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By: Sean Crose
They say three time’s a charm. That’s been proven wrong repeatedly but there’s no doubt Amanda Serrano is looking to crown a stellar ring career by finally defeating arch rival Katie Taylor Friday night at Madison Square Garden. These women have battled twice before, in 2022, and 2024. Both fights were so good that Boxing Insider awarded each one Fight of the Year. Sure enough, the second Taylor-Serrano fight was so heated at times that it brought back memories of Marvelous Marvin Hagler’s 1985 war with Tommy Hearns. That’s no small compliment. Here’s the thing, though: while both fights could have gone either way, the victory was awarded to Taylor by the judges on both occasions.
One of the many questions the fight world has leading into Friday’s high profile bout is whether or not boxing judges will ever feel Serrano has performed well enough to defeat Taylor. The evidence suggests the answer might be “no”. This isn’t an indictment on the judges so much as it is the subjective nature of judging professional fights. Judges, like fans and analysts, prefer some styles over others. It’s that simple. And, although none of the six fight cards handed in for Serrano and Taylor’s previous battles have been anything near controversial, they’ve still collectively gone in one direction (Full disclosure: This writer is a fan of Taylors, but has felt Serrano should have won both fights).
With that being said, Serrano is currently favored to beat Taylor on Friday. That may be surprising when one looks at how the first two fights ended. Taylor is 39 years old, however. Serrano might not be far behind her at 36, but it’s hard to imagine anyone knocking on the door to 40 being as good as they once were. On top of that, both womentook a lot of wear in tear in the first two battels. Furthermore, there is a belief in the fight world that Taylor may indeed be slipping a bit. This isn’t to say Taylor can’t put on the fight of a lifetime tomorrow night in New York. It’s simply indicating that betters (for now at least) are feeling Taylor may no longer have what it takes to beat Serrano.
Still, one is left feeling that, despite what the gamblers are saying, Serrano will have to give a dominant performance Friday if she wants the judges to finally tilt in her direction. Neither Serrano nor Taylor are particularly heavy hitters, so a knockout or stoppage isn’t likely to happen (though one never knows). To clearly perform better than Taylor may may be a tough mountain for Serrano climb – but it won’t be the first mountain she’s managed to conquer.
