Undisputed light welterweight female world champion Katie Taylor will face Amanda Serrano (46-2, 30 KOs) in a rematch on July 20th at the AT & Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on the undercard of Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson on Netflix.
Revisiting the “Raw Deal”
Many felt that Serrano, 35, was robbed two years ago, losing a highly questionable 10-round split decision to the bigger, slower, weaker Taylor (23-1, 6 KOs) in April 2022 at Madison Square Garden in New York.
I’m still scratching my head, wondering what the judges were thinking by giving Taylor the win. Serrano completely schooled Taylor from A to B, making it look easy.
The judges scored it 96-94 for Serrano, 97-93, and 96-93 for Taylor. I had Serrano winning 8-2 based on her bigger, cleaner shots that landed. Taylor was hitting with very little power and beaten to the punch all night by the little sprite Serrano.
I wondered if the judges confused the two because their scores were out of this galaxy wrong. It’s one thing for them to get it wrong, but the wide scores made it worse.
What seemed strange to me was how the New York crowd was eating out of the hands of the visiting Irish fighter Taylor instead of cheering for Serrano, who comes from nearby Puerto Rico.
The big question is whether the pro-Taylor audience influenced the judges’ scoring of the fight because it seemed like a clear victory for Serrano.
Texas: Ground Zero for Hopefully Better Scoring
The Taylor vs. Serrano rematch location should help Amanda, given that it’s away from New York, and there won’t be as many Irish fans in the audience to cheer for her in Texas.
This time, I hope for the rightful queen to be crowned at the end of the night. If it’s Taylor, so be it, as long as the scores make sense. The way Serrano has looked in her last four fights since her loss, you got to favor her over the 37-year-old Taylor, who was recently beaten.