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Irish Times
13-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
Katie Taylor erases all the question marks with her third win over Amanda Serrano
The trilogy ends. And there were hints, too, in the sweet early hours of Saturday morning that this might be all she wrote for Katie Taylor as well. After a raucous night on the fringes of Hell's Kitchen, Taylor closed the books on her riveting series of fights against Amanda Serrano and finished with an unblemished record. Just as she had promised during the week of promotion in New York, she got it done. These athletes will age and finally retire, and the record books will record that the Irish fighter ended with a perfect three wins from three against the Puerto Rican. That bare statistic reveals nothing of the closeness or true controversies or the mutual respect contained within these encounters. It was a lofty sports rivalry. But in the end, Taylor managed to erase the question marks and silence the grumbles after their previous two battles to finish with a supremely controlled performance. She owned the night. Taylor has pioneered what has been a marvel of a fighting life by executing it precisely on her own terms. So it went in New York. Madison Square Garden was something to behold. That area around Eighth and the lower 30s is a 24-hour confluence of extreme tourism and city poverty and grit. All of human life was outside the arena on Friday night. Inside, a wildly partisan and noisy sell-out crowd filled with Puerto Rican and Irish fans, both in a mood to celebrate. The previous encounters had led them to expect something primal. READ MORE 'The atmosphere was absolutely electric tonight,' Taylor said when she sat down late into the night, Madison Square Garden low-lit now and empty except for the staff who were locking up. 'And to be headlining an all-female card was an absolute privilege. These are the sort of opportunities that people didn't even think possible a few years ago. The two fights previous ended up complete wars and I came out the ring battered and bruised, and I was thinking, why am I just standing there fighting her? I knew I was capable of moving my legs and just outboxing her. And I was just happy that I was able to execute the game plan Ross [Enamait] was telling me to do all along. I used the ring a lot better tonight. My feet were a lot better tonight. I felt it was my kind of fight, and my kind of pace as well.' [ Tuning out the noise, Katie Taylor steels herself for last dance with Amanda Serrano Opens in new window ] Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano embrace after the fight. Photograph: Gary Carr/Inpho Taylor looked at peace as she spoke. In Texas last winter, her face was swollen and cut after her war with Serrano. This time, a single bruise to her cheekbone where Serrano's head actually glanced against hers. She finished the fight fresher, gliding on the edges of the danger zone and comprehensively outscoring the Puerto Rican, who was exhausted from trying to make her punches land against the elusive Irish woman. Listening to her, it was hard to predict if she will fight again. 'I don't know,' she said of the future. 'I am just going to enjoy this victory right now and sit back and reflect. I am very, very happy with tonight's performance and just the amount of work I am doing over the past few months, myself and Ross, it was a gruelling few months of preparation and I'm so glad I was able to showcase what I could do tonight.' Katie Taylor in action against Puerto Rican American boxer Amanda Serrano. Photograph: Sarah Yenesel/EPA Make no mistake, the crowd in the Garden came in the belief that the fight would break into a gladiatorial brawl as soon as the first bell sounded and would move into uncharted country from there. As it turned out, the flashpoints of furious engagements were periodic and brief but with each one, the decibel level in the arena turned deafening. It's hard to imagine the noise levels had the athletes just forgotten their instructions and submitted to the crowd instincts and wish for a schoolyard brawl. In the second round, a familiar pattern began to establish itself: Serrano hunting, Taylor circling the ring, avoiding trouble and seeking to pick off clean punches. The dam threatened to break with 45 seconds remaining in the third, when Taylor, leading with the ultra-accurate left jab, landed three quick punches on the Puerto Rican. Serrano countered with a flurry of her own but Taylor, at 39, has lost little of her ability to become a ghost in the ring: she was gone. On it went, Serrano in the middle of the canvas, searching out Taylor, who used that wonderful footwork and pure boxing supremacy to guide her through the 10 rounds of two minutes. Judge Mark Lyson scored the fight a draw but the other two, Steve Weisfeld and Nicolas Esnault, had it emphatically in Taylor's favour, 97-93, and, in or around midnight, Taylor was still the undisputed super featherweight champion of the world. Katie Taylor makes her entrance to the fight at Madison Square Garden. Photograph: Gary Carr/Inpho The Irish crowd was delighted and it was impossible to hear what Taylor said in the ring afterwards. But she was effusive in her praise of Serrano, and of her faith, and struck an uncertain note when asked about what the future holds now. 'Maybe Croke Park?' she laughed when asked if she could promise her Irish supporters at least one more bout. 