Ireland’s undisputed light welterweight champion Katie Taylor will be back inside the boxing ring on Friday night to take on Amanda Serrano. Back in 2022 when they met, Taylor came out on top by a narrow split decision in a hard-fought, brilliant contest. Taylor vs Serrano II is the headline bout in Friday’s action at the AT&T Stadium in Texas and you can find the latest fixtures over on Tonybet!
The card will also feature another legend of the sport, the great former heavyweight champion of the world Mike Tyson, who is taking on YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul in an exhibition match. While the spotlight across the world falls on 58-year-old ‘Iron Mike’ and his over-hyped return to the boxing centre stage, Irish fight fans will be focused on Taylor.
Taylor vs Serrano – Serrano has a point to prove
It seems like more than two years ago now, but Taylor vs Serrano in 2022 was an epic, historic night for boxing. For the first time ever, it was a women’s fight that topped the billing at the famous Madison Square Garden in New York. The battle was billed as the ‘biggest women’s fight of all time’ and it certainly didn’t fail to live up to its billing.
What happened in 2022?
The first Taylor vs Serrano match lived up to the hype as fight fanatics at Madison Square Garden and watching back home in the Emerald Isle were on the edge of their seats throughout. Taylor was badly hurt in the middle of the lightweight title fight and was pushed to her absolute limit by the Puerto Rican fighter.
Serrano trapped Taylor in the corner in round five and unloaded on her to the point that Taylor was badly bloodied and struggling to make it to the end of the round before the bell saved her. After surviving round six, Taylor started to find her footing again, fighting off the back foot and launching counter-attacks against the tireless Serrano, who was cut open in round 10.
The final minutes of round 10 were spectacular, with the two fighters looking for that one big shot to connect. Taylor dug so deep that she out-punched Serrano 32 to 18 in the final two minutes.
However, after the final bell, some big embraces and the judges’ final scorecards, Taylor clung on to her titles with a 94-96, 96-93, 97-93 split-decision victory. The epic duel was awarded the Fight of the Year title by Sports Illustrated and The Ring dubbed it the Event of the Year.
Serrano not happy
The final judges’ scores of 96-93 and 97-93 against ‘The Real Deal’ Serrano looked to be off-the-charts wild. The margin between the two fighters in the ring was much closer than that, and Serrano was the aggressor for long periods of the lightweight title fight.
She will likely have been kicking herself at the end of it for not putting Taylor to bed while she had her chance in round five. At that point, the champ was pretty much out on her feet, but Serrano’s intensity dropped a little in round six as it looked like she was searching for the one big punch to close the fight. The change in tactics allowed Taylor to regroup.
Since that loss to Taylor, Serrano has had a busy schedule, fighting five times and winning all of them, four by unanimous decisions in defence of her handful of featherweight titles. So, she has had her head in her game and has been working hard on this path back to the top.
In contrast, Taylor has fought just twice since then, losing to Chantelle Cameron, before reversing the outcome against the English fighter in a rematch in Dublin. Since that victory, we haven’t seen Taylor, and it’s the longest absence from the ring between fights that she has had in her career.
Tale of the tape
After Taylor scored a majority decision against Cameron in their rematch, she became the first Irish female fighter to be a two-weight undisputed champion. This left her professional record at 23 wins and one loss. Only seven of her fights have stopped short of the distance and this one is also expected to go all the way.
Taylor’s last 11 fights have all gone the distance, and to further back up the expectancy of a long night on Friday, Serrano has been taken the distance in four of her last five bouts, against far less-skilled opponents than the seasoned Taylor.
Taylor vs Serrano II will not be fought at the expected super lightweight division (140 pounds limit), as it has been moved to the catchweight division, which tops out at 138 pounds.
Serrano is two years younger than 38-year-old Taylor and she has won nine major titles during her fantastic career. She now sits on a 47-2-1 career record, with 31 of those victories coming by knockout. The Puerto Rican has a far better strike rate (65.96%) in that area than Taylor (26.09%), and this is something that the Bray native has to be wary of.
Serrano has very quick hands and power behind them, and two career losses for the southpaw were both by decision, one in 2012 against Frida Wallberg in a WBC super featherweight title bout, and then 10 years later against Taylor.
