NEW YORK – Katie Taylor went to the extreme at nearly every turn of her boxing journey through her final days in the amateur ranks.
Donning headgear as she entered a boxing gym as a 12-year-old pretending to be a boy named Kay just to box in Ireland at a time when females were not permitted to do so. Convincing the International OIympic Committee (IOC) to include women’s boxing in the Summer Olympics, which occurred in 2012 at three weights and grew to five by the delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Leaving behind the only way of life she knew to start over as a pro tucked away without friends or family in Connecticut where she now lives and trains.
Accompanying the leap of faith was Taylor marching into the office of Matchroom Boxing’s Eddie Hearn, determined to sign the famed promoter. More than five years later, the bond remains unbreakable.
“I think what Eddie has done for not only me but women's boxing in general has been amazing,” Taylor told BoxingScene.com of her desire to choose Matchroom as part of her mission to forever raise the bar for female boxers in the pro ranks. “When I sat in his office at the start of his journey I don't think either of us knew how it was going to pan out. There were obviously a lot of doubters but he was behind it from the very start and it's incredible how much the sport has grown in just a few years.”
Admittedly, among the initial doubters was the promoter on the other end of Taylor’s pitch.
“I’d love to take the credit for being here but she’s done it,” Hearn told BoxingScene.com. “She told me this was possible. I never believed her at the time and probably didn’t even believe her earlier this week. I’m seeing all these things and can’t believe this is happening.”
Taylor (20-0, 6KOs) has rapidly emerged as among the biggest stars in the sport as a whole and high among the most identifiable fighters on Matchroom Boxing’s deep roster. The proof is in the unprecedented coverage surrounding her pound-for-pound showdown with Brooklyn’s Amanda Serrano (42-1-1, 30KOs), the record-setting seven-division and current unified WBC/WBO featherweight champ who challenges for Taylor’s undisputed lightweight championship.
The bout headlines at Madison Square Garden in New York City (Saturday, DAZN, 7:30 p.m. ET). It’s the first time that both sides of a women’s boxing match will earn seven-figure paydays. It’s also the first main event in the main room at any MSG location in its 143-year history. The response has been overwhelming, with more than 17,000 expected to be on hand for the event.
Taylor has fought here twice before, both times on the undercard of boxing royalty. Her MSG debut in December 2018—a ten-round shutout of unbeaten Eva Walhstrom—came in supporting capacity to Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez playing New York City for the first and—to date—only time in his incredible career.
Six months later, Taylor entered as the WBA/IBF/WBO lightweight champ before claiming a ten-round, majority decision win over long-reigning WBC titlist Delfine Persoon to become the undisputed champion on a night when Anthony Joshua suffered a stunning, seventh-round knockout loss to Andy Ruiz to end his WBA/IBF/WBO heavyweight title reign.
The fight with Persoon represented one half of a personal bucket list for Taylor, who always identified the high-volume puncher from Belgium along with Serrano as the two fighters she needed to face as a pro. Those fights were among the things she laid out from the beginning of her working relationship with Matchroom.
“When she came into my office nearly six years ago saying she wanted to work together, she laid down the things that are important—boxing and her faith,” Hearn fondly recalled. “I know what I’ve got to do. I delivered everything I promised and so has she.”
With it came the challenge Hearn openly welcomed, one not necessarily presented to him by any male boxers including Joshua.
“My relationship with Katie versus my relationship with AJ, she scares me a lot more than AJ,” quipped Hearn. “We’re friends, but we don’t talk outside of boxing. We have a massive amount of respect for each other, but—I don’t think she wants to talk to anyone outside of boxing. That’s just Katie and I don’t want to interfere with what makes her who she is. That said, the greatest relationship as a promoter in a horrible business is when a boxer says, ‘I’m not interested in talking or working with anyone else, ever.’ You know how rare that is?
“That’s the same as a personal relationship. When you’re in a relationship with that person who says, ‘I’m not interested, I’m not even looking at anyone else. We’re together.’ When a fighter does that, I can’t tell you how much it motivates me as a promoter to do a great job by them. Same with AJ, same with Katie. Maybe getting there with Canelo Alvarez. The great relationships I’ve had in the past—Carl Froch, Tony Bellew, Darren Barker—they wouldn’t even contemplate. You can get any promoter in the world sending messages to Katie and she wouldn’t even acknowledge them. ‘I’m with Eddie.’ That’s a togetherness you can’t break.”
