Katie Taylor moves up in women's pound-for-pound rankings after Amanda Serrano win - but still isn't number one
Katie Taylor has moved up in the pound-for-pound rankings following her win over Amanda Serrano
Katie Taylor has overtaken Amanda Serrano in ESPN's women's pound-for-pound rankings following her win over the Puerto Rican last week.
The Bray Bomber is now ranked number two on the list, one place ahead of Serrano, with American Claressa Shields still number one.
Taylor defeated Serrano by unanimous decision at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, with the three judges all scoring the bout 95-94 in her favour. The victory saw the undisputed super lightweight champion retain the belts she won against Chantelle Cameron almost a year ago.
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However, the bout wasn't without controversy, with Serrano and her team furious with the result and accusing Taylor of deliberately headbutting her opponent during the fight.
Serrano suffered a bad cut to her right eye following a clash of heads in the fourth round and Taylor was deducted a point in the eighth for leading with her head.
Nakisa Bidarian, co-founder of Most Valuable Promotions, says a review is taking place to see if there is a case for the bout being ruled a no contest.
"They believe they won, I believe they won. If you look at the Compubox stats, Amanda significantly outpunched Katie Taylor and had a higher accuracy rate," he told Off The Ball.
"In fact Amanda set the record for the most punches landed in female boxing history, but put that aside, you could say to the eye of the judges or to the eyes of the consumer, the fan, the fight was pretty close.
"What wasn't close was Katie Taylor using her head to lead into the exchanges and it did result in one point being deducted, but you could easily make an argument that Amanda could have won that fight easily because she way, way outboxed from a punch stat perspective Katie Taylor in that match up.
"But end of the day it's the decision of the judges what the outcome is and we have to live with that.
"There is a review happening I think with the commission and MVP around the headbutting, but it's not an intention to takeaway from what Katie achieved. We're very proud of what Katie and Amanda achieved together."
Meanwhile, Eddie Hearn says Taylor wants more "unique" fight nights before finishing career - with Croke Park and Sphere at Las Vegas top of her wish list.
"How much have we talked about it over the years and, like if there was ever a time...I've actually said this before, to be fair," Hearn said. "But we're in November now, that gives you enough preparation for a summer event at Croke Park.
"We've just seen the biggest female fight of all time in front of the biggest audience of all time. It's like, surely...and I'll be honest with you, I don't think it's 100% guaranteed that Katie Taylor will fight again. I'm sure she will, but it's going to take something pretty special and unique.
"We had a long call with her last night with (her manager) Brian Peters and she was full of (enthusiasm). In the training room after (the fight), it kind of felt like if she was to turn around now and say, 'that's it for me', I'd actually be extremely happy in a way that you could bow out on a night like that.
"But then she said, 'there's a few things, though, that I'd really like to do'. I said, 'what's that', and she said, 'Obviously I'd like to fight at Croke Park and I'd like to fight in Las Vegas.
"Then you start thinking, wow. I know there's been a lot of interest from the Madison Square Garden guys because of the first Serrano fight to do something possibly in the Sphere in Las Vegas, which would be so iconic for her career - and Croke Park.
"But I just think if it's Chantelle (Cameron) back at the 3Arena or it's Amanda Serrano back at MSG, I'm not sure that's necessarily going to really excite her in the same way that doing something different would."
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