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Grudge match

'She better be ready for me': Serrano sounds warning to rival Katie Taylor after 40-second KO

Now a seven-weight world champion, Amanda Serrano is pencilled in to fight Taylor later this year.

AMANDA SERRANO HAS won a world title in a seventh weight division after blowing away Austrian Eva Voraberger inside 40 seconds to pick up the vacant WBO World super-flyweight title.

After her explosive victory, Puerto Rican-Brooklynite Serrano confirmed that she intends to defend her new belt before squaring off with Katie Taylor, who she warned ā€œbetter be readyā€ for their long-awaited showdown.

Promoter Eddie Hearn, under whose banner both Taylor and Serrano now fight, also reiterated his intention to put the womenā€™s superfight on this year after Serrano joined Manny Pacquiao as one of only two boxers ever to win world titles in seven or more weight classes.

Serrano [36-1-1, 27KOs] fought for a vacant WBO title up at light-welterweight as recently as September, but dropped 25 pounds in order to pick up a belt in a seventh division in New York tonight.

She came in 0.8 pounds under the 115-pound super-flyweight limit on the scales on Thursday afternoon, but had rehydrated to 132.8 as early as Thursday night and was significantly larger than Voraberger as she laid waste to the 28-year-old European.

It was Serranoā€™s sixth time winning a vacant world title. Five of them have been WBO belts.

Speaking after her contest, the explosive southpaw was asked about a fight versus unified lightweight champion Taylor, who back in October told The42 she believed Serrano to be ā€œmentally fragileā€ and ā€œafraid to loseā€.

ā€˜The Real Dealā€™ told US broadcasters DAZN:

When that fight comes, I hope she [Taylor] is ready for it. Right now, I have other sights in mind, but she better be ready for me.

Whatā€™s fast becoming a grudge match will likely land in the autumn.

Serrano is keen on first silencing former champion Raja Amasheh, who this evening suggested to BoxingScene that the Puerto Rico-based WBO had showed favouritism toward Serrano and also claimed that the 30-year-old and her team had ā€œstolenā€ her title.

Taylor faces Brazilā€™s Rose Volante in a world-title unification clash in Philadelphia on Patrickā€™s weekend, and provided the Bray woman is successful she will likely attempt to relive Delfine Persoon of her WBC belt to become the undisputed lightweight champion in the summer.

Taylor-Serrano would come next in the mooted running order, with Serrano having already made a tentative agreement to face Taylor as part of her three-fight deal with Eddie Hearn and DAZN.

O2 Arena Boxing Eddie Hearn now promotes both Serrano and Katie Taylor, and may be prepared to make their fight the headline act of a Stateside show. Nick Potts Nick Potts

The42 understands that a bout between the pair, which would be a seminal occurence for womenā€™s pro boxing, will be seriously considered as a bill-topping fight in the States.

The 5,000-capacity Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden, where Serrano cut through Voraberger on Friday night, is the likely landing spot should everything else work out in the meantime.

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