Olivia Curry battled 10 rounds with Kaye Scott over vacant unified women’s middleweight titles Friday at Fox Theatre in Detroit, in what proved to be a Fight of the Year contender. But if fans believed they had witnessed the first entry in a future trilogy, others aren’t so sure.
Curry, 7-2-2 (2 KOs), rallied late in the bout as two of the three judges scored it 95-95 and another awarded the fight to Scott, 98-92. Trinidad Garcia, Curry’s trainer and manager, is optimistic that the next bout will define the rivalry – and also end it.
“I hope not, and I say that because I hope Olivia goes in there and solidifies the win,” Garcia told BoxingScene about the prospects of a rubber match. “A trilogy only happens if there are two great fights.”
Curry, a 35-year-old from Chicago who started boxing at 19, showed grit and resilience against Scott. Turns out she needed every ounce of both. Garcia acknowledges that Scott, 4-1-1, surprised him with her game plan.
“I will give them credit,” Garcia said. “They did the complete opposite of what we thought would happen in this fight.”
Team Curry expected Scott to fight, but they didn’t expect her to throw more than two punches at a time. The 41-year-old Scott, who has a deep amateur pedigree dating back to her roots on the Australian national team, fought differently than she previously had as a pro.
“The only thing I underestimated Kaye Scott doing was bringing the fight to us,” Garcia said. “To Kaye’s credit, she stood there and went toe-to-toe with Olivia, and I have nothing but respect for that.”
With the fight in the balance, Garcia spoke to the emotion of the moment, which saved his fighter from defeat.
“Go out there, do what you got to do, all your emotion, everything you have, leave it all on the line,” Garcia recalled telling Curry before the 10th round. “Without that final round, we lost that fight.”
There already are talks of a rematch and optimism that it will happen before the end of the year. Garcia believes the next fight will continue where the last one left off, as the 10th and final round was arguably the best of the fight.
“I think that final round is one we will be talking about for quite some time,” Garcia said. “The minute the next fight starts, round 11 starts of this fight.”
Lucas Ketelle is the author of “Inside the Ropes of Boxing,” a guide for young fighters, a writer for BoxingScene and a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Find him on X at @BigDogLukie.
