Malissa Smith is a historian specializing in women’s boxing who has authored two books on the subject. Last year, she released “The Promise of Women’s Boxing.”
BoxingScene caught up with her to talk about some of the historical factors leading into Friday’s fight between Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano from Madison Square Garden in New York City. The bout will be telecast on Netflix.
BoxingScene: What is your level of excitement for Taylor-Serrano III? What are people overlooking?
Smith: My level of excitement for this fight is huge. It was only three years ago that a female bout was the main event at the main room [at Madison Square Garden]. Given that it is still considered "the Mecca of Boxing", it was a huge, exciting experience. To come back three years later, with an all-female card that includes two undisputed fights, three unification fights, and one interim title fight is extraordinary. It isn’t the first all-female card; they started in the 1970s, but the fact that it is New York, the fact that it is already sold out, makes it important.
BoxingScene: How much impact did the first two fights have on women’s boxing?
Smith: The first fight was very important and pivotal. When it was first announced in February 2022, Shakur Stevenson was supposed to fight on the same night. Bob Arum, his promoter at the time, made some snide comments that they wouldn’t sell any tickets, and why would you want to see that, when you could see real boxing, essentially. The fight happened, it drew 1.5 million viewers on DAZN, and it sold out Madison Square Garden. The momentum from the card carried through into 2022 and carried through into 2023, in 2024, everything died. There was no boxing for women in the sport except for a very thin ribbon of elite fighters.
To come back to Madison Square Garden, after the fight on Netflix as the co-feature for Mike Tyson-Jake Paul, which saw an incredible number of viewers, and everyone said Taylor-Serrano was the Fight of the Night. It is a line in the sand where there is more attention paid to it, appreciation, and, more importantly, money. Women are paid for what they do.
BoxingScene: Does the result matter historically for the third fight?
Smith: I think there are Serrano fans who feel she was robbed, especially in the second fight. They would love a win for Serrano out of the trilogy. Of course, they’d love it if she got a knockout, though I don’t think that is going to happen. Taylor has already had a loss to Chantelle Cameron; for her, I think it is legacy. She loves to fight, and she would love to beat up Amanda Serrano a third time. I don’t think it is particularly important one way or another. For Serrano and her fans, I think there are higher stakes, so she could have a victory in one of the three fights.
BoxingScene: Do we see Taylor and Serrano fight again after this fight?
Smith: Katie Taylor is 39. Amanda Serrano is 36. That isn’t necessarily old for female fighters, but they both have a lot of rounds. Katie Taylor had an amateur career of like 170-10. She started boxing in 2001, that we know of. Never mind all the fights she had before that in the gym and so on. She has been boxing for a long, long time, and she gets hit. Plus, there is the sparring she does during training. I would hope she walks away and says, “It has been great.”
As for Serrano, she has 51 pro fights. She also gets hit. Her fight with Erika Cruz was 10 brutal rounds, where they each threw nearly a thousand punches. We have the cautionary tale of Heather Hardy, who also fought Serrano in the summer of 2023, and what has happened to her since then [Hardy has stated she has brain damage]. I think they both should walk away. I know Serrano will sooner rather than later, but if she doesn’t win, she may continue to go. If she wins, she might walk out on a high.