It was the stability that Taylor needed after hitting a rough patch in her boxing and personal journey. The first 17 years of her time as a boxer was spent under the guidance of her father, Pete who served as her head trainer. The two went to 2012 London together, where women’s boxing was part of the quadrennial games for the first time ever and where Taylor came home with Gold representing Ireland as a lightweight.
Pete Taylor was no longer part of the picture for 2016 Rio, which came after he separated and eventually divorced Taylor’s mother, Bridget. Katie chose her personal relationship with her mother in moving forward with her boxing career without her father as part of her journey. It ended with a competitive loss to Finland’s Mira Potkonen in the quarterfinal round, with an emotional Taylor contemplating her next step as a boxer.
It led to her traveling abroad, finding a new head trainer in Ross Enamait who has been the lead voice in Taylor’s corner throughout her five-plus year pro career. A perfect 20-0 has followed, including 14-0 in major title fights spanning two weight divisions all while entrusting career-long manager Brian Peters to work behind the scenes for the fights and opportunities she has long commanded in a sport long resistant to such ideas.
All that was missing was the right way to once again make history, which wasn’t quite the case when the second leg of Taylor’s personal bucket list came into play.
The fight with Serrano was originally due to take place May 2020 in Manchester, England. The matchup was well-received even as the intended co-feature to an interim WBC heavyweight title fight between Dillian Whyte and Alexander Povetkin.
The pandemic ruined those plans, with the ugly side of the sport trampling all over efforts to reschedule. The pound-for-pound matchup was targeted for later that August in a makeshift venue on the outdoor property of Matchroom Boxing headquarters in Brentwood, Essex. Serrano—who fought under the DiBella Entertainment banner at the time—balked at the idea of fighting literally in the backyard of her opponent’s promoter.
Taylor forged ahead with her career, keeping the date as she faced and defeated Persoon in a rematch. The win marked the first of five defenses of her undisputed crown, all coming after a one-fight stop to junior welterweight where she outpointed Christina Linardatou to claim the WBO title in November 2019.
Following a ten-round win over mandatory challenger Firuza Sharipova last December, plans were back in play for the highly anticipated clash with Serrano, who by then signed with Jake Paul’s Most Valuable Promotions. The two sides worked together to form this event, one which would have never come about had the powers-that-be took a more traditional approach—and the ultimate lesson learned by a promoter from his star fighter.
“What Katie taught me was about equality,” admitted Hearn. “There was a real movement a few years ago from broadcasters and commercial companies saying, ‘We should invest in women’s sports.’ Why? Because it’s good enough and it will drive numbers, or just something that you feel like you should be doing? She taught me, that is wrong. That’s not equality. When you get substandard quality from any product, that’s not going to provide sustainability of a product. Katie is more like, ‘I don’t want to go on TV just because it’s another box ticked. I want to go on because I’m good. I want to do it because people want to watch me fight.’
“I didn’t get it at the time. I’m thinking, broadcasters want to do women’s sports, so let’s do women’s boxing. We had a conversation and I said, ‘Great idea. International Women’s Day. You’re gonna headline. Eight women’s fights.’ She looked at me like,’ No, What’s this women’s card? I want to be co-main event to AJ. I don’t want to be boxed in as just this women’s product. Put me in when you feel I’m good enough, when I add something to the event.’”
The press tour for Saturday’s event—complete with a photo shoot atop the Empire State Building and both boxers sitting in for Tuesday’s edition of NBC’s popular ‘The Today Show’ morning news show —has shown the level to which women’s boxing is finally embraced, particularly when it’s done right.
“Now, DAZN looks at women’s boxing like ‘This is good,’” Hearn pointed out. “Taylor-Serrano, [Alycia] Baumgarnder versus [Mikaela] Mayer for the undisputed 130-pound championship when we can get that done. These are the fights they look at and say, ‘Yes, when’s the next one after that?’ That’s when you get longevity.
“Katie is a standalone star, regardless of gender. They’re not turning up because they feel they have to support women. People are turning up because this is a great fight, a great moment.”
It’s a moment that Taylor never envisioned with anyone other than the team that has remained in place since her November 2016 pro debut.
“Eddie and the likes of DAZN have provided the opportunities and female fighters are becoming household names because of it,” acknowledges Taylor, forever the humble ring warrior. “Fans are really interested in seeing all the great fight in women's boxing and that's so satisfying to see.”
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox