Eddie Hearn and Jake Paul Mark Million Dollar Taylor Serrano Bet
Katie Taylor [20(6)-0] and Amanda Serrano[42(30)-1-1] are not the only ones guaranteed a seven-figure financial boost after Saturday night.
The winner of a one million dollar bet between the promoters behind the greatest female fight of all time will also increase his bank balance.
Matchroom boss Eddie Hearn and MVP Promotion’s frontman Jake Paul agreed a wager during the final press conference ahead of the mega Madison Square Garden hosted bout.
“I’ve got a bet for you Eddie,” Paul said catching Hearn by surprise at the top table.
“I’m not getting a tattoo,” Hearn joked, referencing the tattoo bet that Paul made ahead of his December 2021 rematch with former UFC champion Tyron Woodley.
“I’ll bet you all the jewelry that I’m wearing right now that Amanda wins the fight,” Paul said.
Hearn then said he was hoping to bet more than that and the two eventually pushed the wager to $1,000,000. Paul was keen to seal the deal right then and there with a handshake, but a more apprehensive Hearn said “we’ll get it together” and implied he’d like to have some paperwork put together for the bet first. However, the two eventually shook on it.
Whether or not they will ‘get it together’ remains to be seen but so courteous was the top table come final press conference time, that the bet was what caught the eye.
After a week of press and a long build-up there was nothing new for both top-of-the-bill fighters to say.
The polite and respectful theme continued with Katie Taylor saying : “The amount of media we have had to do all week was huge. I’m sick of talking about myself but it’s been an amazing week so far. This is definitely very different than how I started boxing when I was eight or nine years old. Like Eddie said, I had to pretend I was a boy to get fights. Women’s boxing wasn’t even a sanctioned sport in Ireland. Now here we are many years later headlining MSG, the most iconic venue in boxing. Making history as the biggest women’s boxing match in history is just incredible. This is all of the sacrifice that I have been working for, for sure.
“The fact that this is going to be a sell out on Saturday night, there is a great appetitive for female fights and this is very special. It’s the best versus the best and it’s just a great boxing match. This isn’t just the best female fight you can see right now – it’s the best fight you can watch right now, male or female.
“I don’t train to lose any fights. I train to win. I’m going to step in there confident that I will come out victorious. The best part about this fight is being able to inspire the next generation. This fight on Saturday night is going to inspire a lot of young girls and that to me is the best part about this.”
Amanda Serrano also played a straight bat and stuck to the lines she had shared throughout the week: “It’s been a long time and it’s finally happening. Now I’ll shine thanks to all of you guys at Madison Square Garden. I couldn’t ask for a better place to make history once again. Sitting here I made history. I won my golden gloves here at the Hulu Theater. And I made history on DAZN with you becoming a seven-division world champion and I plan to do the same thing at the big garden. It’s my first time there. I shine under pressure.
“One of my goals is to become undisputed champion and she has that and I’m going up, once again, two divisions to fight one of the best fighters in the world.
“It’s been an amazing long journey getting here to fight Katie Taylor. Timing is no better than right now. I am so looking forward to Saturday.
“We are probably the two nicest fighters. There is no bad talk between me and Katie Taylor because the fights are won inside the ring, not outside. We don’t need to talk bad about each other. Our accomplishments got us where we at right now and we are making history together. No matter what happens on Saturday night, this is for the fans, women in general, and women in boxing and women’s boxing is only going to grow more. “
