Pick it: Katie Taylor vs. Amanda Serrano III
When to Watch: Friday, July 11. The main broadcast will begin at 8 p.m. Eastern Time (1 a.m. BST). A preliminary undercard will stream starting at 5 p.m. ET (10 p.m. BST).
How to watch: Netflix for the main broadcast. The preliminary undercard will stream on the Most Valuable Promotions YouTube page and Netflix’s Tudum website.
Why to Watch: Two of the greatest women boxers of this generation have met twice before in two Fight of the Year award winners. This third fight is expected to be more of the same, though a surprisingly one-sided result would still be a noteworthy way to wrap up this trilogy and rivalry.
Katie Taylor had an acclaimed amateur career, winning a gold medal in the 2012 Olympics while representing her home country of Ireland. After falling short in the 2016 Games, she turned pro and has had a remarkable run, becoming the undisputed champion in two weight classes, sitting at or near the top of the pound-for-pound list, and – alongside Claressa Shields and Amanda Serrano – helping to set the stage for both this generation of women in boxing and future generations to come.
Taylor was the undisputed lightweight champion when she first fought Serrano in 2022, headlining at Madison Square Garden. Taylor was awarded a split decision, though it was clear they had unfinished business and would meet again somewhere down the line.
In the meantime, Taylor went up to 140lbs in 2023 to challenge Chantelle Cameron for the undisputed championship. Taylor lost a majority decision to Cameron but won their rematch later that year, taking a majority decision of her own and all four titles. Her first defense came a year later – against Serrano in the co-feature to the Jake Paul-Mike Tyson mega-event.
Once again, Taylor and Serrano went to war. Once again, Taylor left with her hands raised after a close decision, this one unanimous, but with just one point separating the two women on each of the three judges’ scorecards.
They stole the show on Netflix that night, seen by tens of millions around the world. Their outstanding fight would’ve stood out even if not for the disappointment that was Paul-Tyson. Now they are back on Netflix, back at Madison Square Garden, and back in the main event.
Taylor, 24-1 (6 KOs), is now 39 years old. Will she go out on top? Or will she cede the throne? Either way, if their first two matches are any indication, Taylor isn’t going to go down without a fight.
Neither is Serrano, 47-3-1 (31 KOs), a 36-year-old from Puerto Rico who has spent 16 years in the paid ranks. She has literally and figuratively fought for the brighter spotlight and bigger paydays that only truly arrived during this decade.
Before that, Serrano moved up and down on the scales, capturing world titles in seven weight classes from 115lbs to 140lbs in order to make a living and to try to garner the attention that someone with her level of talent otherwise deserved. Like Taylor, Serrano sits high up on pound-for-pound lists. (Serrano even competed in MMA, something other women boxers have had to do to bolster their incomes. Her record in that combat sport is 2-0-1.)
Serrano’s best weight class is probably featherweight. She was a unified titleholder at 126lbs prior to her first fight with Taylor and returned to become the undisputed champion in the featherweight division afterward. Serrano last competed at 126lbs in October 2023, when she shut out Danila Ramos. She was supposed to face Nina Meinke in March 2024 but had to cancel that fight at the last second when a hair product got into her eye and affected her vision.
Last year, Serrano scored a second-round TKO against the overmatched Stevie Morgan in July – a stay-busy bout when Paul-Tyson was postponed from its original date – and then went back into the trenches with Taylor in November. Serrano fought through a bad cut caused by the two fighters’ heads repeatedly colliding.
No matter the result, this will likely be the end of Serrano’s rivalry with Taylor. And no matter the result, Serrano will have options available for her, be it at junior welterweight or below. Of course, Serrano wants the victory. Will this be the time that the judges at last see it her way? Or will Serrano, who has shown good power and speed despite being the naturally lighter fighter, land the telling blows and skip those scorecards altogether?
This show is absolutely packed with title matches and other notable names for this spotlight on women’s boxing.
In the co-feature, undisputed junior lightweight champion Alycia Baumgardner, 15-1 (7 KOs), will defend against Jennifer Miranda, 12-0 (1 KO). That isn’t the only undisputed championship up for grabs. A bantamweight bout between IBF titleholder Shurretta Metcalf, 14-4-1 (2 KOs), and WBA titlist Cherneka Johnson, 17-2 (7 KOs), also has the WBC and WBO belts on the line, both vacant because their previous owner, Metcalf’s originally scheduled foe, Dina Thorslund, is pregnant.
A unification bout at junior featherweight pits Ellie Scotney, 10-0 (0 KOs), the owner of the IBF and WBO titles, against the WBC’s Yamileth Mercado, 24-3 (5 KOs). Another unification bout, this one at super middleweight, features former undisputed champion Savannah Marshall, 13-1 (10 KOs), inactive for two years and now just the owner of the IBF belt, taking on Shadasia Green, 15-1 (11 KOs), who picked up the vacant WBO title last November.
That’s the main card. There’s more on the preliminary portion of the event, including former undisputed junior welterweight champion Chantelle Cameron, 20-1 (8 KOs), against Jessica Camara, 14-4-1 (3 KOs); a junior featherweight bout between Ramla Ali, 9-2 (2 KOs), and Lila Furtado, 11-2 (2 KOs); and a middleweight matchup between Tamm Thibeault, 2-0 (1 KO), and Mary Casamassa, 6-0 (1 KO).
More Fights to Watch
Saturday, July 12: Edgar Berlanga vs. Hamzah Sheeraz quadrupleheader
The main pay-per-view broadcast begins at 8 p.m. Eastern Time (1 a.m. BST). A free preliminary undercard is scheduled to start at 5 p.m. ET (10 p.m. BST).
