Two big events in two of the biggest boxing cities in the world take over the sport on Saturday.
Shakur Stevenson and Oscar Valdez will face off at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas to unify two junior lightweight titles. Stevenson (17-0, 9 KOs) is making the first defense of the WBO title he won in a 10th-round TKO victory over Jamel Herring in October. Valdez (30-0, 23 KOs) upset Miguel Berchelt in 2021 to win his WBC title, and he successfully defended the belt with a unanimous decision victory over Robson Conceicao in September.
At the iconic Madison Square Garden in New York, undisputed lightweight champion Katie Taylor will take on seven-division champ Amanda Serrano in what’s regarded as the biggest fight in women’s boxing history. Taylor (20-0, 6 KOs), an Olympic gold medalist in London 2012 and ESPN’s No. 1 pound-for-pound woman fighter in the world, unified all four major belts with a victory over Delfine Persoon in 2019. Taylor has made six successful defenses since then, including a one-sided decision victory over Firuza Sharipova in December.
Serrano (42-1-1, 30 KOs) has won world titles at 115, 118, 122, 126, 130 135 and 140 pounds. She started 2021 with two fights at featherweight before moving up to junior lightweight in a victory over Miriam Gutierrez in December. Serrano’s only defeat was a decision to Frida Wallberg, who was challenging for a junior lightweight title 10 years ago.
Mike Coppinger recaps the action in Vegas while Michael Rothstein covers the bouts in New York City.
Fight in progress from New York: Galal Yafai vs. Miguel Cartagena, 10 rounds, flyweights
Fight in progress from Las Vegas: Troy Isley vs. Anthony Hannah, 6 rounds, middleweights
Results:
From Las Vegas: Abdullah Mason, of Cleveland, Ohio, moved to 2-0 with 2 KOs by defeating Argentina’s Luciano Ramos by first-round TKO. Ramos is now 1-3 in his career.
From Las Vegas: Jaylan Phillips (2-2, 1 KO), of Ebro, Florida, and Antoine Cobb (1-1, 1 KO), of Chicago, Illinois, fought to a majority draw in a four-round welterweight bout. One judge had the fight 39-37 for Phillips and the other two judges scored the bout 38-38.
Still to come:
From Las Vegas:
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Title fight: Oscar Valdez vs. Shakur Stevenson, 12 rounds, for Valdez’s WBC junior lightweight title and Stevenson’s WBO junior lightweight title
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Keyshawn Davis vs. Esteban Sanchez, 8 rounds, lightweights
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Nico Ali Walsh vs. Alejandro Ibarra, 4 rounds, middleweights
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Raymond Muratalla vs. Jeremy Hill, 8 rounds, lightweights
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Andres Cortes vs. Alexis del Bosque, 8 rounds, junior lightweights
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Troy Isley vs. Anthony Hannah, 6 rounds, middleweights
From New York:
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Title fight: Katie Taylor vs. Amanda Serrano, 10 rounds, for Taylor’s WBC, WBA, WBO and IBF lightweight titles
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Jessie Vargas vs. Liam Smith, 10 rounds, junior middleweights
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Title fight: Franchon Crews-Dezurn vs. Elin Cederroos, 10 rounds, for Crews-Dezurn’s WBC and WBO super middleweight titles and Cederroos’ IBF and WBA super middleweight titles
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Austin Williams vs. Chordale Booker, 10 rounds, middleweights