Amanda Serrano and Katie Taylor | Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images for Netflix © 2024
Few things infuriate combat sports fans more than a fight being scored incorrectly, though the term “robbery” tends to be thrown around carelessly and is often steeped in bias. With Robbery Review, we’ll take a look back at controversial fights and determine whether the judges were rightly criticized for their decision or if pundits need to examine their own knee-jerk reactions.
Tonight, live on Netflix, Amanda Serrano and Katie Taylor square off for a third time in what is, without hyperbole, one of the most anticipated trilogy bouts in boxing history.
Beyond their enormous career accomplishments, when Serrano and Taylor first met in the ring in 2022 it was immediately evident their styles were a match made in heaven (or hell). Their Madison Square Garden clash was an instant classic and the 2024 rematch was arguably better. However, both fights brought controversy as Taylor’s wins on the scorecards are anything but undisputed.
Here at the Robbery Review lab, it is not just our duty but our pleasure to rewatch these two classic championship contests and decide once and for all whether Serrano was robbed not once, but possibly twice.
What were the official results?
April 30, 2022: Katie Taylor def. Amanda Serrano via split decision
Nov. 15, 2024: Katie Taylor def. Amanda Serrano via unanimous decision
How did the fights go?
Right off the bat, we have to mention how action-packed both Taylor vs. Serrano fights were and that providing an accurate blow-by-blow account would not only be impossible, but not particularly informative for what we’re doing here.
Instead, we’ll focus on the broader feel of the rounds and a few key moments.
Fight 1
The opening rounds of the first contest set the tone for this intense rivalry. Taylor’s game plan was to circle and counter while Serrano looked to walk the champion down and bury her with pressure. Both found success at various points of the fight, with Taylor pulling ahead early, and Serrano thriving in the middle portion of the fight as Taylor was forced to adapt.
Taylor’s right hand was an effective weapon, one that Serrano was content to absorb if it meant she could push in with punches of her own. Serrano also waded through a few powerful counter let hooks from Taylor, showing off her iron chin and dogged determination. Near the end of Round 5 is when Serrano’s strategy started to pay off in a major way as she bloodied Taylor and swarmed with punches, putting Taylor in survival mode for the final 30 seconds of that frame.
But Taylor managed to hang tough and rather than retreat, she stayed in the pocket with Serrano and returned fire. This is when the fight went from great to awesome. It also became incredibly difficult to score.
Rounds 8, 9, and 10 all feature prolonged punching exchanges that are too close to call, even with the benefit of replay. Every time Taylor landed her right hand, Serrano would answer with a body-head combo. Every time Serrano thought she had Taylor wounded, Taylor would answer with straight punches down the middle. These warriors swung to the final bell and the scores were anybody’s guess.
Fight 2
The rematch featured even more dramatic shifts in momentum.
Right off the bat, after a similar start to the first fight, Serrano changed the whole complexion of the contest with a left hand at the end of Round 1 that visibly rocked Taylor. 10-9 Serrano.
But again like the first fight, Taylor was quick to adapt and step up her activity whenever it Serrano threatened to pull ahead. Taylor made beautiful use of combinations to break Serrano’s rhythm, which led to a lot of adventurous—and wild—swings from Serrano. The champion kept catching Serrano coming in—and not just with her fists.
Taylor repeatedly led with her head and while some of the clashes were unavoidable, there were at least a couple of moments where Taylor appeared to manufacture a collision. A gnarly cut opened up over Serrano’s right eye, which became a major factor of the middle rounds, especially with Taylor rifling in left hooks seemingly targeting the wound.
The battles in the corner were also key to deciding the contest, with Serrano looking to cut Taylor off and Taylor consistently punching her way out to reset the fight in the middle of the ring. When all else failed, both fighters reverted to their brawling ways, which happened earlier in this encounter than the first.
This time, defense went out the window in Round 7, and they slugged it out for much of the remaining time, though there was a pause in the action in Round 8 when the referee took a point from Taylor for leading with her head. The timing was odd given that it occurred during an innocuous clinch against the ropes, but it’s hard to argue with the decision given how the cut clearly affected Serrano.
After 20 more minutes of absurd brutality, the final verdict was again in doubt.
What did the judges say?
Fight 1
Benoit Roussel had it 96-94 Serrano
Glenn Feldman had it 97-93 Taylor
Guido Cavalleri had it 96-93 Taylor
Many of the rounds were not unanimous, with all three judges agreeing on Round 2 (Taylor), Round 5 (Serrano), and Rounds 8, 9, and 10 (all for Taylor). Roussel, the dissenting judge, gave Serrano six of the first seven rounds.
Fight 2
Jeremy Hayes had it 95-94 Taylor
Nate Palmer had it 95-94 Taylor
Jesse Reyes had it 95-94 Taylor
The scores for the rematch were in sync by the end, but all three judges took different paths to get there. Here are the six rounds each judge scored for Taylor:
Hayes: 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, and 10
Palmer: 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 9
Reyes: 2, 3, 4, 6, 9, and 10
What did the numbers say?
