5 Live Boxing with Steve Bunce - Taylor v Serrano III: Touchdown in New York

Episode Date: July 8, 2025

Can Katie Taylor come out on top once again as she takes on Amanda Serrano in their highly anticipated trilogy fight this Friday night in New York? Buncey has touched down in the Big Apple and is joined by Stacey Copeland to break down the main event, reflect on one of boxing’s greatest rivalries, and take a closer look at a stacked undercard that includes Ellie Scotney, Chantelle Cameron and Savannah Marshall.

BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts. This is Five Live Boxing. It might just be one of the most remarkable weeks for boxing in New York. Sure, it's hot, but it's not the heat that's the factor. It's the amount of fights, and it's the news about fights. And it's also the week when Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano will fight in the greatest women's trilogy. That's Friday night at the garden. Where else?

Both classics so far. This is history on a night of pride and also a night of glory. And there's massive British interest. Also on the bill. Savannah Marshall defending her world title. Ellie Scottney defending two of her world titles and Chantelle Cameron

defending her version of the world titles. All in the great big hall, the big room, the garden, the sacred boxing venue. And then on Saturday, night at Flushing Meadows, Hamza Shiraz fights, and Shakir Stevenson defends his world title. That's in one city, one giant boxing metropolis. And trust me when I say it's hot, I've got to go inside, I've got to sit down and I've got to talk about the fight and what this means for

women's boxing. And there's only one person for that, Stacey Copeland. I'm Steve Bunce, sweltering in New York City, and this is Five Live Boxing. Stacey, we will start with a man. Suano and Katie Taylor. But as part of me says, I like that fight, but I like this one as well. And I like this one, and I like this one, and I like this one, and I like this one. Stack doesn't quite capture what's going to happen

on Friday night, not Saturday night. Don't tell me it's Saturday night. It's Friday night at the garden, because Saturday night we're over in Flushing. I think it's one of them that actually when you look at it, there's a few that could be fight of the night, or even fight of the year. So that's what makes it exciting.

Certainly standalone. Certainly four or five of these could A standalone fights They're not, you know, they're not going to You know, Ellie Scotony He's not going to sell out the O2 Fighting Macardo But it's a good fight in any nation

In any venue Well, top of the bill isn't going to let us down, is it? No Definitely, definitely will not disappoint It could be the best one yet Because we haven't had a knockdown yet And there's potential for it So you know, that'll add a bit of spice

That's interesting, yeah So that there's things that could happen That haven't happened in the previous two encounters I don't thought about that But that is not going to disappoint. So that's the one thing we don't have to worry about. You know, you can say, oh, that one's feisty. But really, top of the bill, it's a bit one way or it's a bit whatever,

or it's a bit boring. It's not going to be. So we know that's going to deliver. Then in the buildup to that, we've got some absolute crackers. And you genuinely don't know who is going to take fight of the night or performance of the night on the undercard. It's up for grabs, isn't it really? So Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrana have gone 20,

rounds. Every single second of every single one of those rounds has been contested absolutely fiercely. Katie Taylor's walked away with the two decisions, which I thought were right. Don't get me wrong. But it's really interesting that the fights can be that close. And really there's no sense of a robbery or a bad decision. Katie, I thought won the pair of them really tight. And again, it's every, I mean, in all fairness, if you and I sat here and watched the 20 rounds again, we'd probably agree on seven or eight, but we wouldn't massively disagree on any. So you might think, well, I thought Katie Nick their first round

or the 10th round, but you and I wouldn't have an argument over any of those rounds because that's the type of fights they were. Every single second was close. I think part of the controversy has not just been the scoring. It's been, in terms of officials anyway, that focus on the referee of whether, obviously, Serrano's camp have been saying Katie leads with the head. Now, we saw this,

Cantell Cameron said the same thing. In fact, Jamie Moore went into the referee. We saw videos of that, didn't we? Prior to their fight saying, look out for this. This is how she does. I anticipate Serrano's Campbell do exactly the same. And that adds that, you know, spotlight. And she did, you know, she did get a point deducted in, I think,

the eighth round of the second fight, Katie Taylor. So it is something that people are going to be looking at. Perhaps that will be in the back of the mind of the referee. So that added to the controversy where, because obviously she sustained that horrific cut in that fight. Amanda Serrano out in Arlington. So that adds to it as well because they're saying no, she leads with the head. Other people saying Ross, her coach, obviously, Kate Taylor's coach is saying

it's not deliberate, it's part of the way that she fights. You get it with South Bulls and orthodox. Absolutely, absolutely. So that adds an element to it as well. But Amanda Serrano has been saying in the buildup to this, they've made the necessary adjustments because that's what you should look at as a boxer. You can say all day, this opponent does A, B and C.

Right, you've faced them twice. If you know they do it, what are you going to do? You can't just rely on the referee. You've got to make adjustments. They did it for 10 rounds and you didn't. I mean, let's get it right. As good as the second fight was, there was no major changes.

Did you sense any major change in Amanda? So this would have to be the time. You've had 20 rounds to learn and understand what Katie does. We know what she does. You know all of her tails to use a poker expression. So it's down to you and your coaching team to actually make the, Make a change.

What plan they've come up with? Because ideally, if you can time it that somebody does lean over that front foot and come in with the head, if you step back and whip that up a cut, then that's the shot you want to be landing. And she has a wicked lead hook as well. So if she can backhand uppercut and lead up off that, do you know, we know that she carries power. She's carried it all the way up the way to Samantha Serrano.

Last time, I mean, she nearly hired Katie out with that backhand, that straight backhand right against the ropes. And it was towards the end of the round, literally saved by the bell. Had it been a three minute round, another part of the conversation that's gone on these presses, I think she would have had her out of there because she was seriously wobbled Katie. So we know she possesses that kind of power. But we also know that Katie can adjust mid-fight. Katie can do things differently.

We've seen her change up a little bit. In fact, in the first fight with Serrano, she changed a couple of just tiny things. She doesn't have to change massively. She did it against Delphine Pursune in the second fight with Pursune. She's done it in all of those harder 10-round fights. She just finds a different gear. It's an interesting one with the suit. It's not just round punches, it's movement.

It was the same thing of having this point to prove, wasn't it? That even though she'd got the win over pursuit, there was so many people saying, didn't think she'd really done it, she didn't deserve it, she just looked upon her favourably. And I think there's a feeling of this, that she wants to, you know, make sure there's clear light a day that nobody can question it this time.

I think there's an element of that for her going into this with Serrano, that she wants to leave, you know, nobody with any questions. of whether it was the right decision or not. Now, did you get the sense that, obviously Katie's coming to the end of what's been, well, not just a, I mean, saying Katie Taylor's had a great career, sales are short in many ways, Stacey.

You know, you've been, you know, you've been around the world globally, you've been the same events as her. You've been, you know the Katie Taylor effect worldwide. Let's not mince our word. She's, she's, she's. Like, Rinaldo. Yeah, yeah, you know, like, it is. It's that type of thing.

those athletes that transcend the sport and they have a completely different impact. They have an aura around them that impacts everybody else and she's got that. I'm not saying that Serrano hasn't in her neck of the woods and the way she put certainly coming up through the amateur tournaments and, you know, the Europeans and all that. Katie was that person. You know the story when Katie Taylor turned pro, I think Serrano had had 31 or 32 fights. I think she'd won world titles at four different weights, but she was fighting for sometimes $1,000.

$1,000 in a world title fight. Sometimes in non-tidal fight, she was learning less than that. Sometimes she wasn't making any money. You know the way that works. You've got to sell your opponents and not tickets or that type of stuff. So when Katie Taylor turned pro, Serrano was telling us in 2020 before the first fight at the garden, she was telling us that she said she knew the, I'm going to paraphrase, she knew the business was going to change, that basically Katie was going to save us all.

So Katie was this salvation. Not only was she, you know, at that time, you know, she'd won a gold murderer. Olympics, all the world, all the Europeans, falling apart a little bit in Rio, because that was a lot of personal weight she was carrying. Let's get that right, going into that of him. That's not over here, not there. All of her fights were hard at that top level. But here was, there was Serrano, and we've heard it from lots of people.

We've heard it from Natasha Jones. We heard it from Chantelle Cameron. She might not like Katie, but she acknowledges what Katie did to the business. And so it's almost like this huge debt. And when you get Serrano, San, I knew, I knew Katie would save us. I mean, that's, that's some statement of intent, isn't it? It is. And she had the right partnership with Matrim, didn't she? Because they were able to provide those big nights,

whether she was on the undercard of a gigantic AJ fight or whatever. Yeah, or she was headlining, you know, and they've built this up. Now Serrano, with MVP behind her and Jake Paul and all that. Now there's like these two juggernauts coming together. So I think this one, and I think we've seen that in the buildup. You know, we've had Ouma Thurman and Shalise Theron and whatever with weapons swapping them for gloves when they did that little.

