Katie Taylor completed a sweep of her trilogy with Amanda Serrano, edging a tight majority decision in New York to retain her undisputed status in a fight that closed the book on boxing’s defining modern rivalry between two women.
One judge scored it an even 95-95, while the other two gave Taylor the fight 97-93 apiece, enough for the majority decision. It was the closest of the three meetings on the cards even if it wasn’t the most action-packed, with both fighters trading a more cautious, chess-like fight than the wars that defined their first two encounters.
A rivalry decided by the smallest margins
Serrano’s more measured approach this time round may have cost her rounds she might otherwise have claimed, with several stanzas close enough that either fighter could reasonably have argued for them. That closeness reflected fairly what the trilogy as a whole has been: three fights between fighters separated by almost nothing, decided by fine margins rather than clear superiority either way.
The undercard added its own statement results
Elsewhere on the card, Shadasia Green produced the shock of the night, outpointing previously undefeated Savannah Marshall on a split decision as a heavy underdog to unify the WBO and IBF super middleweight titles. Alycia Baumgardner successfully defended her undisputed junior lightweight championship with a comfortable unanimous decision over Jennifer Miranda.
A fitting way to close it out
Three fights, three career-defining nights, and a series that could easily have gone either way at any stage: however history remembers the individual results, Taylor and Serrano’s trilogy has been one of the standout achievements of the current era of women’s boxing, and this final chapter, tight as it was, felt like an appropriate way to bring it to a close.
