| Venue: Madison Square Garden, New York Date: Saturday, 30 April |
| Coverage: Listen on BBC Radio 5 Live from 02:00 BST on Sunday and live text commentary on BBC Sport website and app. |
If Katie Taylor had retired before the London Olympics we’d still be talking about this woman who was untouchable and a national hero in Ireland.
She’d won four world championships at that stage, only lost a handful of fights. We’d be looking back on her saying she could have gone on to become the greatest female fighter in history.
Well, she did go on to become the biggest female fighter in history. I am absolutely convinced of that.
Pioneer is a word we throw around far too often in this business. Legend is another one. Taylor is obviously a pioneer, she’s obviously a legend but she’s something more as well.
It’s her influence away from the pro scene, away from the Olympics. There are 10-year-old girls in Brixton and Dublin taking up boxing right now because of Katie Taylor.
It’s not because of America’s Claressa Shields or Britain’s Savannah Marshall, they’re doing it because of Katie Taylor. And we’ve had that for 15 years now.
I had Taylor and her father on my BBC London show back in 2009. She doesn’t like talking now, imagine what she was like then.
The first time I met her in person was ringside at a Bernard Dunne fight in 2006.
She was about 20 years old and no word of a lie, she got a bigger cheer than Bono did. She was bigger than the U2 frontman in Ireland. I realised then she was different league.
The pioneer label doesn’t even do Taylor justice. Because she’s not a pioneer, she created this revolution. I really mean it. Of course she’s a leader, but she’s in front of it all too. She’s more than just a legend. There’s another category for Taylor. I don’t know the word to describe her influence.
Amanda Serrano said six weeks ago in London: “When Katie turned pro I was so excited because I knew she’d change things for us.”
She’d already been a pro for six years when Taylor made her debut in 2016. Even Taylor’s great opponent on Saturday knows her influence. How do you measure the legacy of someone who is a groundbreaker?
Muhammad Ali was a groundbreaker. But Taylor is different because she’s done what no one else has has ever done. Taylor’s boxing legacy is supreme.
The Germans would have a word for her. She needs a new title. A Game of Thrones-esque name – Queen of the Southern Rocks?
‘The biggest fight in women’s history’
Women’s boxing is Katie Taylor. The modern game would be very different without her. The Taylor and Eddie Hearn dynamic was essential. Anthony Joshua and Taylor are Hearn’s two home-grown stars.
But if you’d asked Hearn if he ever envisioned Taylor headlining at Madison Square Garden when he first signed it, forget it. You couldn’t have even asked that question.
This is the biggest fight in women’s boxing, without a doubt. There have been a couple of big fights in the past – Laila Ali v Jacqueline Frazier is one – and there have been a few we never got to see like Christy Martin v Lucia Rijker – but this fight is head and shoulders above anything that’s come before.
Taylor’s first fight with Delfine Persoon is probably the biggest fight up to now. But Persoon, as brilliant as she is, is a policewoman from Belgium. That fight wouldn’t and didn’t sell itself. But this one, Serrano and Taylor is untouchable as the biggest fight.
But, that biggest fight tag might only last until Marshall gets in the ring with Shields. But that’s good for business isn’t it? Don’t we want that? And then after Marshall v Shields we can find an even bigger fight.
Technically Taylor is brilliant. She punches harder than anyone gives her credit for. You can put the camera on her feet at any stage of a fight and they will be in the perfect position.
You have to sell this fight as a 50-50 for two reasons. One, Serrano is good at selling herself. And two, Taylor’s last few fights people have seen what they think is flaws.
They think she’s slowing down, showing a lack of desire, she’s easier to hit, they think her mind’s elsewhere – and all of those things are probably true but they’re not terminal.
I think she’s fought well within herself in her last few fights. She’s coasted in some of them. Has she looked like the Taylor of old? She hasn’t but she hasn’t had to be.
I don’t think she can box Serrano’s ears off. Whisper it, but I think we might see something extraordinary from Taylor. She rises to the occasion.
We might just find Serrano doesn’t pose anywhere near the threat we think she will. If we get that Taylor against Serrano, I want her to retire. Why not? What else is there to do?
Steve Bunce was speaking to BBC Sport’s Coral Barry.
Reference-www.bbc.co.uk