Serrano sets sights on trilogy: 'If Katie wants her belts back, we’re going to have to go for a third fight'

Amanda Serrano: 'I fight with everything I got. Katie is a warrior. We are going to put on a great show'

356 days later. For 38-year-old Katie Taylor, it has been over 11 months out of the ring. She has not boxed since avenging her only homecoming defeat in a classic versus Chantelle Cameron. Now Amanda Serrano awaits.

Friday's Texas rematch was initially set to take place in 2023, but Serrano sustained an injury. The pair were then slated to face each other last July as co-main event with the Mike Tyson versus Jake Paul clash. Then Tyson had to withdraw and reschedule. So Taylor, who has been extremely active since joining the paid ranks, has faced an extended break.

Is it an issue?

"I don't think so,” she said at the Texas open workout early Wednesday. “I have kept myself in the ring all along for this past year. I feel like the extra break has done me a world of good as well. There were a few things earlier in the year that needed to be sorted out so I feel that I am in much better shape right now. Mentally, physically, this is the best shape I have been in.” 

Taylor exhibits an obvious frustration at endless questions about retirement. She knows this won’t last. She is at a stage where she is striving to savour it. Before she exited the ring on Tuesday, she turned to her fans and thanked them for their support “throughout the whole years, as an amateur boxer and pro.” 

The road to this fight in Texas at AT&T Stadium was long and demanded plenty.

“Skill, heart, grit, just a never-give-up attitude, so many words, I couldn't sum it up in one,” she said.

“I have an awful lot of respect for Amanda as well, what she has done for the sport has been incredible. The last fight was a history-making fight and I am very honoured again to be stepping into the ring and get another epic show on. I am very, very confident that I am going to come out as a victor.” 

Their January 2022 meeting was an all-time classic, a night of history and controversy. Serrano and her team still maintain she should have been declared the winner. Promoter Eddie Hearn subsequently sued Jake Paul over his comments about a judge at that fight.

Paul’s Most Valuable Promotions are running the show this time. Serrano clearly hasn’t forgotten about what happened in Madison Square Garden.

“It was definitely a close fight; I believe I won the first fight,” she said.

“This is neutral ground. We are going to go out there and fight, that is what I do. I fight with everything I got. Katie is a warrior. We are going to put on a great show.” 

She continued: “Coming into this fight I am a lot more confident than in the first fight. Knowing what I did, knowing I hurt her multiple times in that fight. She knows how it feels to lose which means she is going to come out not wanting to lose again.” 

They go again. And, if Serrano has her way, again.

“It has been a trilogy since the first fight,” she said. “Even before the first fight happened with her team, they knew something I didn’t know which means I will be winning this fight. To go in the ring with Katie is such an honour, we are both making the best money fighting each other. I think if she wants her belts back, we are going to have to go for a third fight.”