Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano came face to face in Manhattan, as fight week officially kicked off in New York City on Tuesday.
And there could not have been a more high-profile location for the meeting of the world's best women’s boxers ahead of their historic clash at the iconic Madison Square Garden on Saturday night.
Soaring 1,454 feet above midtown Manhattan, Taylor and Serrano met for a ceremonial photoshoot atop one of the most famous and recognised landmarks in the world, the Empire State Building.
A fitting start to an important week for the sport, as the boxers faced-off on the famous 86th Floor Observatory, a 360-degree, open-air platform with views of New York and beyond – the Empire State Building will be illuminated with the colours of Ireland and Puerto Rico in honour of the two fighters on Saturday night.
Since 2011, the building has been fully powered by renewable wind electricity, and the winds of change are certainly blowing in New York this week, with Taylor putting her undisputed world lightweight title on the line, as women’s boxing headlines Madison Square Garden for the very first time in the venue's illustrious history.
While the boxers have only arrived in the Big Apple, the fight, which is labelled "For History" has already been in full promo mode throughout the Manhattan midtown, with sprawling billboards putting the two fighters up in lights ahead of Saturday’s showdown.
Katie Taylor’s rise through the professional ranks, since ending her amateur career in 2016, has been a crusade of sorts, as the five-time world champion set her sights on the top titles in the lightweight division.
The Bray native secured the fourth and final piece of that particular jigsaw by 2019, defeating Delphine Persoon, to add the WBC strap to the IBF, WBA and WBO, that were already, by then, in her possession.
And Taylor also became a two-weight champion that same year, stepping up a division to defeat Christina Linardatou, becoming the WBO super-lightweight world champion.
Working alongside Matchroom Boxing and promoter Eddie Hearn, Taylor had been showcasing women’s boxing throughout the world, having already headlined a fight night at London’s York Hall, while fighting on high-profile events Stateside – the aforementioned Persoon fight actually took place at Madison Square Garden on an Anthony Joshua world title undercard.
But, as they say, it takes two to tango, and while Amanda Serrano has been an established star within the boxing world for the past decade, remarkably becoming a seven-weight world champion, her profile was not perhaps as recognisable outside of the sport.
A strange twist of fate, however, has seen the hard-hitting Serrano link up with the emerging side of boxing, Jake Paul, who now represents the Brooklyn native, and certainly adds another dimension to the encounter.
Jake Paul, along with brother Logan, has created a space in this ever-changing sports entertainment industry, where YouTube grudge fights can sit side-by-side with high-profile world title encounters, bringing another audience to the sport through a combined social media presence of over 100 million followers.
Elsewhere, it’s a busy week in New York sport with the ice hockey team, the New York Rangers also in action three times at Madison Square Garden, while the New York Yankees are hosting the Baltimore Orioles at their Bronx stadium.
The city’s other baseball side, the New York Mets, are also in action, hosting the Philadelphia Phillies at Citi Field in Queens. In basketball, the post-season play-offs have arrived and while the New York Knicks did not make it through, the Brooklyn Nets progressed in the Eastern Conference.
Alas their hopes came a cropped earlier in the week, losing by a 4-0 whitewash to the Boston Celtics.
But for this week, at least, the high-profile boxing encounter at Madison Square Garden rubs shoulders with the established American sports and the build-up moved up another notch in the bright Manhattan spring sunshine on Wednesday afternoon.
A huge media gathering turned out to get their first real glimpse of the fighters ahead of the historic night in New York, as a boxing ring was assembled at Chase Square inside the midtown venue.
Not only a night for the headline acts, the undercard fighters were also on show for the public workout, starting with Australian prospect Skye Nicolson, who is fighting for the second time as a pro against Shanecqua Paisley Davis.
Olympic Gold medallist Galal Yafai was also working the pads as he looks to follow Taylor from amateur champion to professional star, defending his WBC International Flyweight title against Miguel Cartagena.
The main supporting act on Saturday night sees Liverpool veteran Liam Smith go head-to-head with former two-weight world champion Jesse Vargas in a highly anticipated super-welterweight bout.
But then came the main event fighters.
Working out beneath a ceiling-covering, promotional poster of the big fight, Serrano was first to emerge, looking fit and strong, clad out in some form of tie-dye, camouflage-style work-out wardrobe.
It is fair to say that the Puerto-Rican New Yorker was intent on putting on a show for the assembled media, making sure she is far from just the challenger on this weekend's main event.
The borough of Brooklyn then got in on the act, presenting Serrano with some sort of ceremonial certificate, to celebrate the achievements of becoming a seven-weight world champion.
Then Katie almost appeared into the ring unnoticed, keeping things simple with baggy grey tracksuit and short-sleeved black t-shirt.
Nothing to prove for the undisputed champion, who proceeded to go through a low-key stint in the middle of the ring, while also bringing out the obligatory tennis-ball hat to complete the workout.
And yet Katie looked quietly content, and ultra relaxed as she worked each side of the ring to give the media masses the required shots for television reports and newspaper back pages throughout the world.
Next stop for the Taylor-Serrano Show is Thursday’s live press conference, taking place at the Hulu Theatre in the basement of Madison Square Garden.
The event is open to the public, once again, and while it is unlikely to provide much in the way of trash talking, as can be the case with such events, it will offer another glimpse into the mindset of both great fighters ahead of Saturday’s decider.
Follow Katie Taylor v Amanda Serrano with live updates on RTE.ie/Sport and RTÉ News app from Sunday at 2.30am
