NEW YORK – In a boxing lifetime filled with legacy-defining moments, Katie Taylor believes she finally found the one that she will recall more so than any other.

Taylor’s recent ten-round, split-decision win over record-setting, seven-division titlist Amanda Serrano was a permanent game changer, a Fight of the Year leader emerging on a night when the action in the ring could have easily taken a backseat to the magnitude of the event. The Irish superstar and reigning undisputed lightweight champion had long ago grown accustomed to breaking through barriers and making history.

What she and Serrano were able to accomplish together in front of a sellout crowd of 19,187 at Madison Square Garden—the sport’s most iconic venue—were memories that will remain deeply entrenched in history.

“We were saying earlier that Madison Square Garden, you think of Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier,” Taylor noted during the post-fight press conference, referring to the first fight of the all-time classic heavyweight trilogy which played this arena more than 50 years ago. “People will absolutely be talking about myself and Amanda Serrano for years and years to come.”  

Taylor (21-0, 6KOs) and Serrano (42-2-1, 30KOs) entered the April 30 headliner—the first-ever combat sports event at MSG to be topped by a female fight—as two of the three best pound-for-pound fighters in the world. Both also understood what the event represented to their heritage—Taylor already a legend in Ireland, Serrano forever proudly representing her Puerto Rican roots—and to women around the world, whether the past generation who were for far too long told this could be achieved or to the next generation who were able to see that anything is possible.

“I always said that I always wanted to continue opening doors for young girls in this sport,” noted Serrano, who brushed off her first loss in ten years by understanding why she was here and the main goal at heart. “I never thought that I was going to be here making history, making the amount of money that we’re making. I never thought it, I always said it was for the newer generation but I’m glad that we got to see it.

“I’m always gonna perform like a champion. Win, lose or draw, I’m always gonna represent myself as a woman, as a champion, as a professional. That’s what I do.”

Few knew what to expect on fight night, though a glimpse of what was to come slowly trickled throughout fight week.

“I took it in at the weigh-in. I didn’t expect a weigh-in at this magnitude,” Taylor admitted upon arriving at a jam-packed MSG Hulu Theater on Friday, with more than 200 media members covering the ceremonial weigh-in along with more than 4,000 fans waving Irish and Puerto Rican flags. “All week you saw all the Puerto Rican fans, the traveling Irish fans. You saw the Puerto Rican flags, the Irish flags everywhere.

“It was a crazy atmosphere even for the weigh-in. It was like an Anthony Joshua weigh-in or a Canelo weigh-in. I’ve never experienced anything like that in my professional career.”

Taylor ultimately prevailed, surviving a horrific round five and was rocked in the closing seconds of the fight before registering her thirteenth overall title defense and sixth as undisputed champion. The win advanced Taylor’s record to 15-0 in title fights spanning two divisions, picking up a WBO junior welterweight title in November 2019 before dropping back down to lightweight. But Saturday’s fight was about far more than wins and losses.

“This was a history-making fight and it lived up to the expectation,” pointed out Taylor.  

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for krikya360.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox