KATIE TAYLOR sought out her friends and family at ringside after beating Amanda Serrano yet again.
The Bray woman, 39, made it 3-0 against her arch rival in a methodical trilogy bout to retain her undisputed super lightweight titles.
As she has been countless times before, mum Bridget was in the ring with her legendary daughter as her hand was raised.
And after exiting the ring, Taylor went straight to the rest of her assembled family who watched her crowning moment from ringside at MSG.
While their first two bouts were white-knuckle brawls, Taylor largely dictated the threequel at her own pace, with Serrano rarely able to close distance on her fleet-footed foe.
That was borne out in the punch stats, with the challenger landing 70 punches from 382 thrown.
Taylor landed the same number but from 231 thrown.
The official scorecards showed the Wicklow icon’s dominance of the second-half of the contest.
Both judges who scored it 97-93 in her favour gave her four of the last five rounds.
While even the judge that scored it a draw gave her three of the last five rounds as her stamina, intelligence and skill paid dividends.
It would represent a fine way to say goodbye to boxing after a legendary career that has seen KT crowned a undisputed champion in two weight classes.
And asked about her future, she admitted: “”I don’t know”.
However, she did rule out a fourth clash against her biggest rival, adding: “I just don’t want to fight Amanda Serrano again.
“She punches too hard! She is amazing.”
Much of the build-up to Saturday’s clash revolved around the controversy that stemmed from their previous contest.
Having previously beaten her at MSG in April 2022, Taylor made it 2-0 with a unanimous decision victory at AT&T Stadium last November.
Serrano and her camp complained about that decision and accused Taylor of intentionally using her head throughout after she was deducted a point for one head clash.
However, after tasting defeat for the third time, the Brooklyn-resident was a lot more diplomatic.
She said: “I tried something different. It was all about working smarter, not harder.
“I tried to keep my distance, try not go in there and fight with her because, apparently, it didn’t work the first two fights so tried to stick with the low punches, the 1-2s and I guess it wasn’t enough.
“One judge saw it even. I got a couple of rounds. I don’t know. I have to go back and see it. My team said I won.
“Obviously I am going to go with what my team tells me. They were telling me what to do and I was trying to apply it in the ring.”
Taylor and Serrano’s trilogy battle was the main event of an all-female card at a sold-out Madison Square Garden.
The fans in attendance made their voices heard throughout the contest, with the Brooklyn-resident fighting tears as she basked in the noise.
‘THANK YOU’
She added: “I want to thank you for every single one of you coming out and supporting women’s boxing.
“It was a truly amazing night for us, for all of us women. I am crying because it is all because of you guys.
“You guys support us.
“Thanks to all of you we are able to show our skills and we are able to have this great platform for women.
“Thank you so much MVP – Nakisa [Bidarian] and Jake Paul. You changed my life. You changed all these women’s lives.
“Thank you to Netflix for allowing us women to showcase our skills, to showcase that we are warriors.
“We can fight, we can sell, and we look good doing it.
“Thank you MSG once again for allowing us to sell out your beautiful place. It is always an honour to fight here, to fight in New York.”
