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NEW YORK – Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano can finally look forward to fight night for an historic matchup that has been years in the making.
That didn’t prevent the pair of boxing superstars and pound-for-pound entrants from soaking in every ounce of the incredible atmosphere at Madison Square Garden Hulu Theater, which was stuffed to the gills for Friday’s official pre-fight weigh-in.
Both made weight for their ten-round championship with Taylor’s undisputed lightweight crown at stake at Madison Square Garden in New York City (Saturday, DAZN, 7:30 pm. ET).
Ireland’s Taylor (20-0, 6KOs)—a 2012 Olympic Gold medalist, two-time Olympian and two-division champ—weighed 134.6 pounds for her thirteenth overall title defense and fifth of the undisputed lightweight championship. Brooklyn’s Serrano (42-1-1, 30KOs)—the only-ever female fighter to win titles in seven weight divisions—checked in at 133.6 pounds, in her quest to become the first-ever undisputed champion from Puerto Rico, male or female.
The bout marks the first-time in MSG’s rich history that a women’s boxing match headlines in the main room.
Jessie Vargas (29-3-2, 11KOs) and Liam Smith (31-3-1, 17KOs) are set for their oft-postponed junior middleweight grudge match between former titlists.
Las Vegas’ Vargas weighed 153 pounds for his first fight since the pandemic. The former junior welterweight and welterweight titlist has been out of the ring since a 12-round defeat to former four-division titlist Mikey Garcia in February 2020. He opened training camp for a hoped-for May 2021 fight with Smith, eventually landing a date this past February 5 only to have to withdraw after testing positive for Covid.
Liverpool’s Smith came in at 154 pounds for a fight he hopes will lead to a shot at becoming a two-time junior middleweight titlist. The former WBO champ is coming off an eighth-round knockout of countryman Anthony Fowler last October in his Liverpool hometown, helping remove the bad taste left behind in a highly questionable twelve-round points loss to Magomed Kurbanov last May on the road in Ekaterinburg, Russia.
The animosity between the two was felt
The second of two undisputed championship bouts on Saturday’s show pits WBC/WBO champ Franchon Crews-Dezurn (7-1, 2KOs; 1NC) versus IBF/WBA Elin Cederroos (8-0, 4KOs) in their long-delayed showdown. Both unified titlists made weight for their rescheduled ten-round contest, which was originally due to take place on the eventually cancelled Triller Pay-Per-View card last June in Miami.
Baltimore’s Crews-Dezurn checked in at 166.8 pounds for her second attempted title defense, and her first fight since last January. Sweden’s Cederroos weighed 167.8 pounds in her first fight since unifying the WBA/IBF belts in ten-round win over Alicia Napolean in January 2020. Words were exchanged as Crews-Dezurn did her best to get a rise out of the unbeaten Cederroos before the two were immediately separated.
Below are the weights for the rest of the undercard.
Galal Yafai (1-0, 1KO), Birmingham, England, 111.8 pounds vs. Miguel Cartagena (17-6-1, 8KOs), Philadelphia, 110.4 pounds—10 rounds, flyweight
Austin Williams (10-0, 8KOs), Houston, 158.8 pounds vs. Chordale Booker (17-0, 7KOs), Stamford, Connecticut, 157.4 pounds—10 rounds middleweight
Reshat Mati (11-0, 7KOs), Staten Island, 143.8 pounds vs. Joe Eli Hernandez (12-1, 10KOs), Brownsville, Texas, 144.2 pounds—8 rounds, welterweight
Skye Nicolson (2-0, 0KOs), Yatala, Australia, 125.6 pounds vs. Shanecquia Paisley Davis (3-1, 0KOs), Houston, weight TBD—6 rounds, featherweight
Khalil Coe (2-0-1, 2KOs), Flemington, New Jersey, 174.6 pounds vs. William Langston (6-2, 4KOs), Kenosha, Wisconsin, 173 pounds—6 rounds, light heavyweight
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox