Taylor and Serrano's Rematch – Did It Deserve an Event All Its Own?

(NOV 20) The hotly anticipated rematch between 38-year-old Irish professional boxer (and former footballer) Katie Taylor and 36-year-old Puerto Rican professional boxer (and MMA fighter) took place in the early hours of Friday, November 15, 2024, in Arlington, Texas, at the iconic AT&T Stadium.

The co-main bout was the first ever sporting event live-streamed on Netflix and was part of the Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson event.

Despite the contentious conclusion to the Taylor vs. Serrano II fight, with the crowd booing the split decision that saw Taylor winning in a slightly controversial fashion narrowly on points (all three judges scoring 95-94), many sports fans hailed this fight as an epic rematch and some are already saying that it deserved an event of its own, even calling for a third bout 'Trilogy' between the two female boxers.

Let's take a closer look at what happened on one of the biggest boxing nights in 2024.

What happened in the Taylor vs. Serrano II bout?

Katie Taylor narrowly defeated Amanda Serrano in their rematch and retained her unanimous super lightweight championship in what was another disputed decision.

The fight was just as much of a slugfest as the original bout between these two back in 2022 when Taylor also won on points with a majority decision victory, and it means that Taylor has now gone 2-0 against Serrano.

This stunning rematch was the only fight of the event with multiple world championships on the line, including Taylor's WBO, IBF, WBC, and WBA lightweight titles. Katie Taylor went into the bout as the slight favourite on many of today's safest sports bet app download websites.

For example, her pre-match odds of winning the bout outright were 5/6 in fractional odds, which is -120 in American/moneyline odds and 1.83 in decimal odds, meaning she has a 54.50% implied probability rate (IPR) of winning. In comparison, Serrano was priced, on average, at around 1/1 (evens), which is +100 in American/moneyline odds and 2.00 in decimal odds (50% IPR).

Here are a key stat:

*	Total punches: Katie Taylor 147/375 – Amanda Serrano 173/624

Let's now take a quick look at a few facts about two of women's boxing's biggest stars, starting with the winner of this year's rematch.
 
Katie Taylor

Nicknamed 'KT,' Taylor was born on July 2, 1986, in Bray, County Wicklow, the Republic of Ireland. Since 2019, she has been the undisputed lineal world lightweight champion and the lineal world super lightweight champion since 2023.

In 2017, she won the WBA lightweight title; the following year, she won the IBF title. The unification victory that saw her beat Delfine Persoon in Madison Square Garden meant that she had become the only boxer in history (female or male) to hold all four major world professional boxing titles simultaneously (the WBO, WBC, WBA, and IBF titles).

She repeated this incredible feat in November 2023, and some of the biggest stars she has fought in her career, besides Delfine Persoon and Amanda Serrano, are Anahí Ester Sánchez, Jessica McCaskill, Victoria Bustos, Rose Volante, and Chantelle Cameron.

Amanda Serrano

Nicknamed The Real Deal, Serrano was born in Carolina, Puerto Rico, on October 9, 1988. She is the unified featherweight world champion, having held multiple titles just like Taylor. Since 2019, she has held the WBO title, along with the IBO title (since 2021) and the WBA title (since 2023).

Serrano has also held the IBF title between 2022 and 2024. She currently holds the Guinness World Record for having won the most boxing world championships (9) across seven different weight classes.

She has also been recognised on two separate occasions (2016 and 2018) by the WBO (World Boxing Organization) as the Female Boxer of the Year. They also granted her the women's first-ever Super World Championship award.

Final thoughts

It's still too early to tell whether there will be a trilogy fight between KT and The Real Deal, but many boxing fans are already calling for it and saying that it deserves an event of its own, not as a co-main event bout.

It has not yet been confirmed if there will be another rematch, but if there is, it will no doubt be watched by even more sports fans than their first two bouts.

If the trilogy fight gets scheduled for some time next year, will it be Taylor who comes out on top for a third time, or will Serrano finally get the better of her opponent? We will just have to wait and see.