The collision course that Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano have been on will finally meet and ignite in the ring.
Taylor will put her undisputed lightweight world championship titles on the line against Serrano at Manchester Arena in England on May 2. The bout will be the co-main event to Dillian Whyte facing Alexander Povetkin in a heavyweight tilt, but Taylor and Serrano can easily steal the show.
The boxing stars have seemingly been on a path to fight for quite some time, with Taylor defeating Serrano's older sister, Cindy Serrano, in October 2018, making it a bit more personal as well.
"It's a fight that seems to have been talked about for years, so I'm just glad it's finally on," Taylor said in a Matchroom Boxing press release. "It's a massive fight and one that I have been looking forward to for a long, long time."
Serrano is equally thrilled.
“I’m happy we finally got this big fight made because both myself and Katie deserve to be in this position," said Serrano. "While our fight could have been a main event, I’m still grateful it’s happening. I’m not going to talk down to Katie, as I know she won’t to me, so I’ll leave it at this: One thing that’s for sure is that we’ll both leave it all in the ring."
With Taylor (15-0, 6 KOs) being an Olympic gold medalist and just the third woman in boxing history to be an undisputed world champion and Serrano (38-1-1, 28 KOs) being a celebrated seven-division world champ herself, Matchroom Boxing USA president Eddie Hearn has enough evidence to call it the biggest women's fight of all time.
Taylor edged Delfine Persoon via a controversial majority decision in June to be crowned undisputed lightweight champion of the world, before adding the WBO junior welterweight title with a unanimous decision win over Christina Linardatou in November.
Meanwhile, Serrano scored an action-packed unanimous decision win over Heather Hardy in September to secure the showdown with Taylor. Then, for good measure, Serrano added a stoppage win over Simone Aparacida Da Silva this past January.
"Two of the best female fighters in the world, two of the best of all time, will square up for boxing supremacy," said Lou DiBella, who's co-promoting the bout with Matchroom. "Amanda didn’t shy away from moving back up in weight or from the fight being in the UK. She embraced the idea of winning on the road and cementing international stardom.
"Taylor vs. Serrano isn't only the best of women's boxing," he added, "it's the best of what boxing is supposed to be."