Can the Taylor-Serrano 3 card create the next rivalries in women's boxing?

KATIE TAYLOR AND Amanda Serrano -- ESPN's No. 2 and No. 3-ranked women's pound-for-pound fighters -- volition collide successful a highly anticipated trilogy fight, headlining an all-women's boxing paper astatine New York's Madison Square Garden connected Friday. The paper volition beryllium streamed unrecorded connected Netflix and it's different accidental for women's boxing to measurement into the mainstream arsenic the athletics pursues adjacent vulnerability and wage to its antheral counterpart.

"The extremity for this all-women's paper is to enactment the satellite connected announcement that women's boxing is conscionable arsenic entertaining arsenic men's and tin beryllium conscionable arsenic exciting, if not more," Jake Paul, whose institution Most Valuable Promotions is presenting Friday's event, told ESPN. "This is the infinitesimal wherever aggregate women connected the paper tin garner a bigger assemblage and go superstars. They person the accidental to beryllium recognized by audiences extracurricular of the mean boxing assemblage and grow the instrumentality base, conscionable similar Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese did for the WNBA."

All-women's boxing cards person taken spot previously, dating backmost to 1979 successful Los Angeles and women person headlined a pay-per-view arsenic precocious arsenic 2021 erstwhile Claressa Shields defeated Marie-Eve Dicaire to go the undisputed inferior middleweight champion, but stay a novelty, nonetheless. It wasn't until Taylor and Serrano stepped into the ringing to look each different for the archetypal time astatine MSG successful April 2022 that women's boxing appeared to garner the mainstream attention and wealth the athletics has been looking for.

Women's boxing has had its just stock of stars, including Christy Martin successful the 1990s and Laila Ali successful the 2000s. However, for a athletics built connected legendary rivalries, Martin and Ali didn't person idiosyncratic other them who matched their popularity and skill. It tin beryllium argued that the deficiency of a high-profile rivalry successful women's boxing stifled the sport's growth.

"I deliberation you person to person that creation spouse truthful everybody tin spot however large a dancer you are," Martin told ESPN.

Martin has often been credited for legitimizing women's boxing arsenic a fixture of promoter Don King's cards successful the precocious 1990s and aboriginal 2000s, warring connected Mike Tyson's undercard aggregate times. Martin was among the archetypal people of women inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame successful 2020.

"Every athletics is built connected rivalries," Martin said. A highly anticipated clash with Lucia Rijker, who was wide regarded arsenic the champion pound-for-pound women's boxer successful the world, was scheduled to instrumentality spot successful 2005 but fell isolated erstwhile Rijker ruptured her Achilles tendon. "If my combat with Lucia Rijker happened, possibly it would person elevated women's boxing arsenic a whole."

Taylor and Serrano correspond the archetypal existent rivalry betwixt championship-caliber fighters successful women's boxing. Their historical archetypal brushwood was the archetypal clip 2 women headlined a boxing paper successful the 140-plus-year past of Madison Square Garden. Taylor narrowly won the archetypal meeting, and some women reportedly received seven-figure payouts for selling retired the "Mecca of Boxing."

"Rivalries marque everything much exciting," Serrano told ESPN. "Katie and I are lone rivals successful the ring, but we're chill with each different extracurricular of it. When we are successful the ring, we don't hatred each other. We're conscionable trying to beryllium who the champion combatant successful the satellite is and enactment connected a large show. She has brought retired the champion successful me, and I person successful her."

The rematch was strategically booked arsenic the co-main lawsuit to Jake Paul's heavyweight showdown with Mike Tyson past November, which Taylor won by arguable determination successful ESPN's 2024 women's combat of the year. It became the most-watched women's sporting lawsuit successful U.S. history, averaging 74 cardinal unrecorded viewers globally connected Netflix. By comparison, the archetypal combat successful 2022 had a global assemblage of 1.5 cardinal viewers connected DAZN.

But however overmuch of that was owed to instrumentality involvement successful the women versus viewers getting settled successful for Paul-Tyson?

Regardless of their reasons for tuning in, fans were treated to an instant classic.