'That would be unbelievable. I said it in the ring earlier – these people are spending their hard-earned money to come over and support me. It means the world. And I can't believe this is my life – I'm heading a show in Madison Square Garden, an all-female card. Looking back at the whole journey – what an amazing ride. These are the nights I dreamed of a kid, and I am just so happy and so grateful. What an amazing champion. We created history together three times. My name will always be embedded with hers and I am very happy about that. It's amazing to have a rival like that in the sport.' Katie Taylor celebrates winning alongside her mother, Bridget. Photograph: Gary Carr/Inpho As an event, the Netflix-streamed all-women's card was a glittering success, drawing a close to sell-out crowd and giving the women's fight game an unprecedented stage. Afterwards, Taylor's promoter, Matchroom chief Eddie Hearn, beaming and wearing an Emerald green bucket cap, made the reasonable point that Taylor has been the alchemist for all of this. 'I'm not speaking on Katie's behalf, but I know she's always wanted female boxing to sit alongside men's boxing. It's not two codes. And I've always said that Katie Taylor is not just one of the greatest female fighters of all time but one of the greatest fighters of all time. And that was the barrier that she broke. 'So, we don't compare the female and the male code. It's just boxing. But. What they did tonight was give so many opportunities to so many great female fighters and big pay-days and she won't say it: it is down to her.' Katie Taylor greets fans after winning her bout with Amanda Serrano. Photograph: Gary Carr/Inpho [ Shaping the Century: 25 brilliant Irish women in 2025 Opens in new window ] Whether the sport can produce a rivalry as compelling and high-quality as Taylor and Serrano remains to be seen. Both have earned six-figure pay-days from their rivalry and thrust the women's fight game into a spotlight that would have seemed fanciful when Taylor set out on the professional circuit nine years ago. The Irish crowd stayed to give her a deafening ovation before heading back out to the delights of the island. 'I don't think anybody could deny I won tonight's fight, so it is very satisfying,' Taylor said finally. 'There was a controversy in those decisions, so I feel very, very satisfied right now that it was lights-out.'
Irish Times
12-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
Katie Taylor owns the night in New York as she sees off Amanda Serrano for a third time
The trilogy ends. After a raucous night on the fringes of Hell's Kitchen, Katie Taylor closed the books on her riveting series of fights against Amanda Serrano and finished with an unblemished record. Just as she had promised during the week of promotion in New York , she got it done. These athletes will age and finally retire and the record books will record that the Irish fighter ended with a perfect three wins from three against the Puerto Rican. That bare statistic reveals nothing of the closeness or fierceness or true controversies of their encounters. It was a lofty sports rivalry. But in the end, Taylor managed to erase the question marks and silence the grumbles after their previous two battles to finish with a supremely controlled performance. She owned the night. 'I thought I did enough,' she said as the Irish claimed ownership of the famous arena. 'I boxed smart and well and she wasn't catching much tonight but it is always a close contest. I have a huge amount of respect for Amanda. What a warrior.' READ MORE The peculiar thing about Madison Square Garden is that when it's converted into a boxing arena, it shrinks, wonderfully, and becomes claustrophobic and closed in, as if the ring is about to cough up a secret. Stripped of its shiny basketball court or ice rink, the roof seems to collapse in and the old place is as tight as a tin of shoe polish. When the hour came, so did the Irish. It's been a while since the rebel ballads came bellowing out of the Irish haunts along 8th Avenue but for an hour or so, they filled the summer air. A huge Puerto Rican contingent showed up early to await Serrano's arrival. The Irish, old hands at this lark, left it late but by the time the penultimate fight, between Alycia Baumgardner and Jennfier Miranda was entering its closing rounds, the timeless chorus of olé olé olé, which has carried through several generations of this stage, filled Madison Square Garden. It may not be Sinatra but it carries its own goosebump power. And anyhow, Ol' Blue Eyes got a look in. He was there, framed in a black and white photograph wielding the camera with which he moonlighted as a professional photographer to see Ali and Frazier fight in one of the most storied nights in this place. The framed photograph was directly above Taylor as she sat in her dressing room waiting to come in. No matter how many times the country watches Taylor in the minutes before she enters the ring - and a question mark remains over how many times that privilege will arise in the future - her solemnity in these moments is never less than disconcerting. She's surrounded by family, her trainer Ross Enamait is close at hand but she never seems less than utterly alone. So it went when she made her entrance into the arena to the soundtrack of Even Though I Walk sung by Hannah McClure. This was a global livestream event and slickly produced but something about Taylor's presence means that she retains a distance from the noisy sequin-y theatrics of boxing even when she is right in the heart of it. Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano after the fight in Madison Square Garden, New York. Photograph: INPHO/Gary Carr And this was a riveting clash of cultures and nationality. Serrano's entrance, to the sound of Puerto Rico by Frankie Cutlass, had a touch of the carnivale about it. She was trailed by promotors Jake Paul and Nakisa Bidarian. Despite advance billings, Taylor was given the honour of entering the arena last, as the defending champion. Make no mistake, the crowd in the Garden came in the belief that the fight would break into a gladiatorial brawl as soon as the first bell sounded and would move into uncharted country from there. As it turned out, the flashpoints of furious engagements were periodic and brief but with each one, the decibel level in the arena turned deafening. It's hard to imagine the noise levels had the athletes just forgotten their instructions and submitted to the crowd instincts and wish for a schoolyard brawl. The crowd reacts as Katie Taylor is announced the winner of Saturday night's fight at Madison Square Garden in New York. Photograph: Sarah Yenesel/EPA Instead, Taylor turned in a measured, disciplined boxing performance. In the first round both women bobbed and feinted and did not lay a glove on one another. Given the ferocity of their history, it was disconcerting for the wildly partisan and expectant audience. But it was not unexpected. These are seasoned professionals but it was as though when confronted with one another again, the demons and the physical pain of those previous fights were dancing through their minds. Neither fighter was prepared to jump first. In the second round a familiar pattern began to establish itself: Serrano hunting, Taylor circling the ring, avoiding trouble and seeking to pick off clean punches. The dam threatened to break with 45 seconds remaining in the third,when Taylor, leading with the ultra-accurate left jab, landed three quick punches on the Puerto Rican. Serrano countered with a flurry of her own but Taylor, at 39, has lost little of her ability to become a ghost in the ring: she was gone. So it went: Serrano in the middle of the canvas, searching out Taylor who used that wonderful footwork and pure boxing supremacy to guide her through the 10 rounds of two minutes. Judge Mark Lyson scored the fight a draw but the other two, Steve Weisfeld and Nicolas Ensault had it emphatically in Taylor's favour, 97-93 and in or around midnight, Taylor was still the undisputed super featherweight champion of the world. Her professional record is now 25 wins and just one loss. The Irish crowd was delighted and it was impossible to hear what Taylor said in the ring afterwards. But she was effusive in her praise of Serrano, and of her faith and struck an uncertain note when asked about what the future holds. Katie Taylor in action against Puerto Rican American boxer Amanda Serrano. Photograph: Sarah Yenesel/ EPA 'I don't know but I won't be fighting Amanda Serrano again. She punches too hard.' Not long before 1am and Jake Paul was holding court in the press conference brightly talking up the future of the women's fight game. Taylor and Serrano were the poster fighters and Paul, who did a terrific job of not making this event about himself, was clearly ecstatic about the outcome. 'Twice the gate of Serrano-Taylor 1. That's how far we have come.' Whether the sport can produce a rivalry as compelling and high-quality as Taylor and Serrano remains to be seen. Both have earned six-figure pay days from their rivalry and thrust the women's fight game into a spotlight that would have seemed fanciful when Taylor set out on the professional nine years ago. The Irish crowd stayed to give her a deafening ovation before heading back out to the delights of the island. 'I can't tell you how much it means to me for people to spend their hard-earned money to come over and support me. I love you all and I love my country,' Taylor told them. 'Every time I step in here I represent my country and every single one of you guys. Thank you so much.' What a pairing. They floated above the hype and the noise and exited the arena where they first met leaving the boxing world in a state where they will always wish they could see just one more fight. It's the perfect way to close their story.
Express Tribune
28-02-2025
- Sport
- Express Tribune
McGregor addicted to spotlight, not fighting: Dustin Poirier
Dustin Poirier has cast doubt over Conor McGregor's return to the UFC, questioning whether the former two-division champion is still committed to fighting. McGregor has not competed since his trilogy bout against Poirier at UFC 264 in July 2021, where he suffered a broken leg in a doctor's stoppage TKO loss. Prior to that, Poirier had knocked out McGregor at UFC 257 in January 2021. The Irish fighter was scheduled to face Michael Chandler at UFC 303 in June 2024 but withdrew due to a broken pinky toe. Poirier, who is preparing for what he calls his retirement fight, does not expect to share the octagon with McGregor again. 'Nah, because if I fought him again it would just be for the money,' Poirier said on the 'Outta Pocket with RGIII' podcast. 'It felt so nice – I whipped him twice. It would be just for the money and the money would be incredible. I don't know if he's ever going to come back.' McGregor has remained active in the public eye, promoting businesses and making appearances at events such as Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship (BKFC). Poirier believes his former opponent may be more invested in maintaining his celebrity status than making a UFC comeback. 'I was his last two fights. That was years ago, and he still hasn't fought,' Poirier said. 'I just think he's one of those guys who is addicted to the limelight. He just wants to be in the mix and in social media. Maybe he does come back, but I just think that he has an addiction to the light.' Despite his scepticism, Poirier acknowledged McGregor's unique ability to compete at the highest level, should he regain his drive. 'Look, I love to talk trash on Conor, but if anybody can put it all together and come back, if he can find that passion and that fire, and put it together, this guy can,' Poirier said. 'I'm not saying anybody, but this guy can. He's special. He has something special, but only he knows when he looks in the mirror if he can really do it again. But if he believes it, I believe he could.' McGregor has yet to announce his next fight, while Poirier continues to prepare for his final bout before stepping away from the sport.
