Over 300 million people tuned in worldwide for the “Fight of the Century,” and half a century later Taylor-Serrano is projected to be the most-viewed women’s boxing match ever. It’s not just the first women’s boxing match to headline Madison Square Garden it’s the symbolism of the fight to boxing’s central identity. ET) between Ireland’s Katie Taylor and Puerto Rico’s Amanda Serrano feels so historic.
That’s one of the reasons Saturday night’s main event (DAZN, 7:30 p.m. Their names are baked into the famous concave ceiling tiles. Ali and Frazier, who squared off a second time at MSG in early 1974, get name-checked at that venue as much as Sickles and Pickett do at Gettysburg. Just about every match fought there over the past 50 years feels like it’s taken place on hallowed ground because of that one boxing match. In 1971, Muhammad Ali took on “Smokin’” Joe Frazier at Madison Square Garden in what was grandly dubbed the “Fight of the Century.” It was such a mind-blowing event that to this day MSG still exudes the aura of Ali and Frazier, and really of the fight game itself.