"A batch of recognition goes to Serrano and Taylor," Paul said. "Any combatant tin combat connected my undercard, but if they don't marque a connection oregon a sanction for themselves, past each of those fans won't needfully care. It's a recognition to some of them for being warriors and putting connected all-star performances that radical privation to tune successful and watch. That is arguably the astir important portion of the puzzle."

And now, acknowledgment to the groundwork laid by Taylor and Serrano, women's boxing volition get a signifier each to itself and the accidental to thrust the athletics into the limelight.

"This isn't a selling gimmick," Taylor told ESPN. "I deliberation radical are going to beryllium shocked by what they see, and determination volition beryllium immoderate caller household names that the radical volition beryllium talking astir aft July 11. This is going to beryllium a immense infinitesimal for women's boxing.

"The fights look to beryllium getting bigger and bigger and this is simply a immense infinitesimal not conscionable for myself but I deliberation for women's sport, to beryllium headlining a immense amusement astatine Madison Square Garden, an all-female card. This is monumental."

THE FIGHT CARD volition diagnostic 17 satellite titles contested crossed 5 fights, with 4 of ESPN's apical 10 women's pound-for-pound fighters (Taylor, Serrano, Alycia Baumgardner and Chantelle Cameron) successful action. All of the ingredients are determination for a thrilling nighttime of fights and the accidental to make caller stars.

"I look astatine this lawsuit arsenic a monumental infinitesimal that creates a question due to the fact that we've been capable to enactment unneurotic specified an unbelievable postulation of apical pound-for-pound fighters, which you've ne'er seen done successful boxing, antheral oregon female, before," Nakisa Bidarian, co-founder of Most Valuable Promotions, told ESPN.

The jury's inactive retired connected whether Friday's paper volition beryllium capable to spot women inch person to adjacent footing with men successful the sport.

"It takes galore watershed moments to marque a reservoir," legendary boxing commentator Jim Lampley told ESPN. Best known arsenic the announcer for HBO Boxing, Lampley's last telephone for the web came connected Dec. 8, 2018, erstwhile helium was connected the table for then-undisputed women's welterweight champion Cecilia Braekhus' rubric defence against Aleksandra Lopes.

"This tin beryllium a watershed infinitesimal without bringing america to a culminating constituent wherever we accidental that women's boxing has wholly made it," Lampley said. "It's ever going to beryllium an uphill climb, but we get a small person erstwhile 2 prima fighters travel together."

Lampley raised concerns that fans whitethorn inactive not beryllium connected committee with the thought of women's boxing.

"I deliberation determination are inactive a fig of people, some antheral and female, who are not comfy watching women fight," said Lampley. "Whether that's incorrect oregon inappropriate oregon unfair to women, it doesn't truly matter."

Although she is simply a pioneer for bringing women's boxing into the mainstream, Martin isn't wholly enamored by the thought of an all-women's event, but for antithetic reasons.

"As a fighter, I conscionable wanted to acceptable in," Martin said, who prefers an inclusive combat paper versus 1 that separates men and women, and believes that the endowment excavation successful women's boxing is inactive excessively shallow for an all-women's paper to go the caller norm. "This lawsuit is going to person a microscope connected it, and if everybody doesn't enactment connected a show similar Taylor vs. Serrano is expected to, and everybody can't, it's going to beryllium scrutinized."

Women's boxing has agelong had a stronger foothold with audiences overseas than successful the U.S. Matchroom Boxing's Eddie Hearn told ESPN that helium had considered staging an all-women's boxing lawsuit successful 2020 and approached Taylor with the thought for an all-women's paper connected International Women's Day (March 8), but Taylor was adamant that she wanted to stock the signifier with men.

"The crushed we haven't done an all-women's boxing paper is due to the fact that I don't deliberation it truly works, if I'm honest," Hearn, who has promoted Taylor for the entirety of her nonrecreational career, said. "For immoderate reason, [an all-women's combat card] benignant of deletes a batch of the imaginable customers that spell to accepted boxing. When you look astatine each women's boxing cards, the assemblage successful the arena is wholly different. There is simply a immense magnitude of women and young girls successful the audience, which I deliberation is fantastic by the way, but a batch of accepted combat fans don't privation it.

