The anticipated mega-bout between Amanda 'The Real Deal' Serrano and Katie Taylor hangs in the balance.
The fight that was tentatively agreed upon for April at Madison Square Garden in New York, has undergone a change of date and venue.
According to Jordan Maldonado, manager and trainer of Serrano, Taylor's representatives insist that the confrontation will be in May in the United Kingdom.
“They made us an offer and we accepted it, but the contract stipulated that the fight would be in April. Now the rumors are that it won't go until May. Amanda has a world title defense due from the World Boxing Organization (WBO), [a title] that she won last September. We have 180 days to defend and if the Taylor fight is in late May, we would be in danger of not complying,” Maldonado explained to Carlos Gonzalez.
Currently, Taylor is the unified champion of the lightweight division.
“The challenge is to go up to 135 pounds, but we want to stay at 126 pounds to unify. That is the natural weight of Amanda. Right now there is no certainty that it will be done in April. Amanda fights where and when they want to. Maybe in May, but we have to negotiate that because the WBO gave us a fight with Simone da Silva,” Maldonado said.
“According to them, Taylor is the superstar. It doesn't matter if it's in New York, Africa, Mars or Jupiter, we're going to fight."
Maldonado maintains the optimism to agree the fight that would represent to Serrano the highest amount of money for a night of work.
“We were ready for April, but they sent a message that for that month it is not going forward. Now we will be waiting for Taylor's promoters to re-negotiate because the [previous] contract is no longer useful. If the fight is in the United Kingdom, the [money] has to be bigger than the one offered in New York, although they said the money could be renegotiated. An that's where we are," Maldonado said.