Katie Taylor retained her status as undisputed lightweight champion on Saturday, outpointing Karen Elizabeth Carabajal in London to keep alive a rematch with Amanda Serrano.
Taylor was a unanimous-decision winner (100-91, 99-91, 98-92) at Wembley Arena as she kept hold of the WBC, WBA, WBO and IBF titles, while remaining unbeaten as a professional.
The result likely sets up a rematch between Taylor and Serrano, whom the Irishwoman narrowly outpointed in April in arguably the biggest bout in women’s boxing history.
Taylor, 36, has talked up a prospective second clash with the unified featherweight champion, hoping for such a contest to take place at Croke Park in Dublin.
The chances of that fight going ahead depended in part on Taylor’s outing in London on Saturday, and the Olympic gold medalist delivered by seeing off Carabajal, 32, with relative ease.
Argentine Carabajal (19-1, 2 knockouts) entered Wembley Arena unbeaten and was a game opponent for Taylor (22-0, 6 KOs), but the latter settled after a slightly sloppy start, improving as the main event progressed.
While Carabajal – the taller of the two fighters – looked to overwhelm and outmuscle Taylor at times, the Irishwoman looked to fight behind a neater offence. A left hook to the head was a consistently effective weapon for Taylor in the early rounds, in which she at times got sucked into messy exchanges with her challenger.
As the bout wore on, Taylor began to target the body of Carabajal with increasing frequency, using straight, stabbing shots to the Argentine’s midriff. In the later rounds, Taylor employed an overhand right to good effect, as accuracy started to elude Carbajal, who sported a cut around her right eye.
Overall, it was a professional performance from Taylor in her first fight since beating Serrano, who has also competed once since that super-fight at New York City’s Madison Square Garden.
“We want the fight at Croke Park, 80,000 people,” Taylor said of a rematch with Puerto Rican Serrano, who outpointed Sarah Mahfoud in September.
“Every single person here’s gonna be out there. That would be the biggest event in women’s boxing history.”
Taylor’s promoter Eddie Hearn added: “Amanda Serrano’s saying the right things now, but honestly time won’t wait for Amanda Serrano. We hope it’s her, but it doesn’t matter who it is; it’s gonna be a big fight and it has to be Ireland next.”
