It was a fight for the ages and a very special way to spend the early hours of Sunday morning as Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano put on an incredible display at Madison Square Garden.

Taylor emerged the winner on a split decision and so moved to 21 undefeated fights as a professional.

This was the most electrifying of those bouts as Serrano put her under real pressure in the middle rounds and at the end of the fifth, there was genuine concern that the pre0fight favourite with the bookies was going to overturn Taylor’s place in the record books as the ultimate champion of Women’s professional boxing.

But the physical and mental scars inflicted were mended in the corner and Taylor grew stronger into the fight from then to the end.

The final 30 seconds were a whirlwind of punches with both fighters giving it everything and the sold-out crowd in New York going wild.

Appealing

It was the kind of finale that makes thoughts of a rematch so appealing and concern over the damage it might be doing to the fighters was allayed by the way in which they both came together after the final bell.

This was physically as demanding as it gets but the respect they both showed for each other was a reminder of why boxing still retains such appeal as a sporting contest, despite the obvious unease it can cause, regardless of gender.

Ten years ago Women’s Boxing had still not made its Olympic debut and the ability to stage professional fights was considered a sideshow bolstered largely by the presence of Mohammed Ali’s daughter Laila in the ranks.

She retired from the ring undefeated after 24 fights in 2007 but it has taken all of the 140 years of history at Madison Square Garden for the iconic venue to have its first top of the bill fight night headlined by a Women’s bout.

The performance that we saw was a breakthrough in terms of the sports wider appeal.

Purses

Yet still, the purses which the two boxers walked away with were less than €1 million. Compare that to Floyd Mayweather who earned over €200 million when beating Manny Pacquiao in 2015, driven by a Pay Per View income of over €300 million.

The talk immediately after Saturday night’s fight was of a rematch between Taylor and Serrano which, with the first fight producing such publicity, would be a massive ratings winner.

For both boxers, it would be the opportunity to make enough from the sport never to have to worry about finances again. If conditions were right it could see Taylor makeup to €5 million and if the second fight was as good, and it led to a third, that could double again.

It has to be tempting to carry on now that the biggest doors are opening up.

But what are the conditions that would need to be met to maximise the return?

Croke Park?

There was immediate talk of a big fight taking place in Dublin with Croke Park seen as a viable option.

Local residents were quick to say that this would be viewed differently to a concert and that there would be no objections from that quarter. Former Lord Mayor Niall Ring spoke yesterday of how Dublin City Council would be positively disposed towards granting a licence.

If an 80,000 crowd was possible, at an average ticket price of say €50 that would generate gate receipts of €4 million.

With Boxing, it all comes down to the Pay Per View and the DAZN model of a monthly subscription, as opposed to one-off payments, means that it is looking at a consistent pipeline of content to keep people engaged.

Taylor Serrano would fit the bill but the timing of the fight in Dublin would run counter to the desire to have everything on in USA prime-time.

Prime Time

Saturday’s action got underway after 3 AM Dublin time, 10 PM New York, 7 PM Las Vegas. To go as late as 10 PM in Dublin, and allow exit from the stadium onto public transport by around 11 would mean a 5 PM New York fight time and an early afternoon start time in Vegas.

It is possible. Tyson Fury and Dillion White two weeks ago was on that same timetable in front of 90,000 fans at Wembley Stadium.

But it is not ideal in terms of a pitch to fight fans to stay invested in the matchup.

It is a roll of the dice for the promoters and not one that Eddie Hearn has been willing to make so far in Katie Taylor’s career, despite it always being on the list of questions put to him after each win.

Madison Square Garden has already put itself forward to stage the rematch and Vegas will no doubt have recognised the potential as well. Hearn spoke yesterday about interest from the middle east.

All of those options are of greater long term importance to Matchroom Boxing, who will be staging fights long after Taylor and Serrano have hung up their gloves.

There is a romantic notion of the great homecoming for Taylor but while boxing trades on romance it decides on cold hard financial terms and until a contract is put in place it remains a less likely option that we need to start working out weekend slots at Croke Park.

 

 

Sport for Business Partners