1 week Ago By [email protected] (Oisin Doherty)
Jake Paul has praised Katie Taylor and hailed her as a 'great champion.' Social media star turned boxer Paul was speaking at last night's opening press conference for Taylor's trilogy bout with Amanda Serrano, which will take place on July 11th at Madison Square Garden live around the world on Netflix. "To Katie Taylor, we may be on opposite sides, opposite teams, but we are on the same team," said Paul.
"The side of goodness, the side of giving back, the side of God. You are a great champion and I appreciate having the opportunity to work with you again." Paul went on to heap praise on Serrano , calling her the 'GOAT' of women's boxing and labelling her the 'heart and soul of MVP.
' While Paul and Taylor seemed to get along fine on the night, tensions were high between the two women that will step inside the ring on July 11th. Serrano has questioned the judges decision to award Taylor the win in Texas last November and has criticised the Irishwoman for what she felt was a reckless use of the head in that fight which resulted in serious cuts for Serrano. The Puerto-Rican upped the ante with mind games last night, wearing a head guard while standing toe-to-toe with Taylor in a not so subtle reference to those head clashes last year.
The usually stoic Taylor was in a fiery mood at last night's press conference, criticising Serrano for complaining about the judges' scorecards in their first two fights and taking aim at Serrano with regards to the 36-year-old's claims that she wanted the fight to be held under 12 x 3 minute round rules. "I think we shook on it depending on if you won the fight," replied Taylor. "But regardless I think it’s a matter of principle that the challenger shouldn’t be dictating the terms of the fight.
"I am 2-0 here and I'm in the driver’s seat. That's only right at the end of the day. Amanda needs this fight a lot more than I do.
"I have a long history of big fights against big names and a line of people queued up to fight me for the payday. You need this fight a lot more than I do, Amanda. You know that.
"At the end of the day, I think the point of [you fighting] three-minute rounds was to prove to people that you get more knockouts. How many knockouts did you get in your 12 three-minute rounds? Zero." On Serrano's claims that she won those two bouts, Taylor said "She has to respect the decisions," "If you look at those fights, you can clearly see that I won those two fights.
It's insane. It's ridiculous really. It's really, really insane that she thinks she won those fights.
"Of course I won. It was an amazing fight. We've had two of the best fights in the history of boxing.
Two very, very close fights, but I think that the margins at the top are always very tiny, but I did come out as the deserved winner." Get the latest sports headlines straight to your inbox by signing up for free email alerts ..
