Gavan Casey Reporting from New York

KATIE TAYLOR IS probably slightly past her athletic prime. On Saturday night, she was the bookies’ underdog for the first time in her 20-plus-year boxing career. In a blood-curdling fifth round, challenger Amanda Serrano showed us why so many had backed the Puerto Rican southpaw to dethrone her longtime Irish rival.

Still, somehow, Taylor found the strength not only to survive, but to power down the stretch and seize momentum in a bout which appeared to be rapidly slipping away from her.

In a competitive sense, it may have been her greatest ever victory.

“I had to dig deep in there tonight,” Taylor said as she basked in the glory of her split-decision win over the the ferocious Serrano. “I had to produce a career defining performance to actually win tonight. What an amazing champion Amanda is as well. A phenomenal fighter and we definitely got the best out of each other for sure.

“Y’know, everybody was talking coming into this fight that it was the biggest fight in women’s boxing history but I think it actually succeeded everything that people were talking about this week.

Just even walking out to the ring today, just looking at a packed stadium… Unbelievable stuff. Absolutely special, special moments. The best night of my career for sure. I wasn’t sure if anything could reach my Olympic gold-medal moment but tonight was absolutely the best moment of my career.

Asked where she found the courage to walk through the heavy shelling by her opponent in the middle rounds in order to secure a miraculous win, Taylor responded:

The courage and the strength goes back to those moments, the hard work I actually put in, in the training camp over the last few months. It is in those moments that the hard work in training pays off. I don’t just show courage on fight night, I show courage every single day in training. Day after day after day. Hard spars week after week after week. And that’s why you train hard: for those moments when you are in the trenches.

Her trainer, Ross Enamait, added: “She is built different. She’s got balls of steel. I don’t know what else to call it.”

“I don’t know what to say to that,” Taylor laughed.

Taylor, bleeding from the side of her head after 10 violent rounds with the formidable ‘Real Deal’, was more forthcoming on the prospect of a long-awaited homecoming bout, with a Serrano sequel currently top of the list of priorities.

“Yeah, absolutely, a rematch would be absolutely phenomenal,” Taylor said.

If it was in Dublin, we could sell out Croke Park. If you think the atmosphere was special here tonight, imagine the rematch in front of 80,000 people in Croke Park. Absolutely amazing.

A Dublin event is certainly a more live prospect than it was even three weeks ago, what with two major obstacles — namely Daniel Kinahan and the MTK Global company he co-founded — removed from the equasion.

Promoter Hearn, who first deferred to Taylor on the topic, said that a homecoming was “of course” possible, adding that MSG “felt like Croke Park there tonight, it was absolutely incredible.

“”Im not sure we will get as many travelling Puerto Ricans but it has always been on our minds and it would feel a big shame if she didn’t get to fight in Ireland during her career. If we could do that, back-end of the summer, (we will).”