Katie Taylor defended her undisputed super-lightweight title with another thrilling victory over Amanda Serrano in their long-awaited rematch – but the Puerto Rican was far from happy with the final result, branding the Irish star “dirty” as her corner accused Taylor of cheating
Amanda Serrano slammed “dirty” Katie Taylor and accused the undisputed super-lightweight champion of cheating in their thrilling Texas rematch.
Two years after Taylor edged out Serrano in an instant classic in New York, The Irish fighter did so again, on the undercard of Mike Tyson’s fight with Jake Paul on Friday night.
Via unanimous decision, 95-94 across the scorecards, Taylor claimed victory, much to the fury of a booing Dallas crowd, who had vociferously backed Serrano throughout. And there was fury from Serrano and her corner too, after a seemingly accidental headbutt in round four led to a bad cut on the Puerto Rican’s forehead. That wound only got worse as the fight progressed.
“Hey Doc that’a a headbutt” said Serrano’s trainer, making his frustration clear, with the corner branding Taylor ‘a cheat’ also. “Both fighters were coming forward,” explained the official.
Taylor and Serrano embraced each other after the bell, but the heavily pro-Serrano crowd voiced their displeasure as the result was announced and Serrano made her feelings clear on Taylor post-fight.
I knew when it went to the judges it was going to be a little shady,” said Serrano. “Listen, I chose to fight. I went up three divisions. I lost in two and I dared to be great tonight. I am the featherweight champion of the world. I want to be great. I only fight the best. It is what it is. I’m a featherweight.
“Every time you get a cut it hurts. You get blood in your eye. She kept head-butting me, but we knew that from the very beginning, the first fight. It’s not only my fight, she did it with Chantelle Cameron. Listen, I am Puerto Rican. No matter how many cuts, I will fight to the very end.
“I think 100 percent because she does it [uses head] in every fight. My first cut was with Katie Taylor. She did it with Chantelle Cameron. I’ve seen other fights where she uses her head, dirty. It is what it is.”
Immediately after the fight, Serrano took to social media and downplayed Taylor’s victory further, declaring: “I’m a ruthless warrior and Katie is my buddy, but Damn her best attribute is her head. No punching power but hard ass head lol.”
And pointing to the fight’s statistics, she insisted she should have emerged victorious.
Taylor, of course, saw things differently, and speaking in the ring after her victory, hinted at a third bout between the pair. She said: “I knew it was an absolute slug fest in there, an absolute war.
“Thank God I won this fight, congratulations to Amanda. She’s a fantastic fighter. I think we agreed to 12 three-minute rounds in our next fight; the triple is on.”
Quizzed in the ring on the bout and its key moments, Taylor responded: “That’s what a boxer does, we train to recover from those moments. Any punch can change a fight in boxing. She’s a hard puncher, she’s very tough and I prepared for that. I don’t care if the commentary team or the crowd disagree with the result. The only ones that matter are the judges around the ring.
“I didn’t agree with the point deduction. I certainly wasn’t fighting dirty. Sometimes it gets dirty in there and you have to prepare for those moments. This is an amazing moment for women’s boxing, we put on a show for everybody.”
