Woman Warriors Take Center Stage

This past Saturday, women boxing started 2023 at Madison Square Garden with a bang.  It's going to be another good year for women's boxing.  I can already tell.  Amanda Serrano and Alicia Baumgardner headlined a card that was a mix of men's and mostly women's bouts.  Elham Mekhaled  made her entrance in a glittery red ballroom gown which was so fitting for a woman coming from Paris, France,  Baumgardner always comes out in a beautifully stylized outfit, dancing to hip hop beats and is captivating.  Baumgardner had a much bigger test in this fight due to the fact that Mekhaled refused to give up and kept coming back despite being seriously hurt a couple of times.  Baumgardner has incredible power and beautiful boxing skills, but she still has some work to do at putting it all together.  She got hit solidly with a lot of Mekhaled's shots and she seemed to run out of gas several times in the fight.  It was an exciting fight though Baumgardner clearly won.  Amanda Serrano took on Erika Cruz.  I had seen a video of Cruz fighting Jelena Mrdjenovich, and knew it would be a challenging fight for Serrano.  Cruz is an awkward southpaw who bends at the waist and throws haymakers in bunches.  She is an intense Mexican warrior that displayed incredible heart throughout the fight.  You could tell Amanda Serrano was so happy to be fighting in Madison Square Garden.  She is a fighter that loves to fight and just seemed to thoroughly enjoy herself the entire night.  She probably could have done better if she had chosen to box Cruz more, but she stood toe-to-toe with her the entire night.  Over 1900 punches were thrown in the fight and it was an absolute war, but Serrano had a bit more pop and accuracy with her punches.  I kept thinking throughout the fight, "how are they throwing so many punches?!" Cruz got cut in the third round at her hairline and had to contend with a constant stream of blood coming down her face, but she gave every single round her all.  Serrano, like Baumgardner came out victorious as expected, but their opponents came to win and deserve tremendous kudos for making two high intensity fights.  I hope to see Mekhaled and Cruz fight again.  They will give any top contender grief and I think that Cruz would be able to beat Baumgardner.  

​Katie Taylor came in to the ring at the end of the Serrano fight and it was announced that the two had signed a deal for a rematch in Dublin, Ireland for May.  It will be the first time Katie Taylor will get to fight in her own country which is pretty amazing and special for her.  Serrano is confident and excited to fight Taylor again and showed so much class stating,"Taylor came to New York to fight and it's only fair that I go to Ireland next."  This fight with Cruz was great preparation for the Taylor fight in May.  Serrano showed so much excitement and respect for everyone on this night and it is clear she has developed a sizable following in New York and the U.S. And it is also on this night, Serrano became my favorite female fighter for showing tremendous grit, skill and grace.  I will be rooting for her come May as she takes on Taylor.