Standing room only for Taylor’s MSG workout
MATCHROOM promoter Eddie Hearn insists Katie Taylor will stop Amanda Serrano in Saturday’s historic bout and reiterated his hope that she will fight in Dublin before hanging up her gloves. Anticipation is building in the Big Apple ahead of Saturday’s ground-breaking fight at Madison Square Garden. It was standing room only yesterday as both fighters did a media workout at the iconic Garden. Even the verbose Hearn seemed stunned at the magnitude of the upcoming contest. ‘I knew it was going to be big but not this big,’ said Taylor’s promoter. ‘Someone said to me that there was a great turnout by fans to this workout. But this is just media. We are not open to the public. This has been unbelievable and there’s still a few days to go to the fight.’ Hearn does know, however, that the bout carries importance in many ways. ‘In a different kind of way, it feels like the biggest fight I have ever been involved in. The WWE and all the stars involved in that, are backing us, the Empire State Building is lit up in the Irish and Puerto Rican colours. There has never been so much goodwill for a boxing match, ever.’ And he feels emboldened by such generosity that he is predicting a Taylor victory by stoppage. ‘I think Katie will stop her,’ he said. ‘It is not a popular opinion, most people think if Katie wins, it will be by points. But she has that look in her eye. ‘She is not messing around, she is here to fight. And these are the moments you see her at her very best.’ If the thriller which many predict does transpire, there will be a groundswell of support for a rematch, with the prospect of big-time boxing now being able to return to Dublin in light of
the recent demise of MTK.
‘It would be very disappointing if we never got the chance to go to Ireland with Katie. We will see what happens – if she beats Serrano, maybe do the rematch there.’
Media workouts are a staple part of any fight week, but they tend to be quiet affairs, simply ticking the box.
Allowing cameramen and photographers to get some shots of the two boxers dancing on the canvas, bobbing and weaving. But yesterday was different.
There is something truly special stirring for Saturday night.
The fight has captured the imagination here in New York, Even the simple matter of a media work-out itself became an event.
Serrano was the first to hit the canvas. The challenger looked relaxed, cracking a few jokes with some of her entourage before going through her moves under the watchful gaze of Jake Paul.
As someone who has found fame as a YouTuber, Paul likes the attention and once his fighter had finished her moves, he couldn’t help himself. He leapt into the ring.
‘This is what is going to happen on Saturday night,’ Paul declared, raising Serrano’s hand in victory. ‘And you will all hear “the new” world champion.’
If it feels a little borrowed from the WWE, Paul clearly knows what the younger generation want — his tens of millions of followers across social media prove that. And Hearn knows that Paul has been an essential part of making this into a seismic occasion.
While the Garden may feel like Taylor’s playground — after all, this is where she became undisputed world champion in that first war with Delfine Persoon — in a sense, Serrano is going to be the home fighter on Saturday.
She is a Brooklyn resident and when she ended her workout yesterday, she was handed a citation for being a ‘Daughter of Brooklyn’ by the borough’s president, Antonio Reynoso.
‘We were citing her as the daughter of Brooklyn for this fight,’ Reynoso said.
‘We are just letting her know that all of Brooklyn and New York city are behind her for this fight.’
The Big Apple knows that something special is stirring in this city on Saturday night.
How could they not? Almost everywhere you turn downtown, there seems to be a picture of Taylor and Serrano. This is bigtime. Bigger than even Hearn had envisioned in his four years of trying to make the fight happen.
All the failed attempts, the stalled negotiations, they feel worth it now. As Hearn says himself, this fight will be ‘a moment in time.’ One of those events that make everyone in the sport stop — and it may even make this city stop.
‘People want this fight to go well,’ Hearn says. ‘And I think it will. Anyone who has seen Katie and anyone who has seen Serrano, we know this is going to be a thriller.’
And it might be just enough of a thriller to leave everyone wanting some more. Hearn is already teasing a rematch.
A second act in this drama. If so, it would make for a fitting homecoming for Taylor.