A rivalry as important as Messi vs Ronaldo: How Taylor and Serrano transcended women’s boxing

As one of the great fighting rivalries comes to an end, it is difficult to know where to start. How about the middle? Not just the middle rounds of the middle episode of this trilogy, but the middle of the ring in the middle of AT&T Stadium, which was the epicentre of the sporting world on this night in November.

They say, as you might have heard, that everything is bigger in Texas, and the gruesome gash above Amanda Serrano’s right eye adhered to this adage. As 72,000 bewitched fans watched on in the cavernous home of the Dallas Cowboys, they forgot that they were waiting for the biggest commercial fight in years: YouTuber Jake Paul’s carnivalesque clash with a 58-year-old Mike Tyson.

That fight, unsurprisingly, did not deliver on the almost incomprehensible hype, but it did deliver Netflix 60 million households’ worth of viewers. But the chief support bout? That reached the realm of mutual benefit. As Serrano and Katie Taylor went to war over the undisputed super-lightweight titles, their frenzied collisions were zapped into almost 50 million homes, producing the most absorbing advert possible for women’s boxing.

Taylor vs Serrano 2 was the most-watched women’s sporting event in US history, and one of the most-watched ever globally. Perhaps the only chasm wider than the split above Serrano’s eye was the chasm between where women’s boxing was before and after that bout.

Yet a similar before-and-after relates to this rivalry as a whole.

November’s sequel was a compelling one, with Taylor retaining her world titles by a single point on all three scorecards, yet the first duel was also an instant classic. In May 2022, inside New York City’s hallowed Madison Square Garden, Taylor similarly snatched glory from the Puerto Rican great, as the Irish icon battled to a razor-close split decision to retain the undisputed lightweight titles.

That night, for the first time in the history of women’s boxing, a fighter was awarded a seven-figure payday – both fighters were, in fact.

At the time, Taylor was still unbeaten and had long established herself as the Godmother of women’s boxing, having not only won Olympic gold but essentially become the reason why women were allowed to fight at the Games. Meanwhile, Serrano had compiled a monstrous record as a seven-division world champion.

In all honesty, these mentions of “women’s boxing” feel reductive; Taylor and Serano were, and remain, greats of the sport in general – regardless of any delineation one may trace. Yet it must be acknowledged that their side of the sport had met adversity at every turn across several decades. While it is obvious to say that Taylor, now 38, and Serrano, 36, broke down barriers, it is true. With tens of thousands of jabs, straights, hooks and uppercuts, they did.

Yet despite their respective endeavours, it took a collaborative one to elevate women’s boxing to untouched altitudes. That collaboration, with promotion from Paul and Eddie Hearn, elevated boxing full stop.

Taylor and Serrano’s first meeting opened the door for other high-profile pairings like Claressa Shields’s showdown with Savannah Marshall later that year, an undisputed fight that topped an all-female card at London’s O2 Arena. On the undercard was a thriller between Alycia Baumgardner and Mikaela Mayer, with the latter facing Natasha Jonas in one of the first big bouts of 2024. Jonas then headlined another all-female card this March, taking on Lauren Price, and the Taylor vs Serrano 3 card will likewise only feature women.

Taylor’s pair of fights with Chantelle Cameron also played out in the lingering glow of her first match with Serrano, as Taylor was beaten for the first time before avenging that loss in the cauldron of Dublin’s 3Arena in late 2023. Having been privileged to attend Taylor vs Serrano 2 and Taylor vs Cameron 2, this writer can attest to the similarly overwhelming but very different atmospheres of each event.

Taylor’s rematch with Cameron took place amid the throes of riots in the Irish capital, and was a uniquely unifying occasion for dispirited Dubliners. Taylor’s rematch with Serrano saw the Country Wicklow boxer deemed the villain – not just due to her presence on American soil, but also due to the headbutt that caused Serrano’s cut, with the Puerto Rican alleging it was intentional.

So, blood, sweat and tension have defined this storied rivalry, and now its protagonists return to the scene of their first clash and the platform of their second: Madison Square Garden, and Netflix.

Taylor vs Serrano 1 was defined in part by the millions of dollars that the boxers earned. Taylor vs Serrano 2 was defined in part by the tens of millions of households that tuned in. Those instalments combined saw the legends vie for seven world titles. And yet what Taylor and Serrano have done cannot be measured in numbers. It is rare for a rivalry to transcend sport, but Taylor vs Serrano belongs in the same breath as Federer vs Nadal and Messi vs Ronaldo. This is as good as sport gets.