Amanda Serrano backed to make history in Katie Taylor trilogy as MVP boss Nakisa Bidarian insists 'it should be 1-1 at least' and vows 'this time there'll be no debate'

MVP boss Nakisa Bidarian has backed Amanda Serrano to finally get over the line and beat Katie Taylor when the two meet in their trilogy bout on Friday.

'This fight should be 1–1 at the very least,' Bidarian tells Mail Sport. 'Just look at the first fight. It was a split decision that many people had Amanda winning. In the second, Amanda landed 107 more punches than Katie Taylor. 

'Katie also got a point deducted. But, it still didn't go Amanda's way even though many thought she won that one too. It's up to Amanda now to make those adjustments so that there's no question. And I believe she will.'

Friday night's showdown between Serrano and Katie Taylor at Madison Square Garden isn't just a rematch, it's a reckoning. The first fight made history as the first women's bout to headline the iconic venue. The second made headlines with Netflix's historic leap into live sports. Now, the third is doing both and more.

Seventeen world title belts across five bouts. Three undisputed championship fights. The first all-female fight card ever broadcast globally on Netflix. The Most Valuable Promotions event will break a Guinness World Record for the most world titles contested on a single night, male or female.

But Bidarian, co-founder and CEO of MVP alongside Jake Paul, insists the night isn't about records. It's about justice.

'Both fights, Amanda had Katie in trouble,' he says. 'But it hasn't translated to a W on paper. That's what makes this fight so exciting. Usually a 2-0 trilogy would not occur. But this trilogy is one of the most debated in boxing. This is Amanda's moment to silence that debate.'

There's no tiptoeing around the controversy that clouded the second fight, particularly the repeated head clashes that saw Serrano cut. While Serrano later walked back her accusation that the butts were intentional, the bad blood has simmered.

At the launch press event for the fight, Serrano arrived in full sparring headgear, clearly making a statement.

'I think it factors into the strategy, right?' he says. 'Obviously, Katie's corner is telling her to tie up Amanda and lower her head and lead into Amanda's face, which you can say is legal or illegal, depending on how the judge reviews how it's happening.'

He's quick to clarify: it's not just on the referee to enforce fairness, it's on the fighters to adapt.

'As I've said before, the onus is on Amanda to be able to adjust against that strategy,' Bidarian continues. 'And if it's blatantly illegal, you will hope that the referee will take points away. And if it's within the spirit of the fight and not illegal, then it's up to Amanda to adjust.'

That idea, adaptability in the face of obstacles, has quietly underpinned Serrano's career. At 36, she remains one of boxing's most decorated champions, even after giving up her WBC belt at featherweight in protest over the sanctioning body's refusal to allow three-minute rounds in women's fights.

Despite speculation that Friday's bout might mark the end of her career, Bidarian says Serrano's intentions are clear: 'Her indication to myself and Jake is that she wants to continue fighting, right? She is the 126-pound champion… so her indication to us is that she wants to continue to fight. Obviously, anything can happen. We have to get to next Friday night. We'll sit down with her and we'll support her.'

For Bidarian, what happens on Friday night is bigger than just Serrano or Taylor. It's the culmination of a vision MVP has been building toward for years - one that took a giant leap during last year's Jake Paul vs Mike Tyson event.

'When we put on Jake Paul versus Mike Tyson, we strategically decided to try to make Taylor-Serrano II as the co-main of that event,' Bidarian explains. 'And many within hardcore boxing were like, 'Oh, this just should be the main event. Not Jake Paul and Mike Tyson. These two deserve that mantle.' But our strategy was to maximise the amount of eyeballs on two of the best athletes in the world.'

The numbers spoke for themselves. Taylor-Serrano II became the most-viewed women's sporting event in US history and when Netflix executives showed up in the dressing room after the fight, the next chapter wrote itself.

'They were congratulating Jake on his victory, saying, 'We want to do more Jake Paul events, but can we sign up the trilogy of Amanda Serrano and Katie Taylor right now?' Bidarian recalls. 'And we said to them, 'We want to do that, but we want to go a step further, and we want to provide your platform to women's boxing as a whole.' And they bought in right away.'

The fighters were all in, but with one condition.

'We went to Amanda and Katie, they said, 'We love the idea, but you have to promise us one thing.' Said, 'What?' Said, 'You got to promise us you get us some of the best fighters in the world on this card,' he says. 'Because Women's Boxing is fairly young as a sport, and so the depth of the best is a lot shallower than men's, which has been around in the Olympics for, you know, 40–50 years, versus three or four Olympic cycles.'

That promise led to what fans will witness Friday: a card stacked with elite-level talent like Alycia Baumgardner, Savannah Marshall, Ellie Scotney, and more. And thanks to Netflix, it's not just boxing's core fans who will see it.

'Netflix is a different animal than DAZN, ESPN - all of them combined,' Bidarian says. 'It's an entertainment distribution platform that is globally available to over 300 million subscribers, and sports is a new offering and a new vertical. So we view it as a massive enhancement to the sport of boxing and for our athletes to have a chance to delight and impress a different audience, in addition to the hardcore and avid boxing fan base.'

Still, Bidarian isn't turning his back on traditional outlets. 'Thank God for DAZN, right?' he adds. 'If you look at the boxing landscape and the media distribution of it… the amount of boxing that would be on the air would be significantly less [without them].'

So what comes next? For MVP, it's simple: unify the best fighters in the world under one banner and let them fight each other.

'Our vision is having the best collection of talent in the world under one brand, and enabling the fighters to be able to make the most exciting fights happen for the fans,' Bidarian says. 

'Ultimately, it's up to the fighters to accept the challenge of fighting each other. But by all being a part of MVP, there's not different promoters, different networks, different sanctioning bodies that get to dictate who is fighting who. It's more just down to two fighters wanting to make it happen and it becoming as seamless as possible.'