The broad strokes. Katie Taylor won her fight against seven-weight world champion Amanda Serrano at the beginning and at the end of the 10 two-minute rounds in Madison Square Garden.
Where she lost ground was largely in the mid-section when Serrano, with her go-forward hard-hitting style, drew Taylor into a scrap, caught her more static than she had been and in the fifth round could well have finished it with Taylor trapped on the ropes in a corner.
The prospect of three-minute rounds, the time limit for men, was again one of the issues brought up afterwards, those in the Serrano camp at least believing if that defining fifth round had gone on for another 60 seconds, the boxing world might have been looking at a new professional lightweight champion. Ifs and buts and insulting to Taylor’s miraculous heart and durability.
Both judge Guido Cavalleri and judge Glenn Feldman scored Taylor to have won rounds seven, eight, nine and 10 with the dissenting voice of the three, Benoit Roussel, also giving Taylor rounds eight, nine and 10. However, Roussel scored Taylor for just one round of the opening seven, which seemed absurdly towards the eccentric side.
Essentially Taylor’s courage and will and her ability to survive, then thrive, when the rivets were falling out and the foundations cracking in the fifth round earned her the night and the right to keep her four lightweight world belts.
Cavalleri marked that fifth round 10-8 for Serrano, an expression of how dominant the Brooklyn Puerto Rican had been and how close she had come to stopping Taylor for the first time in her career, amateur or professional.
Both women showed moving respect for each other afterwards, with neither deviating from the humility they had shown all week despite the occasional savagery and high-stake nature of the bout, which pushed both to their limits.
Taylor’s plan seemed clear and that was to stay at range from the dangerous Serrano power punching. That she seemed to do with aplomb in the opening rounds and although Serrano did tag Taylor, the 35-year-old was flicking the scoring jab and landing with her back right hand more regularly than her opponent’s shots.
It was consistent and well-placed scoring from Taylor, while Serrano’s broiling punch up pieces and her landing of straight rights were eye-catching and stinging. But they were generally less in volume on target than Taylor’s tidy combinations and quick movements out of range.
By the third and fourth rounds, Taylor was showing a willingness to slow down her waspy action and fast exchanges and instead go with the flare-ups, which literally played into Serrano’s hands.
Tipping point
The footwork fell in tempo to planted feet and Serrano had her where she wanted. The fifth was almost the tipping point, with Taylor in a corner and Serrano unloading as great waves of concern from the large Irish crowd washed down from the heights of the stadium.
Maybe 25 shots were thrown, with Taylor making them glancing blows or moving to one side. But many were getting through, several to the body, a straight right and a left hook might have downed another fighter.
The blood started flowing and in survival mode Taylor went for the clinch. Still the crowd sensed the danger and the noise level rose. But she weathered it and although shaken made it to the corner for the sixth round.
At the break Serrano's coach Jordan Maldonado stood and faced the crowd smiling and punching his breast convinced his fighter's heart would show through.
“I don’t think she did anything differently [in the fifth],” said Taylor. “I just probably stood there a bit too long myself and just made it a bit of a tear-up as I always do unfortunately.
“I think I was boxing very, very well in the early rounds and I just got stuck in a fight with her. But I can’t say she did anything differently. I just love a tear-up every now and then.”
The tear-ups are the episodes that bring the fans to their feet and over the years have become a feature of Taylor’s psyche. Her eloquent boxing gives way to the street brawler and she rarely declines the challenge. It is because she can.
The final round was an example of that heroic bravado against a hugely dangerous opponent. Taylor having reverted back to picking off shots, Serrano sensed she had to start delivering more punishment.
Instead of using the ring for avoidance and fast point-scoring raids inside, the two boxers, almost in an unwritten pact, stood toe to toe in the 10th round.
Like any self-respecting heavy metal band, the climax is always the amp busting guitar solo and so it went with Serrano and Taylor. Both came out for the final two minutes, blasting from their set position in the centre of the ring. Stopping Serrano in her tracks, Taylor was testing the mettle of her opponent as the two refused to budge on the canvas.
Fevered exchange
Taylor with blood from her nose and a cut on the side of her head and Serrano hurt and bleeding from a cut under her right eye and both of them caught up in the high-tempo fevered exchange, they teetered on the edge of exhaustion.
Then Serrano began throwing back and landing on Taylor as the crowd rose to their feet, the bell finally bringing it to a close as both teams rushed to the ring to sweep up their fighters.
“The courage and the strength go back to those moments, the hard work I actually put in, in the training camp over the last few months,” said Taylor in case people believed it was an accident of birth.
“It is in those moments that the hard work in training pays off. I don’t just show courage on fight night, I show courage every single day in training. Day after day after day. Hard spars week after week after week. And that is why you train hard for those moments when you are in the trenches.”
Now there will be a long break with talk of something at the back end of the summer or in the autumn. The question is whether Taylor needs to prove herself twice against Serrano, who dominates the featherweight division.
But people have had a taste and the pair have filled boxing’s most iconic venue. From that high point, for both Serrano and Taylor, it might be hard to ever go back.
