ARLINGTON, Texas — The rematch between Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano was as bloody and bruising as the original.
The disputed decision — and the reaction to it — was the same, too.
Taylor retained her unanimous super lightweight championship in a razor-thin unanimous decision over Serrano on Friday night in a slugfest remarkably similar to their epic bout in New York two years ago.
Taylor was scored a 95-94 winner by all three judges, drawing boos from the crowd at the home of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys before the co-main event of Jake Paul and Mike Tyson.
The 38-year-old from Ireland remained the undisputed champion and in the super lightweight and lightweight divisions. It was the third victory since the first professional loss for Taylor (24-1, six knockouts).
Serrano, who kept punching despite getting a nasty cut over her left eye in the sixth round, was the crowd favorite much the same way she was in the the disputed split decision at the Garden in 2022.
In that sold-out slugfest, they were the first women headlining a combat sports event at the storied venue. The 36-year-old Serrano, a seven-division champion, is 47-3-1 with 31 knockouts.
It might have started a little more slowly than the New York meeting, but things changed when Serrano, who is from Puerto Rico but lives in New York, sustained the nasty cut.
The injury forced the referee to call a timeout in the middle of the sixth round, and frequent closeups the rest of the fight drew gasps from the crowd in the first combat sports telecast from the streaming platform Netflix.
Serrano never stopped punching, though, and appeared to have Taylor teetering in the final seconds of the bout. Taylor leaned in on Serrano repeatedly, appearing to have trouble keeping herself up on her own. She had already been deducted a point for head-butting in the eighth round.
Taylor was fighting for the first time since avenging her only professional loss by beating Chantelle Cameron for the undisputed super lightweight title in a rematch in her home country a year ago.
The Taylor-Serrano fight in New York was more a celebration of women’s boxing, despite the questions over the result. Serrano was a little more frustrated this time, questioning how fair the fight was with her complaints of head-butts and holding as the fight progressed.
Serrano was in trouble after the sixth round, the ring doctor asking if she could continue as the wound was treated. She said yes, and didn’t show many signs of slowing down.
The pair traded flurries of punches most of the way, especially in the final round while knowing the judging would be close.
