Today is the day of the historic trilogy between Katie Taylor (24-1, 6 KOs) and Amanda Serrano (47-3-1, 31 KOs). The fight to close the chapter on the legendary matchup between two of the best female boxers.
It’s only fitting it end, where it began at the Mecca of boxing, Madison Square Garden. After two highly controversial bouts where debatably many feel Serrano won, the need for the third match is needed to justly prove who is the rightful champion.
The fight will be contested at 136 pounds, which is less than the 140 pounds they fought at last November. The 4-pound difference favors Serrano who went up in weight to fight Taylor in the second match. Although contested at 136 pounds, the undisputed championship is still at stake.
So after outlanding Taylor in two matches what can Serrano possibly do to earn the judges decision. First, she must be more defensive and as she said at Wednesday’s press conference – – be smarter. Get hit less and to do that she must be more technically sound. She must utilize the jab at will. Chantelle Cameron is the only boxer to defeat Katie Taylor and she did so by applying relentless pressure.
Cameron led her pressured attack with a high volume of jabs, using it to set up her combination and to keep Taylor on the defensive. In their rematch, Cameron was not nearly as aggressive, being more economical with her punches and throwing less jabs as well. Taylor performed better as a result and avenged her only loss.
The two boxers who have posed the most challenging for Taylor have been the top two volume women punchers in Serrano and Cameron. They lead the average round output at 72.2 (Serrano) and 60.8 (Cameron) demonstrating Taylor’s difficulties in defending a high volume, pressure attacks. In the second match, Serrano landed 56 percent of the 382 punches she threw in rounds 7 through 10, her output increased significantly during these rounds outlanding Taylor 215 to 73. In four rounds, Serrano landed nearly the same amount of punches Taylor landed it the entire 10 round match 215 to 217 respectively.
If Serrano intends to finally dethrone the undisputed champion,she must maximize her output and leave no question whatsoever that she is deserving of the victory. She must attack with relentless pressure and do so by leading with a high jab rate. The jab will be key to keeping Taylor at bay and not allow her to get on the inside to clinch. A fast pace fight favors Serrano.
For Taylor, she must box intelligently, knowing that Serrano will do everything in her power to secure the victory. Serrano may be more aggressive and take more risks, making her susceptible to counters. Taylor is the more technically sound of the two and she’ll need to utilize lateral movement to slow Serrano. Taylor has better footwork and she can use her legs to make for a more difficult target. She has a slight reach advantage of ½ inch and can use it to control the distance.
The first two matches have been epic and the third one should be just as great. The two have created a path for women’s boxing to thrive and to headline and all women’s card at Madison Square Garden proves it. The event will be record breaking and historic to both boxing and women’s sports in general.
Last Updated on 07/11/2025
Read the full article here