(Statistics per CompuBox)
It should come as no surprise Serrano won the total punches battle in both fights, holding a 26-punch lead in Fight 1 (173-147) and a whopping 117-punch lead in Fight 2 (324-217). Serrano also won in the power punches category, 171-146 and then 278-208.
Of course, fights are judged round by round and not in totality, so let’s look at how many rounds each boxer won via landing power punches.
Taylor: 6 in Fight 1, 2 in Fight 2
Serrano: 3 in Fight 1, 8 in Fight 2
(One of the 20 rounds was tied in power punches)
It should be noted the rounds Serrano won were typically by a wider margin than Taylor’s, but that doesn’t matter as none approached the criteria for a 10-8 round (at least in my opinion. Judge Guido Cavalleri gave Serrano a 10-8 for a dominant Round 5 in the first fight). So Taylor eking out a round weighed as much on the scorecards as Serrano out-punching her by double digits.
In both fights, Serrano landed far more power punches to the body than Taylor: 27-8 in Fight 1 and 52-4 in Fight 2.
What did the media say?
Yes, we have boxing decisions on MMA Decisions, so that’s what we’re working with here.
For Fight 1, few media members took issue with the official result as six scored it for Taylor and three had it a 95-95 draw. Bad Left Hook’s Scott Christ went as far as to score the fight 98-92 for Taylor. Sorry, Serrano stans.
Fight 2 is where it gets juicy. Only one media outlet agreed with the official 95-94 Taylor score, while five others leaned towards the challenger. The most definitive score was submitted by ESPN’s Andreas Hale, who had it 97-91 Serrano.
What did the people say?
(Data derived from MMA Decisions)
For the most part, the smattering of fans voting on MMA Decisions had little issue with Taylor’s two wins. After Fight 1, 31.7 percent supported a 96-94 Taylor score with another 24.4 percent voting for 97-93 Taylor.
The second fight drew a more mixed reaction. Taylor still had support with 21.6 percent voting for her 95-94 score, but the next four highest results are all Serrano scores (96-93 Serrano and 95-94 Serrano both came in at 13.5 percent). Sounds like fans felt a robbery happened there.
How did I score the fights?
First, let me say what a pleasure it was to watch these two fights again. When following live, there’s always that worry you’re just getting caught up in the moment when evaluating the action, but this series will stand the test of time. If one was to make list of the most hyped boxing matches that actually lived up to or surpassed expectations, I’d be stunned not to see Taylor vs. Serrano 1 and 2 on it.
Second, I actually did score these live for MMA Fighting, so let’s see how I had it on fight night.
As it turns out, I scored the first three and the final three rounds for Taylor, so I had her comfortably winning. I only vaguely recall this initial viewing, though I do remember not vibing with any uproar over Serrano being robbed. Maybe I was caught up in how great the fight was.
Watching it again, I assumed I’d see an even more convincing win for Taylor because her counters can be too fast to catch in real time, but I actually ended up with a draw giving Serrano Round 3 and Round 10 this time. I think what happened is I may have favored Taylor’s counters a little too much watching live and didn’t credit Serrano enough for finding a home for her punches even among plenty of wild swings.
This one felt bad in the moment.
I had it 96-93 Serrano initially. On the rewatch, still Serrano, though by a closer margin of 95-94.
Again, it’s unclear why there’s such a discrepancy with my scorecards, as I had Serrano up 58-56 after six rounds the first time, but Taylor up 58-56 on the rewatch. In fact, I scored a bunch of rounds the opposite way on second viewing. Is it possible I have no idea how to score boxing? Worth considering.
That said, I feel like I put a heavy emphasis on Taylor’s counter-punching, which makes these revised scores even more curious. That potential bias also helps me to reach a final verdict.
Was either fight a robbery?
I have to call out play-by-play men Todd Grisham (Fight 1) and Mauro Ranallo (Fight 2), who both did a poor job of calling the action, consistently favoring Serrano’s aggression and weirdly missing a lot of Taylor’s big punches. Watch these fights again without commentary and you’ll see what I mean.
However, as mentioned, I wonder if I leaned too far the other way and gave Taylor some of the close rounds by default simply because she landed what I perceived to be the standout shots of the round. Watching it again, I’m not sure those high-impact moments should be valued higher than Serrano’s more consistent output, and the stats certainly don’t back up Taylor being the more effective power puncher in the rematch.
Even focusing on Taylor’s counter-work and combinations, I still ended up with draw for the first fight and a narrow Serrano win for the second fight. I can’t say with certainty Serrano has been the superior fighter in this series, though I’m confident she should not be winless.
The final verdict
Fight 1: A draw in my eyes, and much easier to argue for Taylor than Serrano.
Fight 2: Serrano won.
That looks like a net robbery to me, because the score could be 1-0-1 Serrano and, at worst, should be 1-1 Serrano. Let’s see if either fighter can put the controversy to rest as they cap off their trilogy.
(insert poll: What should the score be between Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano?)