Jake Paul has offered Katie Taylor $2million to drop to featherweight for a rematch with Amanda Serrano.
Undisputed lightweight champion Taylor put all of her belts on the line in her first fight with Serrano, who is unified featherweight title holder.
With Serrano having moved up a weight class for that bout at Madison Square Garden this April – a contest she narrowly lost via split decision – Paul has suggested that Irishwoman Taylor should return the favour for what feels like an inevitable rematch.
The YouTube star, who promotes Puerto Rican Serrano, told DAZN: “The only reason [the rematch isn’t happening yet] is that Amanda wants to keep her belts at 126lbs.
“So, she is the unified champion there, and they said they were going to strip her belts if she didn’t defend them right now. So, she’s going to defend them, keep all her belts at 126. The money is cool and all, but that doesn’t mean anything to Amanda Serrano, she wants to be the unified champ at 126lbs.”
Serrano was scheduled to defend her titles against Brenda Karen Carabajal at New York City’s Madison Square Garden on 6 August, on the undercard of Paul’s boxing match against Hasim Rahman Jr. However, a weight dispute between Paul and Rahman Jr – son of former heavyweight champion Hasim Rahman – has led the entire event to be cancelled.
Paul, speaking before the card fell through, told DAZN: “We have money for Katie Taylor, too. We have $2m for Katie Taylor to come down to 126. Let’s see who really is the pound-for-pound best.
“I think Amanda Serrano won that fight, everyone thinks Amanda Serrano won that fight. Katie Taylor, I know you’re watching, why don’t you come down to 126, go against Amanda Serrano in that weight class because she came up nine pounds to fight you? She didn’t look like she was in the same weight class as you that night.”
Taylor and Serrano’s first clash was appropriately billed as the biggest fight in the history of women’s boxing.
