Katie Taylor settled the score at 3-0 in her trilogy with Amanda Serrano at Madison Square Garden, New York, on Friday night.

The fight headlined an all-women’s card streamed live on Netflix; massive exposure. The event was recognised by the Guinness World Records for the most world title belts contested in a single night: 17 in total.

With Taylor already 2-0 up, a third bout could’ve seemed unnecessary. But given how close the first two fights were, there was no backlash when it was announced. In fact, it was embraced.

Their first meeting was one of the best fights of this century, regardless of gender, and earned the 2022 Fight of the Year from the Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA). The sequel wasn’t far behind in terms of action, so why wouldn’t fans want a third?

Serrano had reason to feel hard done by after not getting the nod in either fight. She’d hurt Taylor in both outings and was out to finish the job this time.

What us bloodthirsty voyeurs didn’t account for was the toll, physical and more significantly, mental, those previous 20 rounds had taken.

‘Blood, sweat and tears’ might be a cliché, but it fits. Both women had gone through hell, so it was almost inevitable they wouldn’t want to revisit that furnace for round three.

Instead, we got a thoroughly entertaining technical contest between two elite operators, though not the Rocky-style war of their first two fights.

Serrano had accused Taylor of using her head too aggressively after suffering a cut in the second bout. That, plus not wanting another war, likely led her to switch tactics and keep it at range, though it played into Taylor’s hands.

Serrano pressed forward, as expected. But she was rarely in range to land clean shots, nor get clipped. Taylor picked her off with sharp counters as the fight progressed. Serrano had her moments, but they were few and far between. Many rounds were tough to score, and visually it looked like Serrano was punching air at times.

The stats backed it up.

According to Compubox, both landed 70 punches. Serrano threw 382 to Taylor’s 231.

We kept waiting for the fight to ignite, but it never truly did. Both fighters exercised caution, or wisdom, and when the final bell sounded, the scorecards still felt up in the air.

In the end, more heartbreak for Serrano. Scores of 95–95 and 97–93 twice meant that after hundreds of hours of training and 60 minutes in the ring, she’s 3-0 down in the trilogy.

That must sting.

It’s fair to say this was the least controversial result of the three.

Serrano was tearful post-fight, thanking the crowd for supporting women’s boxing.

Taylor, ever the devout Christian, thanked the Lord and those who prayed for her strength.

She’s now 39, Serrano 36. Their next moves will be intriguing.

Taylor may well have another trilogy on the horizon. She’s currently 1-1 with Chantelle Cameron, who looked sharp on Friday’s undercard.

A rubber match would be a fitting finale to a Hall of Fame career.

Elsewhere, Alycia Baumgardner remained undisputed champ, outpointing Jennifer Miranda via unanimous decision.

Shadasia Green upset Hartlepool’s Savannah Marshall with a split decision victory. Green had a point deducted early for holding, perhaps harshly, and taking that into account may have been lucky to get the decision at the final bell.

Marshall took the early rounds, but Green clawed back mid-fight, with the final rounds a toss-up.

The judges returned cards of 93-96, 95-94 and 96-93.

It was an upset that led to Green earning Fighter of the Night honours and pocketing a $250,000 bonus.

Catford’s Ellie Scotney would’ve been a worthy contender for fighter of the night. She now holds three of the four bantamweight titles after putting on a clinic against Mexico’s Yamileth Mercado, adding the WBA Super Bantamweight belt to her haul.

Full event results:

Katie Taylor W-MD 10 Amanda Serrano: Super Lightweight

Alycia Baumgardner W-UD 10   Jennifer Miranda: Super Featherweight

Savannah Marshall L-SD 10 Shadasia Green: Middleweight

Ellie Scotney W-UD 10 Yamileth Mercado: Super Bantamweight

Cherneka Johnson W-TKO 9 Shuretta Metcalfe: Bantamweight

Chantelle Cameron vs Jessica Camara W-UD 10: Super Lightweight

Ramla Ali W-UD 8 Lila Furtado:  Super Bantamweight

Tamm Thibeault W-TKO 5 Mary Casamassa: Middleweight

Images: Getty