What weights Omer-Burman? I've never heard of them. It's been interesting, ain't it though? And again, that's a different concept that Matrum haven't brought to it before,

the MVP and that. So there's been a different, you know, them two stood on the roof top with Serrano in a head to toe in that orange suit and then Katie looking like Catwoman in the all leather thing

which we don't usually see her in. And do you know, it's a different side that they've been tasting hot sauces. They've been doing all sorts that, you know, so this is a different kind of buildup to appeal to a different audience,

which can only be good. You know, I mean, some people say, No, I know, it's this bad, this Steve, it's bad. It's like it's all going over there to Netflix. And I'm saying to people, and I'm saying to people, you're crazy on you? This is incredible. Because what comes with it, it's not just getting that Netflix platform,

which obviously comes without the obligatory, seemingly obligatory pay-per-view. But what you get with that Netflix platform is you get all of the fun stuff attached to it. So you get all the dressing up. You do. But what we got last time was 100 million viewers and the most viewed women sporting event. in history. So even if that's your only measure, that's pretty good. Oh, well, that's not bad, is it?

But do you know, I'll ask you, we'll review the rest of the fights at a second, but I've got to take it back to when this fight was announced and everybody flew out to New York, and MVP revealed a whole series of fighters at different ways, including Ellie Scottney, the Queen of Catford. And Ellie was blown away by her because she's been fairly low-key. She's got a couple of belts.

She's unbeatable, she's untouchable. And she's a quality operator. But so when they go to this gym, some of them know each other, some don't know each other, some iron each other up because obviously they're going to be fighting each other. They're the same weight as each other. They might fight each other. And maybe they've got some amateur beef. You know the kind of thing.

You know the way that works. You can't all be one happy sisterhood and brotherhood. Let's get it right. There's got to be a bit of friction. As we've seen when Turkey Alashait gets the boxes together. So Canelo sits obviously Terence Crawford. It's awful. So awkward.

He's got his fruit juice, Turkey. He's very happy. Well, having Christmas did with the family members you don't like. You have to sit with them. So we're all together, and of course, Ellie decides she's going to break the eyes, by taking them all on the pads. Did you know this story? Yeah, I saw that.

She takes... She took the big on, she's Asian. So she's taking these women on. Some of them are 511, 510. Ellie's about 3 foot 7. No disrespect to Ellie. But if she's 5'2, I'm a Dutchman, right? But you know she'll be a great coach.

Oh, definitely. So she's doing these really heavy pad sessions, which do absolutely love them. I don't know if she took Shadish green on them. I mean, just me. No, you know, the other thing, though, with Ellie East, She'll be building her knowledge, I'm whispering this because you don't want to give away too many Ellie secrets. She's working out how powerful she is.

Yeah, yeah. And she's also working out little tails. She'll be looking at, she'd basically agree. She'll be saying, you know, she can be talking to SAV and saying, you know what? Every time she throws her right hand, you see it coming. She lifts her right foot up. But that's a good thing about having no massive ego

and pretence about yourself. She's got belief in herself and that's a different thing. That's a good thing. But that'll disarm people. And, you know, she's going to feel, Ellie, loads more comfortable this week because she's had that interaction with them in a different way. So I think it'll be really good

for a long run because they're going to feel like pals now, aren't they? And that's what I feel away from home. You know what I'm thinking about her. We'll talk about Ellie's fight against Yama LF Mikado. So there's plenty of titles up for grabs there. It's not quite undisputed. I think it's three of the belts, which isn't bad going

at Superbantam. Is it fair to say that on this bill? Okay, there's one or two loud Americans, and it's not bad. It's kind of not a necessarily an ego-free zone. No. But there's no... I don't think any divas, is there?

No, no, no. I think one of two of them are called diva. I mean, it seems to be a popular name with female fighters. People understand when you say that, don't they? I mean, I'm thinking about it. And of course, one or two of the Americans might try and get under the skin of different fighters, because that's the American way. Yeah.

But in all fairness, this is a... It's a sensible system. And even Jake Paul himself. His business. It's strictly business. A good business. They've all been willing to play their part and they've understood their role

of doing these build-up things in these little skits and whatever that capture the imagination and interest of people. But it is quite business-like that they all understand, one, what's on the line for them as an individual. There's belts up for grabs, which can then project them.

They're now contracted. They've got a bit of security. They've got a proper promoter behind them who believes in them. So that elevates you. And thirdly, they will all understand how important this is for women's boxing. that you can't just go and enjoy it

and it all be frivolous. This is a massive showcase for women's boxing which has been much needed much like we had at the Royal Albert Hall over here in March. Fantastic fights. Somehow that night gets overlooked. Oh it was superb. The fights were quality. The ring walks, the whole atmosphere

and that's what it needs. And so I think they know what they need to do and it is business like. They're playing the role, but it's down to business. Well, let's have a little look then at Scotty against Macado. I think it's three versions of the World Time. I think Ellie's also got the Ring magazine.

So we've got three fights that are undisputed. Alicia Boomgardner's undisputed. And the Shanaika Johnson and Shereita Metcalf is also undisputed. I think there's two vacant belts up for grabs. What story she's got, by the way. Boxing in bars where they just chuck a few dollars in. There's a lot of stories here.

