Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano will fight for a third time, returning to Madison Square Garden after staging the first women’s boxing match to headline the arena in the opener of their trilogy.
The bout for Taylor’s undisputed super lightweight championship will take place July 11 and stream on Netflix, Most Valuable Promotions announced Thursday.
Taylor (24-1, 6 KOs) has edged Serrano (47-3-1, 31 KOs) in both of their fights, starting with her victory by split decision on April 30, 2022, before an announced sold-out crowd of 19,187 in a bout that won fight of the year awards for boxing.
They hoped to stage a rematch in Taylor’s native Ireland but instead it was held last November at the home of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys on the undercard of Jake Paul’s victory over Mike Tyson, with Taylor winning by unanimous decision.
“I’m 2-0 against Amanda but it’s obviously a very special rivalry that delivers every time we step in the ring so I think it’s only right that we have the trilogy,” Taylor said in a statement. “The atmosphere for the first fight there was amazing and I’m sure it won’t be any different this time around.”
The match will headline the first all-women’s boxing card at Madison Square Garden, where the crowd in the first fight was split between Irish and Serrano’s Puerto Rican fans.
It will again be contested in two-minute rounds, the standard for women’s boxing. Serrano, a seven-division champion, has pushed for women to fight three-minute rounds — even vacating one of her featherweight titles so she could do so — but said Taylor balked.
“This is a record-setting payday for both of us, and we owed it to the fans to honor the handshake deal we made. She didn’t,” Serrano said. “But make no mistake, every time we share the ring it is war, and I know Friday, July 11, will be the greatest yet because I will finally get the official ‘W’ I deserve.”
Check out our sports section for the latest news and analysis.