Katie Taylor on criticism from Serrano camp: ‘I really don’t care. I’m standing here as a victor again, I fought her twice, I beat her twice’
But Taylor was indifferent to it when she spoke in the relative calm of a post-fight press conference that almost didn’t take place when organisers sought to prevent her promoter Eddie Hearn from joining her at the top table.
Hearn was not part of this promotion but was close by for the fight and officially accredited as part of the Taylor team. He was also quite conspicuous with his celebration in the ring afterwards, something that appeared to be under the skin of Most Valuable Promotions, Jake Paul’s company that put the event together.
For Taylor the clash of heads that saw Serrano sustain a bad gash over the eye in the fourth round and then saw her lose a point for a subsequent but less pronounced clash in the eight round, was an occupational hazard that happens when there is such a clash of styles, she said.
“It just happens sometimes when you are fighting against a southpaw, the fighters went close and it just happens,” she said. “It was completely accidental. They were calling me a dirty fighter. That wasn’t purposely done.
“I’m in there fighting like she is and it’s a rough sport and sometimes you get head clashes so you have to fight through those things. This is the fight game.
“I didn’t know what they were saying but I knew they were complaining about the decision. But I really don’t care. I’m standing here as a victor again, I fought her twice, I beat her twice, all the judges were in agreement so I really couldn’t care less what is being said about the fight. I’m sat here again, 2-0 against Serrano.”
As to the prospect of a trilogy Taylor was open to it without being over committal to such a prospect down the line.
The criticism of her that came from the ring immediately afterwards with Serrano and her trainer and brother-in-law, Jordan Maldonado, both pointing to previous fights where they alleged Taylor had used her head excessively continued during Jake Paul’s debrief.
Paul is Serrano’s promoter and manager and his business partner and adviser Nakisa Bisharian cut an agitated figure at ringside during the eight over Taylor’s approach and ventilated those concerns as he sat alongside Paul.
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“She felt the ref didn’t protect her,” Bisharian said of Serrano. “The ref didn’t put her in a position to win and they should have taken more than one point away for what that woman was doing in the ring tonight,” he said at a subsequent press conference flanked by Paul.
“I thought Katie implemented her game plan well but it was a dirty fight. She used her head to lead every single minute of every round.
“Amanda did her best to fight back but she was at a disadvantage and the referee didn’t stop the head butts. He took a point away way too late and she continued to do the headbutting and she continued to do the holding.”
The controversy will serve to overshadow another absorbing fight between two rivals who have elevated women’s boxing to another level again.
Madison Square Garden was always a very difficult act to follow but they at least matched it, even allowing for the intimacy the famed New York venue brought.
Bisharian levelled scarcely concealed criticism at the judging too which went unanimously in Taylor’s favour, 95-94.
“I would like to point out that the betting market before the 10th round had it at -350 for Amanda to win. So the sports book had -350 in the 10th round that she was going to win the fight,” he said incredulously.
“I thought in the first round, if there was 15 seconds left, Katie Taylor was dropped and done. If you look at the replay, she doesn’t know where she was,” he said, referring to a smashing left hook from Serrano that rocked Taylor back on to the ropes.
Taylor had fought cautiously in the opening rounds but revealed that a change in approach brought success as she sought to trade blows with Serrano, taking the fight up a few notches and into the realm of their first fight again in the second half.
“It was a different fight to the first time,” said Taylor. “When I started off I was a bit slow but I changed it up in the second half and stood there and fought with her. I definitely landed the bigger punches tonight, especially the second half of the fight. And that’s actually what won the fight, I feel.”
Hearn put his celebration down to emotion but it clearly didn’t sit well with Bisharian.
“We had a policy that no promoters were coming in the ring for this event and there was probably a month of continuous emails to different parts of our team trying to get some extra credentials and allow Eddie to be in the ring with Katie but I never heard it from Katie or Katie’s team. They not once said to us ‘we really want Eddie in the ring’. So when they continued until today and we finally said ‘is that what Katie wants’ she said ‘yes I’d love for Eddie to be in the ring.’
“Immediately I said yes, no problem. How he conducted himself in the ring, that’s not how we conduct ourselves but that’s okay, he showed emotion, she won a very close fight, no problem, we move on.”
Where too wasn’t clear from either side. For both it will take some time to rid the impact of this latest war from the system.