Berlanga, 23-1 (18 KOs), is a 28-year-old fighter of Puerto Rican heritage who is from the Brooklyn borough of New York City. He is a super middleweight who earned headlines for his run of first-round knockouts – starting his career with 16 straight – before showing signs that he was nearing his ceiling. Berlanga then parlayed his record, background, promotional affiliation, and overall marketability into a fight with Saul “Canelo” Alvarez last September.
Canelo dropped Berlanga in the third round, and Berlanga seemed to recognize that he was outmatched and opted to coast to a wide unanimous decision defeat. Berlanga returned this past March, wrapping up his Matchroom Boxing contract with an absolute mismatch, taking out the undefeated but washed-up Jonathan Gonzalez in the first round. Now it’s time for Berlanga to step back up again and show just where he belongs among the other contenders at 168lbs.
Sheeraz, 21-0-1 (17 KOs), is making his super middleweight debut. The 26-year-old from Ilford, England, kicked off his career as a junior middleweight before spending the past three years at middleweight.
Sheeraz earned recognition as the top contender without a world title at 160lbs. His first shot came this past February against WBC titleholder Carlos Adames on the undercard of the Artur Beterbiev-Dmitry Bivol rematch. Adames performed better than Sheeraz, who disclosed a hand injury afterward. In a fight that many believe should have gone Adames’ way, Sheeraz kept his undefeated record intact with a split draw.
Sheeraz believes he’ll be healthier at super middleweight; his 6-foot-3 frame will definitely appreciate the eight pounds of relief. This fight isn’t just Sheeraz’s first in a new weight class, but his first with new trainer Andy Lee. As much as Berlanga has been derided both before and after the Canelo fight, he represents a good test for just how much Sheeraz has improved in the months since the disappointing outing against Adames.
This show at Louis Armstrong Stadium in New York City’s borough of Queens has been marketed as having two main events. In addition to Berlanga-Sheeraz, the other is a lightweight title fight between Shakur Stevenson and William Zepeda.
Stevenson, 23-0 (11 KOs), earned a silver medal in the 2016 Olympics and went on to become a three-division titleholder in the pros; his other belts were at featherweight and junior lightweight. Stevenson captured the WBC belt at 135lbs with a unanimous decision over Edwin De Los Santos in November 2023. That match and a decision over Artem Harutyunyan in July 2024 were both criticized for not being overly aesthetically pleasing.
Stevenson was supposed to face Floyd Schofield in February on the Beterbiev-Bivol II undercard. When Schofield pulled out on short notice, the 15-0 Josh Padley stepped in. Stevenson dug to Padley’s body repeatedly for three knockdowns and a ninth-round TKO.
Zepeda, 33-0 (27 KOs), was once the top-ranked lightweight contender in the eyes of all four sanctioning bodies. He opted to go the WBC route, fighting Tevin Farmer for its interim belt. Zepeda had lots of trouble against Farmer last November, visiting the canvas in the fourth round, eating plenty of flush counterpunches and barely escaping with a split decision. Zepeda met Farmer again this past March, winning this time via majority decision. He seems more vulnerable than ever, and Stevenson has the ability to make this a difficult night for Zepeda.
Also on the pay-per-view: Alberto Puello, 24-0 (10 KOs), will defend his WBC junior welterweight title against former 140lb beltholder Subriel Matias, 22-2 (22 KOs), who has won two straight since dropping his IBF title to Liam Paro in June 2024. And in a light heavyweight bout, David Morrell, 11-1 (9 KOs), is back for the first time since his February decision loss to David Benavidez. Morrell’s opponent is Imam Khataev, 10-0 (9 KOs), who earned bronze in the 2021 Olympics and is taking a big step up in level of opposition.
Saturday, July 12: Vladimir Hernandez vs. Francisco Daniel Veron (ProBox TV)
The broadcast begins at 6 p.m. Eastern Time (11 p.m. BST).
Vladimir Hernandez, 17-6 (7 KOs), is a 36-year-old veteran junior middleweight from Mexico, now fighting out of California. He has been elevated into this headline spot after the original main event, Lester Martinez vs. Pierre Dibombe, was called off due to Martinez suffering from migraine headaches.
Why should you care about a main event featuring a boxer with six losses? Well, Hernandez is a spoiler who is better than that second number in his record suggests. He has scored a number of upsets: a unanimous decision over Alfredo Angulo in 2020, a split decision over Julian Williams in 2021, a majority decision over the 13-0 Lorenzo Simpson in 2023, a sixth-round knockout of the 16-2-2 Guido Schramm in June 2024, a unanimous decision over the 13-1-1 Raul Garcia in September, and a split decision over the 19-2 Isaias Lucero in March.
Some of Hernandez’s defeats have come against familiar names: Israil Madrimov (TKO6 in 2018), Souleymane Cissokho (UD8 in 2019), Jesus Ramos Jnr (TKO6 in 2022) and Troy Isley (UD8 in 2023).
Francisco Daniel Veron, 14-1-1 (10 KOs), is a 26-year-old from Argentina who lives now in Florida. He's had mixed results since stepping up his level of competition, going 1-1-1 in his past three outings. Veron fought the 10-1 Jahi Tucker to a draw, outpointed the 18-2-1 Angel Ruiz Astorga and, last August, lost a unanimous decision to fringe contender Brandon Adams.
The co-feature at the Save Mart Center in Fresno, California, is an elimination bout between Erick Badillo and Gerardo Zapata, with the winner positioned to challenge for the WBC junior flyweight title currently held by Panya Pradabsri.
David Greisman, who has covered boxing since 2004, is on Twitter. David’s book, “,” is available on Amazon.
