'And still the undisputed champion of the world... ' Katie Taylor defeats Amanda Serrano in epic battle

No corner of the Garden was devoid of joy. After the final bell ended that remarkable tenth round and the contest as a whole, the fighters immediately embraced and did so long enough that their corners rushed to hug each other too, a rapturous mutual appreciation after weeks of work and stress.

Sun, 01 May, 2022 - 09:06

John Riordan, Madison Square Garden

Katie Taylor stayed a little longer at her post-fight press conference than she possibly should have.

Blood seeped down from a head wound which her promoter Eddie Hearne wiped away, first with a finger and then with a hastily arranged towel “Thanks, Eddie,” laughed the still undisputed lightweight champion of the world.

It was the small hours of Sunday morning at Madison Square Garden and nobody quite knew how to make sense of what had just happened.

Flanked by Hearne and her trainer and trusted confidant, Ross Enamait, Taylor presented a much more battered version of her opponent, Amanda Serrano, who appeared in front of the same cameras almost a half hour previously. Both fighters were ecstatic with what they had just put themselves through, but for different reasons obviously. Serrano had moved up a weight and had made it a battle. Taylor survived and then some.

Enamait certainly struggled to put words around the experience which an attendance of 19,187 was utterly consumed by over the course of ten rounds of enthralling boxing.

“She is built different. She has got balls of steel. I don’t know what else to call it,” Enamait said, unsure of where to look.

“I don’t know what to say to that,” laughed Taylor through the pain.

For a time, it was not even clear if medical officials would permit Taylor to sit in front of the media and you wouldn’t have blamed them or her for denying us the chance to hear from her as the dust began to settle.

After all, she had survived that fifth round during which Serrano emptied her artillery only for the bell to save Taylor. But danger had been brewing from round one when the Puerto Rican came out full of intent, her shock and awe tactics on full display.

Such was the intensity of the decibel levels created by the crowd during the third round that Taylor had to gesture a little desperately to her opponent that the bell had rung. Serrano was oblivious to time and space, hunting down Taylor through every square foot available to them.

And then something switched; call it Serrano tiring or Taylor riding the wave of her own resolve. She used the sixth round to take some momentum back before cleverly slowing the pace to a cagier affair in the seventh. Those were the crucial rounds that swung the decision her way but the question remained as to how she was able to give the judges the chance to award her some points.

“The courage and the strength goes back to those moments, the hard work I actually put in, in the training camp over the last few months.

“It is in those moments that the hard work in training pays off. I don’t just show courage on fight night, I show courage every single day in training. Day after day after day. Hard spars week after week after week. And that is why you train hard for those moments when you are in the trenches.”

Taylor did mention on Thursday that she loves a tear-up and the final round gave the ecstatic audience exactly that. It was a jaw-dropping trading of blows, a frenzied brawl during which Serrano chased a knockout and Taylor chased a desire to prove herself to anyone that ever doubted her. It seemed tactically inopportune so it probably came from a need to ensure that this was going to be her career’s apex.

“That’s what my corner was saying… I needed the championship rounds,” she recounted of those last rounds.

“I did what I had to do. I showed the champion’s heart in there like I always do. I think time and time again I always show that champion's heart when I need to and I dug deep when I needed to. I was in the trenches again tonight. Those are career defining moments for sure.”

When they finally stepped down from the ring, Enamait and her manager Brian Peters alongside countless other eager protectors shepherded Taylor - at once joyous and weary - back to the calmer confines of her dressing room, the happy fans still in the building cheering the final sight of their beloved champion.

“What you witnessed was one of the greatest fights I believe in the history of Madison Square Garden and both women deserve so much credit,” said Hearn, echoing many other reactions.

There are questions to be mused over, however. How did Taylor survive that fifth round? Why did she come out so aggressively at the start of the eighth? Why did she risk everything in the final round? And was the rematch on both of their minds as they entertained the most famous arena in the world to within an inch of our lives?

But those questions matter less to Taylor than the welcome reality of the win, plain and simple.

“I had to dig deep in there tonight,” she said. “I had to produce a career-defining performance to actually win tonight. What an amazing champion Amanda is as well. A phenomenal fighter and we definitely got the best out of each other for sure. Everybody was talking coming into this fight that it was the biggest women’s fight in boxing history but I think it exceeded everything that people were talking about this week.

“Just walking out to the ring looking at a packed stadium, It was unbelievable. It was an absolutely special, special moment. The best night in my career for sure. I wasn’t sure if anything could reach my Olympic gold medal moment today was absolutely the best moment in my career.”