KATIE TAYLOR and Amanda Serrano have already agreed to box 12 three-minute rounds if they fight a third time.
The rivals have agreed to disagree, however, regarding the clash of heads that caused Serrano’s grotesque gash over her right eye in the fourth round of their rematch Friday night at AT&T Stadium. Serrano insisted after narrowly losing a 10-round unanimous decision that Taylor head-butted her on purpose.
Taylor disputed Serrano’s accusation during her post-fight press conference.
“It just happens sometimes when you’re fighting against a southpaw, especially,” Taylor said.
“The fighters go in close and it just happens. It was completely accidental. They’re calling me a dirty fighter or whatever, but that wasn’t purposely done. Obviously, I’m in there fighting like she is, and it’s a rough sport, and sometimes you get head clashes. You have to fight through those things, and this is the fight game.”
Ireland’s Taylor, who also suffered a cut over her right eye, appeared later in their fight to push her head into Serrano’s cut, particularly while locked in clinches that the undisputed 140-pound champion mostly initiated. Referee Jon Schorle deducted a point from Taylor in the eighth round for leading with her head, yet Taylor still won by the same score, 95-94, on the cards of all three judges – Jeremy Hayes, Nate Palmer and Jesse Reyes.
Serrano’s cut worsened over the final six-plus rounds of what was another spectacular slugfest between Taylor and Serrano, this time on the undercard of the heavily hyped Jake Paul-Mike Tyson fight. The length and width of Serrano’s laceration made her performance all the more impressive.
Brooklyn’s Serrano (47-3-1, 31 KOs), who lost their first fight by split decision in April 2022 at a sold-out Madison Square Garden, praised Taylor (24-1, 6 KOs) for winning their second showdown. She also accused the former undisputed lightweight champion of using her head as a weapon.
“I think [it was] 100 percent [intentional], because she does it in every fight,” Serrano told Netflix’s Ariel Helwani in the ring. “It’s not the first fight. It was my first fight out of 40-something fights, my first cut ever was with Katie Taylor. Like I said, she did it with Chantelle Cameron and it’s been in other fights that I’ve seen her use her head, dirty.
“But it is what it is. I’m a champion. No matter what, I’m still the featherweight champion. I went up three divisions. Listen, I’m happy with my team. I’m super grateful. I’m honoured to be here. Listen, I’m in Jerry’s World right now, fighting on Netflix. Who knew two women would co-headline a great fight like this? I’m on Netflix.”
In a joint press release with Paul’s MVP Promotions issued Saturday, Netflix estimated “nearly 50 million” subscribers watched Taylor-Serrano worldwide. They produced another spectacular slugfest, but Jordan Maldonado, Serrano’s trainer and manager, believes it was marred by Taylor’s use of her head.
“If head-butting is not included,” Maldonado told Helwani when asked about a third Taylor-Serrano fight. “Head-butting is not included, and we get a fair referee, one that knows what he’s doing and is gonna do what he has to do, because when you’re getting head-butted repeatedly and the ref is [saying], ‘I’m doing what [I can],’ he didn’t do anything. You know what I’m saying? It was a lotta head-butting. Amanda Serrano has 50 fights. The first time she ever got cut was the first fight with Katie Taylor.
“If you look at Katie Taylor’s fights, you’ll see a lot of her opponents have gone out with grotesque swelling in the head. Look at the way Chantelle Cameron looked, cuts in their face. She fought Nina Meinke, stopped the fight on cuts, head-butts. So, that’s nothing new. That’s what they do, they lead with their head. And Katie’s a beautiful person, but has an extremely huge head.”
Taylor, 38, retained the IBF, IBO, WBA, WBC and WBO 140-pound championships. Serrano, 36, still holds the WBA and WBO featherweight titles.
