Katie Taylor will fight Amanda Serrano in the same Garden ring where the finest boxers in history have left their blood, guts and dreams.
In the steep banks of seats in the sacred big room, 18,000 will raise their flags in a battle of colour between the local Puerto Ricans, the travelling Irish and the curious. It will be impossible to be a neutral in that first rush of emotion that greets the opening bell; the fight will start under a canopy of howling hearts. It’s possible that this fight, a very modern yet old-fashioned brawl for the undisputed lightweight title, could have only ever ended up in New York City at its holy sporting venue, Madison Square Garden. It feels like a fight from the sport’s black and white days; the quiet Irishman, the local boy, a hostile crowd, a walking priest, the bookies and the captive audience.
