If Amanda Serrano’s win Thursday night indeed leads to a showdown with Katie Taylor, Claressa Shields thinks their 140-pound title fight could go either way.
Women’s boxing’s undisputed middleweight champion called Serrano-Taylor “a 50-50” fight during an interview with DAZN’s Chris Mannix following Serrano’s stoppage of Simon Da Silva in the third round in Miami. Brooklyn’s Serrano (38-1-1, 28 KOs) and Ireland’s Taylor (15-0, 6 KOs) might fight as early as April in London, according to Eddie Hearn, Taylor’s promoter.
“I think it’s a 50-50 match,” Shields said. “I think that Amanda holds the power there, but Katie, as we all know, has great skills and very great hand speed. But Amanda has been around for many, many years and she has a lot of experience. She’s a seasoned fighter, so I think that Katie Taylor don’t really do well with pressure fighters and I feel like Amanda can do that game plan and also take what Katie Taylor’s giving back, and have some defense, maybe she can come out the winner. But if Katie can adjust to fighters attacking her, and her having better defense, not just on her feet, but on her upper body, I think that she could win. So, it’s a really 50-50 fight between both girls.”
The 31-year-old Serrano beat Brazil’s Da Silva (17-15, 6 KOs) in what officially was a lightweight fight on the Demetrius Andrade-Luke Keeler undercard at Meridian at Island Gardens. In her previous appearance, Serrano out-pointed Heather Hardy (22-1, 4 KOs) unanimously in a 10-round featherweight fight September 13 in The Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden.
The seven-division champion would face Taylor at the junior welterweight limit of 140 pounds, a division in which Serrano has owned a world title.
The 33-year-old Taylor moved up to 140 pounds for her last fight, a 10-rounder she won by unanimous decision against Greece’s Christina Linartadou (12-2, 6 KOs) on November 2 in Manchester, England.
In her prior bout, Delfine Persoon provided the toughest test of Taylor’s career. Taylor beat Belgium’s Persoon (44-2, 18 KOs) by majority decision in an action-packed, 10-round lightweight title unification fight on the Anthony Joshua-Andy Ruiz Jr. undercard June 1 at Madison Square Garden.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.