ONE GIANT LEAP

RINGSIDE

Reporters’ star ratings for main events and undercards are based on in-ring entertainment, competitiveness and whether overall expectation was met

NEW YORK, NY

APRIL 30

WOMEN’S boxing took a giant step forward when Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano met in the ring at Madison Square Garden in a sensational fight with Taylor winning a split decision. It was the first time ever that two women headlined a card in the fabled arena; a fight to determine who would be recognised as the best pound-for-pound female fighter in the world; and the most anticipated fight in the history of women’s boxing. Not only was it the biggest women’s fight ever, it might have been the best.

Let’s put Taylor-Serrano in context.

The New York City Golden Gloves created a women’s amateur boxing tournament in 1995. Seventeen years later, women’s boxing became an Olympic sport. But women’s boxing had never penetrated the mainstream sports market in the United States. There were a few blips on the radar screen – Laila Ali vs Jacqui Frazier because of their famous fathers; Christy Martin because of her presence on Mike Tyson undercards. But the truth is, not even boxing insiders followed women’s boxing in a serious way. Want proof? In the 1970s and 1980s, Jackie Tonawanda loudly styled herself as “the female Ali.” At most, she had one professional fight (and if it occurred, which is doubtful, she lost). But last December, Tonawanda was elected to the International Boxing Hall of Fame.

Last year, John Sheppard (who oversees ) reported that, internationally, one out of every seven women’s fights