Fighting on same card as Mike Tyson 'a dream' for Katie Taylor
Katie Taylor said she was "pinching" herself as she sat next to Mike Tyson at the Apollo Theater in New York on Monday evening. On July 20th at Cowboy Stadium, Taylor will fight Amanda Serrano in the co-main event on a bill which also features Tyson against Jake Paul. The card will be broadcast live on Netflix.
"Well, I just got a phone call from my manager Brian a few weeks ago saying I was going to be on the same card as Mike Tyson and Jake Paul," said Taylor when asked how the fight came to be.
"And this is just a dream for me. I think last year my family had said to me, what do you want to do before I retire? Is there anything I want to achieve in a sport or anybody who I'd want to meet? And one of the things I said is I'd love to meet Mike Tyson and here you are beside me, an icon of the sport, a legend of the sport. And this is just incredible.
"He's just a legend and icon on the sport. And I fell in love with a sport in the nineties and Mike Tyson was the biggest name of boxing during that time. He was ferocious and is super exciting to watch and he's a real historian as well. I love your knowledge of boxing. I love listening…. I just cannot believe I'm sitting next to Mike Tyson right now."
Taylor, the undisputed super lightweight world champion, will defend her titles over 10 two minutes rounds. Recently, Serrano has committed to fighting over 12 three minute rounds to bring women's boxing in line with men's but she is making an exception to face Taylor.
The Bray boxer defeated Serrano two years ago by split decision at Madison Square Garden. It was named Fight of the Year by Sports Illustrated and Event of the Year by Ring magazine.
Katie Taylor and Mike Tyson at a New York press conference. Photo Credit: Amanda Westcott/Most Valuable Promotions"Yeah, I feel really good at this weight," said Taylor, "lots of women fighters do go up and down the weights, and so I do feel very, very strong this way.
"The last fight myself and Amanda fought, it was an epic fight. It was an iconic fight. It was in front of 20,000 people in Madison Square Garden.
"It felt like the whole of Puerto Rico and Ireland were there on the stage during that night and now we get to do it again in front of 100,000 people. This is amazing for the sport live on Netflix. Just thank you so much to MVP for giving us this opportunity. This is absolutely iconic."
Serrano said she felt the rematch was an inevitability.
"Katie and my name are always going to be attached to each other no matter what," said Serrano, "and I'm glad to be a part of this to be alongside Katie Taylor. She's a great champion, but we're going to go out there and prove to the world that we deserve this platform.
"Listen, everyone knows I'm the unified featherweight champion. I've said it many times, anything over that [weight], it's hard for me. Obviously [at] 135, I [didn’t get the win against Katie], but for the opportunity to fight Katie Taylor [again], I took the fight [at] 140. Her team said, ‘you’ve got to do it at 140’.
"I really want the fight. The fight is for the fans, so greatness requires sacrifice. So once again, I'm sacrificing my body. I'm sacrificing everything to go up three divisions. The last time was two divisions. I believe I won. I heard Katie, I think going up another division, I can do the same thing. My power was going to come with me and this is a great opportunity for both of us and it is what it is. I just got to eat more. I’m a Latina, so I get to eat a lot more rice."
