LAST UPDATE | 8 Aug 2018
KATIE TAYLOR WILL take to the ring in Boston, and not Chicago, for her world-title defence versus Cindy Serrano.
As suggested to The42 by Sky Sports Boxing chief Adam Smith last Thursday, Taylor-Serrano will take place in the aptly-nicknamed ‘Titletown’ on 20 October.
Per promoter Eddie Hearn, Taylor will square off with the Puerto Rican-Brooklynite at TD Garden, the 19,500-capacity home of the Boston Celtics NBA franchise.
It’s understood the Braywoman’s clash with the WBO World featherweight champion will act as chief support to Billy Joe Saunders’ WBO World middleweight title fight with Demetrius Andrade.
Taylor and ‘Boo Boo’ Andrade were initially confirmed for respective fights on Eddie Hearn and Matchroom USA’s inaugural DAZN show in Chicago a fortnight earlier, but when Hearn and British promotional rival Frank Warren struck a deal to make Saunders-Andrade, the Matchroom chief deemed it worthy of its own bill and immediately earmarked America’s East Coast as the optimal landing spot given Andrade is a native of Rhode Island.
The region’s massive Irish population saw to it that Taylor’s migration to the new Boston bill made perfect sense, and the 32-year-old will now take on veteran champion Serrano in front of what will ultimately amount to a partisan home crowd.
All in all, the move could work out in Taylor’s favour: 6 October’s Chicago card is set to compete with Khabib-McGregor in the UFC that same night, and so 20 October promises far greater prominence for Taylor in the eyes of casual American fight fans.
Furthermore, the WBA and IBF World lightweight champion trains under Ross Enemait in Connecticut, only a couple of hours’ over the road from 20 October’s fight venue in Boston city centre.
Her upcoming opponent, featherweight world champ Cindy Serrano, is the elder sister of five-division queen Amanda Serrano, whom Taylor is expected to fight in the next six to eight months.
Chicago’s Jessica McCaskill, who ran Taylor close in London last December, will fight on Hearn’s card on 6 October in her hometown as she aims to build momentum towards a rematch.
