needed a high-level women boxer on their undercard. The president of Showtime said that Serrano could be the female boxer they wanted, and the two boxers agreed. Everything was in place. The previous years' pushback and delays from Serrano helped create a bigger hype around the match. The Katie Taylor vs. Amanda Serrano match would have been good then, But right now, it has become one of the top matches in the history of boxing in the women's sphere.
Taylor said, "This is just a special occasion for me to headline a huge fight at Madison Square Garden. It's being billed as the biggest fight in female boxing history. This is just incredible and a real privilege for me. I love being involved in these kinds of fights. These are the challenges that I've always wanted. I don't think I've ever backed down from any challenge. I've wanted to face the very best. Amanda Serrano is a fantastic fighter, she's a great champion, and she's not here for no reason. She deserves this opportunity as well. She's been pioneering her own way, and that's why this fight is the best in female boxing history. We have champion versus champion. The best versus the best, and this is why this fight is so special. It's definitely a 50-50 fight. I think that a lot of people will have me, and a lot of people will have her before the fight. I love being involved in these kinds of fights. This fight is genuinely the biggest in boxing as a whole right now! We're still talking about Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier fights years and years later."
"I think years and years later; people are still going to be talking about Katie Taylor versus Amanda Serrano from this fight. I'm also very grateful for the women that went before me – the likes of Christy Martin and Deirdre Gogarty, Lucia Rijker, and Laila Ali, who were pioneers in their sport. I don't think I'd be in the position I'm in today if it wasn't for all those girls who went before me. I'm obviously very grateful for those who went before me."
Katie Taylor vs. Amanda Serrano; For Taylor's WBA, WBC, WBO, and IBF world female lightweight titles
Jessie Vargas vs. Liam Smith; Super welterweight
Franchon Crews Dezurn vs. Elin Cederroos; For the WBA, WBC, WBO, and IBF super-middleweight titles
Galal Yafai vs. Miguel Cartagena; WBC international flyweight title
Reshat Mati vs. Joe Eli Hernandez; Welterweight
Khalil Coe vs. William Langston; Light heavyweight
Austin Williams vs. Chordale Booker; For the vacant WBA continental Americas middleweight title
Skye Nicolson vs. Shanecqua Paisley Davis; Women's featherweight