ARLINGTON, Texas — The rematch between Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano was as bloody and bruising as the unique.
The disputed choice — and the response to it — was the identical, too.
Taylor retained her unanimous tremendous light-weight championship in a razor-thin unanimous choice over Serrano on Friday night time in a slugfest remarkably just like their epic bout in New York two years in the past.
Taylor was scored a 95-94 winner by all three judges, drawing boos from the group on the house of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys earlier than the co-main occasion of Jake Paul and Mike Tyson.
The 38-year-old from Eire remained the undisputed champion and within the tremendous light-weight and light-weight divisions. It was the third victory because the first skilled loss for Taylor (24-1, six knockouts).
Serrano, who stored punching regardless of getting a nasty lower over her left eye within the sixth spherical, was the group favourite a lot the identical means she was within the the disputed cut up choice on the Backyard in 2022.
In that sold-out slugfest, they had been the primary girls headlining a fight sports activities occasion on the storied venue. The 36-year-old Serrano, a seven-division champion, is 47-3-1 with 31 knockouts.
It might need began somewhat extra slowly than the New York assembly, however issues modified when Serrano, who’s from Puerto Rico however lives in New York, sustained the nasty lower.
The damage pressured the referee to name a timeout in the course of the sixth spherical, and frequent closeups the remainder of the battle drew gasps from the group within the first fight sports activities telecast from the streaming platform Netflix.
Serrano by no means stopped punching, although, and appeared to have Taylor teetering within the last seconds of the bout. Taylor leaned in on Serrano repeatedly, showing to have hassle retaining herself up on her personal. She had already been deducted some extent for head-butting within the eighth spherical.
Taylor was preventing for the primary time since avenging her solely skilled loss by beating Chantelle Cameron for the undisputed tremendous light-weight title in a rematch in her house nation a 12 months in the past.
The Taylor-Serrano battle in New York was extra a celebration of ladies’s boxing, regardless of the questions over the consequence. Serrano was somewhat extra annoyed this time, questioning how honest the battle was along with her complaints of head-butts and holding because the battle progressed.
Serrano was in hassle after the sixth spherical, the ring physician asking if she might proceed because the wound was handled. She stated sure, and didn’t present many indicators of slowing down.
The pair traded flurries of punches many of the means, particularly within the last spherical whereas understanding the judging can be shut.
