(This story first appeared at Boxing Junkie .) The legend of Katie Taylor grows. The Irish icon overcame harrowing adversity in the middle rounds to defeat Amanda Serrano by a split decision to retain her undisputed lightweight championship Saturday before a sell-out crowd at Madison Square Garden in New York. Just as important for the women’s side of boxing, the highly hyped bout lived up to expectations. Taylor (21-0, 6 KOs) got off to a strong start by sticking and moving in the first few rounds, which made it difficult for the more aggressive Serrano (42-2-1, 30 KOs). However, Taylor stood her ground in the middle rounds, which didn’t work out well for her. Serrano had a huge fifth round, in which the Brooklyn product landed dozens of hard, damaging punches to both the head and body and seemed to have Taylor on the brink of being knocked out
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Katie Taylor survives adversity, beats Amanda Serrano by split decision – MMA Junkie