‘Must Make Fight’ – Eddie Hearn ready to pay Katie Taylor rival to get MSG bill topper over the line
It seems like Eddie Hearn is willing to give Amanda Serrano the pay day she wants to fight Katie Taylor.
The Irish undisputed lightweight champion and the New York seven-weight world titlist have long been linked with an ongoing saga stretching back three years. At times the likelihood of the match-up actually happening have seemed remote but Matchroom boss Hearn is adamant it has to be made.
35-year-old Taylor [18(6)-0] fights Korean-American IBF mandatory Jennifer Han [18(1)-3(0)-1] this Saturday [September 4th] in Leeds and Hearn has continuously stressed another mandatory could follow before the end of 2021.
After that, the DAZN aligned promoter wants to make what he believes would be the biggest female fight of all time for March of 2021. In fact, Hearn wants the clash to top a Madison Square Garden card.
He said: “The Amanda Serrano fight is a must-make fight.
“That’s the biggest fight in women’s boxing by a country mile.
“That’s a fight that could headline Madison Square Garden,” he adds before suggesting it’s not an easy one to make – “But we’ve got to get it over the f***ing line. And it’s so difficult to do.”
32-year-old Serrano had appeared set to fight Taylor in Manchester in May of last year before the pandemic intervened. Plans to re-fix the bout for Fight Camp then collapsed and Taylor instead rematched Delfine Persoon.
Since the quite ugly fall-out last summer, talk of Taylor-Serrano has been relatively quiet as the controversial Brooklyn boxer sought to first unify the featherweight division [Mexican Erika Cruz is WBA featherweight champion and Faroe Islander Sarah Mahfoud holds the IBF belt].
The Puerto Rican favourite was last seen on Showtime on the undercard of Jake Paul’s latest boxing venture – and a more prolonged link up with the cash-generating Youtuber and the giant network may mean Serrano may not need the trailblazing Irish star to get a six-figure payday.
Hearn, who, rumour suggests, previously offered her in the region of £350,000 to fight one of Ireland’s greatest sports stars, admits the American’s worth has increased and it appears he is willing to up the offer.
“And to be fair to Amanda Serrano, her value has increased significantly since we first negotiated that fight.
“It’s a bit like when we were talking about doing AJ (Anthony Joshua) against Tyson Fury initially.
“This is a fight that, in my opinion, was a 70/30 split.
“But Fury goes over, beats Deontay Wilder, really, in the first fight, knocks him out in the second fight, so we turn around and go, ‘Fair enough – it’s 50/50!’
“And I don’t think we’re there yet with Serrano but we were at a point where it was an 80/20, 70/30 split and the gap is now closing because of what Serrano has achieved. You have to give her the credit for that,” he adds before suggesting Taylor will be fight rather than purse orientated.
Nothing personal, I have the upmost Respect for @KatieTaylor
— Amanda Serrano 🇵🇷 (@Serranosisters) September 2, 2021
I like her believe this myself. A fight now is Way bigger than it would have been then. I’ve gotten a few solid wins to prove both her & I are the Female fight. She has a few mandatories & i a few fight I want. 🙏😉 https://t.co/K5oc3R9Hqj
“It’s not like Katie is going, ‘I want 70 per cent!’ Or, ‘She’s not worth that!’ Katie don’t work that way. But I still want to be sure that she gets a record payday for that fight.
“She’s just the easiest fighter to represent. She’ll go back to Bray, she’ll have a couple of weeks and then she’ll go back to America and she’ll just be saying, ‘When’s my next fight? December?’
“I see her having one more after this, if she wins, and then we must make Serrano, March or April.”
Before Serrano, New York or a mega money Madison Square Garden fight, Taylor must first defeat American Jennifer Han on the undercard of Josh Warrington’s featherweight clash with Mauricio Lara at the home of rugby league side Leeds Rhinos.
A December date then looks likely with another mandatory possible or another mega-fight with undisputed and two-weight world champion Jessia McCaskill.
He added: “It could be McCaskill, we’ve got about three mandatories. I also like the Estelle Mossely fight – the gold medalist from Rio, I’ve reached out to her as well.”
Photo Credit Mark Robinson Matchroom Sports.
