After months of hype, Mike Tyson returned to the ring after 20 years to take on Jake Paul, and it was set in the main event spot of the Netflix card. The spectacle was surely there, but as the rounds ticked on, it was apparent that the actual fight of it all wasn’t going to deliver on fan expectations. What certainly didn’t help was the fact that viewers had just watched another classic match from Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano, and while billed as the co-main event, it was clear afterwards that Serrano vs Taylor was the true main event of the night.
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History and Controversy
Even in the lead-up to the fight, Serrano vs Taylor had all the history you’d want in a rivalry. The two fighters had already delivered a classic fight back in 2022, and it was the slimmest of victories, as Taylor won in a split decision that was met with some controversy at the time.
The most recent fight between them had its share of controversy as well. Throughout the fight Taylor led with her head, which at one point collied with Serrano’s and caused a cut to form over her eye that would get substantially worse over the course of the fight. This would lead to Taylor being wwarned by referee Jon Schorle about several headbutts, and eventually Schorle would remove a point from her total because of it.
The gash over Serrano’s eye would get far worse as the fight went on, and Schorle would monitor it throughout the fight. The fight was never stopped though, and despite the bloody gash, Serrano would end up connecting with more of her punches by the end of the night. That’s what made the end result so surprising, adding more feul to the battle’s fire as the judges delivered a unanimous 95 – 94 score for Taylor.
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Not a Contest
The other big part of Taylor and Serrano’s battle was the actual moment to moment drama of the fight, which was lightyears better than Tyson vs Paul. Those who watched Tyson vs. Paul saw moments of action over the course of the eight rounds, but they were fleeting, and most of the fight was lacking any offensive punch (pardon the pun).
That was not the case at all with Serrano vs Taylor. While the first round was a bit quieter than the rounds that would come after, things got going soon after and ever looked back. Both fighter were throwing punches and throwing a lot of them, with Serrano taking the advantage in punches landed by 324 to 217. Contrast that to Paul vs Tyson and the separation is clear, as Paul landed 78 punches and Tyson landed 18.
As the fight wore on and injuries were overcome, the technical contest gave way to more of a brawl, with punch combinations flying in from both fighters despite them looking clearly worn down and tired. Those punches kept flying all the way to the final bell, capping off a fight that delivered what everyone expected and yet throwing in some dramatic and controversial swerves for good measure. Serrano vs Taylor was Netflix’s true main event, and it’s not even close.