Trailblazer Taylor stands at 5’ 5” with a reach of 66”, and Serrano is half an inch taller with a reach that’s half an inch shorter than Taylor. So, in terms of physicality, there is nothing to split the two of them. It’s said that everything is bigger in Texas, and nights of boxing certainly don’t get much bigger than this.
Which way will it go?
Taylor and Serrano are both on top of their game. The courage and reserve that Taylor showed in the first fight was simply staggering, and that’s what she does – she keeps going and going. After coming so close to tapping out, where her energy reserves and clear-headedness came from is anyone’s guess.
On paper, she can’t match the punching power of Serrano and may have to revert to the back foot counter-punching a bit more. As seen in that first fight, Serrano can unleash bursts of rapid fury. She’s superb at this coming from the southpaw stance, and she’s an awkward fighter to get on the inside of.
Taylor is the narrow favourite for the duel, which is likely to be another slugfest between two very evenly matched, experienced fighters. The contest is heavily odds-on to go the distance, with the most likely method of victory being a decision for Taylor.
Jake Paul vs Mike Tyson – heavy-handed hype
Naturally, there will be a lot of interest in the Jake Paul vs Mike Tyson fight. All of this was supposed to happen earlier in the year, but former heavyweight champion Tyson suffered a stomach ulcer before the scheduled July bout, which meant that the fight was put on the back burner in order for him to heal.
It has been more than 20 years since Tyson has been in a board-sanctioned boxing match, and Friday’s fight has been given the green light by the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulations. The 58-year-old is going into the ring against Paul, who is 31 years younger, and after his previous health scare – he admitted that he thought he “was going to die” – there have been concerns about how this may shake out for the former champion.
Mike Tyson won 26 of his first professional 28 fights by knockout and he was a sensation when he hit the scene in the mid-1980s. He fought the best around him, such as Frank Bruno, Larry Holmes, Michael Spinks, Buster Douglas, Evander Holyfield and Lennox Lewis, before giving up his gloves midway through a fight against Ireland’s Kevin McBride in 2005.
Mike Tyson holds a 50-6 career record with 44 knockout victories. He still holds the record for being the youngest man to win a heavyweight title, which happened when he met Trevor Berbick in November 1986 at the age of 20 in Las Vegas. The last time he was in the ring was in an exhibition fight against Roy Jones Jr. in 2020 that ended in a draw.
Exhibition fight rules
This much-hyped exhibition fight will differ a little from the norm as it will only feature two-minute rounds, of which there will be eight. The fighters will also wear gloves that are heavier than usual. Typical boxing gloves weigh 10 ounces, but Paul and Tyson will wear 14-ounce ones. The purpose of this is to reduce the power of their punches, because of the bigger surface area. This was necessary for the fight to get sanctioned, but headguards will not be worn.
Paul vs Tyson is a heavyweight bout, and it’s the first time that Paul will have been at this weight. He will be significantly heavier than usual, expected to come in around 220lbs, when he has usually been between 185lbs and 200lbs. Tyson is expected to be around 235lbs for Friday’s bout.
Paul, who made his name on YouTube, holds a 9-1 career record in boxing, with six of those wins coming by knockout. His one loss came against Tommy Fury in February last year, the only opponent with genuine boxing chops that Paul has faced, and he has since bounced back to win four in a row, including a success over UFC legend Nate Diaz.
Boxing purists aren’t typically big fans of exhibition fights like this, but this one feels a little different because of Tyson’s presence. The event is behind a paywall, so the key fighters on the night are going to be banking regardless of the outcome.
Which way will it go?
It’s unlikely that we’ll see a knockout blow landed to liven up the affair. This is not prime Mike Tyson. People will be half-expecting a bit of that old Tyson power, but Jake Paul is the odds-on favourite to win the fight. Paul should have higher energy levels later in the fight and is likely to be considerably lighter. As is the case with most exhibition bouts, it will likely peter out into a decision.
Irish fight fans are on the edge of their seats again
Irish eyes will be transfixed on the next instalment of the great Katie Taylor’s career. She has already stated that her head is still a long way from thoughts of retirement, even if things don’t go her way in Texas. Regardless, she will give every last drop of blood, sweat and tears to get a result against Serrano.
It’s another big night for Irish boxing, and if you’re looking for the latest fight odds, then pay a visit to Tonybet to check the options on the outcome, Rounds Betting, Method of Victory and more.
