Blockbuster Taylor fight one step closer after Serrano switch

KATIE TAYLOR is set for a showdown against her biggest rival Amanda Serrano in 2019.

While the clash was always on the cards, it moved a step closer over the weekend when Serrano, who has won world titles in six different weights and currently holds a world super featherweight belt, signed a three-fight, co-promotional deal with Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom organisation.

Confirming the new deal, Serrano tweeted: “I tried to do the right thing by Showtime Boxing but I wasn’t good enough for them, still I want to thank them and Stephen Espinoza for the times they put me in the undercard. I’m off to my new home @DAZN – USA with my boxing and my MMA.”

Last weekend in Boston, Taylor demolished Serrano’s older sister Cindy – winning all 10 rounds of the title fight.

But Amanda is likely to prove a more formidable opponent. Her coach and Cindy’s husband Jordan Maldonado vowed after the fight that Amanda would knock Katie out when they clashed.

The new deal for the Puerto Rico-born Brooklyn fighter is a co-promotional between her current promoter Lou DeBella and Matchroom’s Eddie Hearn.

Serrano is likely to return to the boxing ring in January for the first of the three fights. She and Taylor will then likely clash in the autumn of 2019 in what will be the biggest showdown in women’s pro boxing.

All of the fights will be shown on Matchroom’s new DAZN streaming service in the United States.

Katie returns to the ring in December – probably in New York’s Madison Square Garden where her likely opponent will be Brazilian Rose Volante, the current WBO lightweight title holder. The hope would be that by the time she faces Serrano she will have secured all four World lightweight belts.

Meanwhile, Rio Olympians David Oliver Joyce and Steven Donnelly maintained their unbeaten runs at New York’s Madison Square Garden on Saturday night – but Joyce went about it the dramatic way.

The Mullingar lightweight was on the floor for the first time in his pro career versus Mexican Jorge Zacazontetl after being dropped by a slick counter punch in the second round.

Joyce floored Zacazontetl with a big left in the opening frame but after six rounds the final scores read 58-53, 58-53, 58-54 to the Irishman, who had Pete Taylor working his corner in his nine win.

Ballymena welter Donnelly encountered little “incoming” recording the fourth win of his career on an emphatic unanimous decision over Ray Cervera of California. Donnelly floored Cervera three times en route to a 40-33 win across the board on his American debut.