Katie Taylor responds to criticism for fighting on Mike Tyson v Jake Paul card

07 Nov 2024, 10:57 by Robert Hynes · Irish Mirror

Katie Taylor's decision to fight on the Mike Tyson v Jake Paul card raised a few eyebrows when her bout with Amanda Serrano was announced earlier this year.

The undisputed super-lightweight world champion puts the belts she won off Chantelle Cameron last November on the line against Serrano two and a half years on from their epic bout at Madison Square Garden, which Taylor won via split-decision.

The 2022 fight was the first time that two women headlined a boxing event at the famous New York venue, but they will be the co-main event to heavyweight great Tyson's bout with YouTuber-turned-boxer Paul.

At 58 and more than 30 years older than Paul, Tyson's involvement in the fight has caused controversy, with the bout coming almost 20 years since the former world champion's last professional fight, which he lost to Monaghan's Kevin McBride.

However, 2012 Olympic champion Taylor sees her fight with Serrano on such a big platform as "amazing opportunity" to inspire the next generation of women's boxers.

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"I think it's amazing that myself and Amanda have this amazing opportunity as well where a new audience on Netflix and new people are going to see women's boxing, maybe for the first time," said Taylor, who will reportedly earn €5.8million from the fight.

"I think the fight in Madison Square Garden was very, very historic and it inspired a lot of young girls into the sport, but to have a chance to fight on Netflix with a huge audience, millions upon millions of people are going to be watching this fight, you're going to see women's boxing at its best and I think both myself and Amanda are very, very grateful for this opportunity to be honest even though there might be a bit of controversy over the main event but myself and Amanda are pure fighters.

"We're here to win, we're here to fight, we fight with our heart and our soul and we're going to do whatever it takes to actually win this fight and people are going to see much an amazing battle again. I for one am just very, very grateful for this opportunity."

The November 15 show could be the most viewed boxing event of all-time, with Netflix streaming it live to their 282million subscribers worldwide.

But Taylor doesn't feel any added pressure ahead of the event at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

"I don't think there's any extra pressure," added Taylor on The Ariel Helwani Show. "Regardless if I fight in front of millions of people or ten people, I still want to look my best anyway so I'm just out there to be myself and to showcase what I can do.

"I've trained hard for this fight, as I always do for every single fight, so I'm just ready to step in and actually perform now at this stage."

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