Taylor triumphant in trilogy fight against Serrano

Katie Taylor emerged victorious from her trilogy fight with Amanda Serrano at Madison Square Garden to seal a clean sweep of wins in their rivalry.

In a closely-fought encounter in the headline act of an historic all-female fight card at New York City's iconic venue, the Bray boxer won the fight by majority decision.

The three judges scored it 95-95 97-93 97-93 in her favour as she retained her undisputed WBC, WBA, IBF and WBO women's super lightweight titles.

Taylor and Serrano had first fought in April 2022, with the London 2012 Olympic champion winning that first meeting by split decision after an epic encounter at Madison Square Garden.

Then last November, chapter two of the trilogy took place at the AT&T Stadium in Texas, with Taylor again the winner by unanimous decision, setting the scene for this third bout.

It proved to be a much more cagey encounter than the previous two as both fighters kept more of a distance but ultimately Taylor again came out on top on the judges' cards in front of a significant travelling support from home.

"I can't tell you how much it means to me, people are spending their hard-earned money to come over and watch me. I love you all and I love my country," she said in the aftermath of victory.

The 39-year-old remained coy, however, about future plans to fight again. When asked in the ring if she plans to carry on, she said: "I don't know but I just don't want to fight Amanda Serrano again. She punches too hard."

She added: "I have a huge ton of respect for Amanda, she's such a warrior. It's a pleasure to share a ring with her.

"We have made history three times. We are history makers forever.

"I thought I was boxing very smart, she wasn't able to catch me very much tonight. But it's always close against Amanda."

Serrano, who has suffered three of her four professional losses to Taylor, said she had tried to work "smarter not harder".

"We tried to stay with the long punches and one twos, and it just wasn't enough," she said.

Neither fighter was able to impose themselves early on with just three punches connecting in the opening round.

With both fighters operating from more of a distance than their previous meetings, Taylor looked to control the centre of the ring and landed some good counter shots as she drew Serrano onto her.

Several rounds could have gone either way as the fight built to a tense climax, Serrano coming forwards more and forcing Taylor into a corner in the fifth round, but the champion fought her way out.

Taylor was marked under the right eye in the eighth, but edged the final two rounds to secure the verdict.

Additional reporting: PA