Of course, the real boxing at today’s Paul v Tyson show, were in the undercards. And the most powerful bouts were those of Mario Barrios vs Abel Ramos for the WBC Welterweight title, and the rematch between Katie Taylor vs Amanda Serrano for the WBC Super Lightweight which ended in controversy.
Held at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, the Barrios v Ramos fight was an extremely closely contested battle, with both fighters each scoring knockdowns. Barrios convincingly knocked down Ramos in the second round with a straight right hand which took Ramos the next few rounds to recover, making it look very much one sided in favor of Barrios. However, Ramos responded with a huge surprise overhand right knocking down Barrios in the sixth round. I’m sure you could hear the Rocky theme as the bout exploded from that point to see both fighters exchanging significant blows and each giving 100% to their goal of walking away with the belt. The result in the end was a Split Draw decision with the official scorecards reading 114-112 for Ramos, 116-110 for Barrios, and 113-113 even. As a result of a tie, Barrios of course retained his WBC welterweight title. Both fighters being extremely professional athletes in one of the closest matched fights I’ve ever seen.
A lot more controversial was Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano as they faced off in a highly anticipated rematch resulting from a very close first fight where Taylor won the Super Lightweight title.
The fight was very intense with Serrano suffering a significant cut over her right eye due to a clash of heads in the fourth round, leading to a medical examination in the sixth. Despite the injury, she continued to fight aggressively amongst accusations from her team that Taylor was `leading with her head’ intentionally. There was a total of 4 headbutts by the end, with Taylor being warned and finally penalized a point in the eighth round for head-butting.
After ten rounds, the judges scored the fight unanimously in favor of Taylor, with all three judges scoring it 95-94. This decision was very controversial, with many fans and commentators holding the view that Serrano had done enough to win – me included! This led to accusations of a “robbery” from Serrano’s team and large boos from the crowd.
In her post-fight interview, Taylor defended her performance, stating that any head clashes were accidental and expressing interest in a third fight. Serrano, on the other hand, expressed frustration with the decision and accused Taylor of using dirty tactics.
The rematch did highlight the determination of both fighters but in particular the courage of Serrano to continue and remain strong and focused during the fight despite a very significant cut over her dominant eye. Time will tell if they’ll meet for a 3rd time, however I would agree with Serrano’s manager who called for investigation into Taylor’s fighting style claiming it to be deliberately dangerous to her opponents. Serrano mentioned that the first time she was ever cut in 40 fights, was with Taylor and that all of Taylor’s opponents end up the same way. From what I saw, based on performance and pure Boxer’s heart, Amanda Serrano is the Super Lightweight Champion despite not being awarded the belt. I think all boxing fans would agree.
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