"I conscionable consciousness that Taylor-Serrano with a mean paper of men and women would've sold retired immediately."

As of Wednesday, the lawsuit is trending toward a sellout. "The lawsuit volition execute treble the summons income gross of the archetypal Taylor Serrano lawsuit astatine Madison Square Garden," Mitch Glaser, MVP caput of concern and strategy, told ESPN.

BOTH HEARN AND Martin are cautiously optimistic astir what the aboriginal holds pursuing Taylor-Serrano 3. And with Taylor (39 years old) and Serrano (36 years old) inching person to retirement, the aboriginal is conscionable arsenic imperative arsenic the present.

"We request a prima to look from this paper that Jake Paul volition proceed to promote," Martin said. "Taylor and Serrano person performed each clip they person had the opportunity. Whoever the adjacent prima is, volition request to permission radical successful awe. We request to spot who is going to transportation women's boxing to the adjacent level."

Dmitry Salita, who has guided the palmy nonrecreational vocation of two-time Olympic golden medalist and three-division undisputed champion Claressa Shields, said Most Valuable Promotions indispensable look beyond its existent harvest of champions for the adjacent question of stars.

"The adjacent measurement successful Jake Paul's improvement [as a promoter] is the quality to physique fighters from the crushed up," Salita told ESPN. "He has been capable to rise the illustration of Amanda Serrano, who was already 1 of the champion successful the world. But tin helium bash it with a combatant retired of the amateurs? I anticipation that helium does due to the fact that I'm a protagonist of what he's doing for women's boxing.

"The much powerfulness players that are successful the sport, the amended it is for the athletics and the fighters. Because erstwhile there's competition, erstwhile there's idiosyncratic other to spell to, it makes radical enactment harder. It makes us, the promoters, beryllium innovative and originative and present the champion opportunities for boxing fans."

Paul and MVP program to proceed signing women and providing opportunities for them to compete. Meanwhile, Claressa Shields, ESPN's No. 1 pound-for-pound women's boxer, continues to radiance arsenic 1 of the biggest and champion successful women's boxing. But for each that she has accomplished successful pushing women's boxing to caller heights arsenic arguably the astir accomplished boxer, antheral oregon female, she is successful hopeless request of a creation spouse to genuinely situation her.

Paul and Shields person been contentious successful the media, but if they tin resoluteness their differences and articulation forces, it tin assistance women's boxing scope caller heights.

"Claressa is simply a skilled combatant and an astonishing promoter who knows however to thrust engagement and deserves to beryllium promoted the close mode extracurricular of her ain promotions," Bidarian said. "We are 100% ever unfastened to moving with Clarissa Shields due to the fact that we deliberation it would beryllium for the betterment of the sport."

For his part, Salita said helium is unfastened to doing concern with Paul, arsenic agelong arsenic it's "fair and correct."

"My motto is to enactment with everybody due to the fact that our occupation arsenic promoters is to springiness the champion opportunities to fighters and the champion fights for the fans," Salita said. "I person perfectly nary occupation moving with MVP with not lone Claressa, but our different women boxers."

When asked if we volition spot much all-women's boxing events, Paul said that "maybe erstwhile oregon doubly a year" is simply a realistic goal. However, the astir important happening is to support the women's boxers progressive and visible.

"Stars are thing without infrastructure," MVP's caput of boxing, Michael Leanardi, told ESPN. "What we're trying to bash astatine MVP is person the women combat connected much regular schedules due to the fact that determination is nary amended mode to physique a instrumentality basal than to beryllium visible. These women request to beryllium seen much than erstwhile a twelvemonth successful a boxing ring."

Before the biggest rivalry successful women's boxing past reaches its conclusion, the agleam lights astatine MSG volition beryllium connected the caller epoch of women's boxers arsenic the athletics searches for the adjacent Taylor and Serrano.

"[They know] This is their accidental to perform," Paul said. "They are connected Netflix, warring connected the biggest women's boxing paper ever, and tin each travel retired of it arsenic superstars with electrical performances and beryllium the adjacent ones to get a $5 cardinal payday."