Unbelievable. You know, that's like the story is about when Canelo first-term professional and whether or not he was fighting for what they could whip up. in these tiny... The proper old... Like the old boxing booths of old, in it. It's amazing. It really is.

And by the way, it wasn't the dark side of the moon in history. It was like two and three and four years. Like rocky. She was just getting in these, going in these bars, jumping in the ring and people chucking dollars out of her.

Now she's at Madison Square Garden on this massive bill. Amazing story. Only boxing. I think there's a lot of dreams floating around here. So Ellie Scott and the, who's one of my favorite fighters. And this is a tough fighter because Mercado's a good fighter. She is, Ellie's just getting better and better,

and it's lovely for me to watch this because she was one of that group, along with young Chloe Watson, sorry, and Georgia O'Connor, of course, who's sadly not with us anymore, but that amazing group of talented young fighters who went out to the Europeans, and I was there as a sort of mentor role,

and to see now what she's doing in the pros is amazing, but she was always really technically good, she was always really driven, and just had a really, mature head on her shoulders. You know, she was never overawed by things, but never inflated ego either. She's got a really good mentality.

And I think she's going to really enjoy this whole event, this whole week. But she'll know what she's got to do. She's got obviously a great team behind her with Shane and Josh and so on. But she is getting better. Every single fight, I think we're seeing something else from Ellie. And I think, yeah, this is a tough one,

but it'll bring out the best Ellie again, I think. she's seasoned but I mean she turned pro at 16 Macado so she's one of them really seasoned hardened fighters and I think one thing that we saw when she fought Serrano back in 2021 she took some big big shots

and we know the power that Serrano's got which as we've just said she carries through the weights she took some shots in that fight flush and watched it back the other week I don't think she'll be going anywhere so this is going to and her only hasn't stopped anyone yet anyway she makes a joke of herself so I think I'm going to have

tough 10 rounds no matter what. She might make a joke of herself, but Shane will tell you that the power's there. Absolutely. So why is that then, Stey? Is it because it that last four or five pounds getting down the Superbantam? Is she losing the power in that passage, in that final transition?

It could well be, but also I think we've got to remember she's had ten fights, bunch. Do you know, we wouldn't even be talking about this. And seven and seven will have been really competitive. Exactly. And we don't have the depth in women's boxing for them to have five or six that they can just blast out in one round. You know, she's fighting for world titles, seven, eight fights, isn't you? She's 10th fighting. She's

defended the title that she picked up originally three times already. We don't have... You know, you're talking a high level already. You're not going to be knocking those people out necessarily. So I think it is going to be a tough 10 rounds no matter what. Yeah, I mean, that's got... She's not going anywhere, Macado. I wouldn't have thought, because she can really take a shot. That's got a tough 10 rounds written all over. What about Alicia Bum Garden against Jennifer Miranda? That's for all of the super featherweight belts, if I'm not mistaken. and it's all a bit confusing with the belts. One of two other belts have been thrown in,

Alicia Bumgardner. Not everybody's capotee, Alicia Bumgarner. She seems to rub people sometimes the wrong way. I quite like her. Yeah, it's a good thing, though, isn't it? That's what you want. You want people talking about it, and you don't want everybody just to pass everybody by

and them not even notice them. Like, you need characters like that. So, you know, she's being touted as the next big superstar that they're trying to push. And I think you've mentioned before, you've got the likes of Michaela Mayer, who's not as well known as Clarissa, but more popular.

Clarissa's really, really well known, but really Marmite for a lot of people. Absolute Marmert. Bum Gardner, I don't know where she fits in that yet. Somewhere in the middle of those three. Exactly. So it's going to be interesting where she goes and how she presents herself

because she could really lean into that, you know, being the baddie, being the villain, because that can sell. Or she might go the other way, I don't know. But ultimately it comes down to how well she performs, doesn't it? So I'm really looking forward to that. that one though because whether you like her as a person or not it isn't of interest once that bell goes she's a good fighter yeah but she has got vulnerabilities so that makes it exciting as well and what

about Savannah marshal out the ring for a couple of years just retaining one of her versions of the super middleweight title um fought an mma fight about this time last year interesting i was talking i went to see her the other week and she was talking about how difficult the transition is between the two now i i knew there was a little bit of transitioning but she's saying no no it's mumps and months. Mumps and mumps, she was quite, she's still wrestling. I know that. She's still wrestling once a week.

When I spoke to, do you know what? I think it was. I think it was last year when we were in Liverpool for Tasha Jonas and Michaela Mayer. I think it was back then. It was one of them anyway. It was early on and I said to how is it going? Are you really enjoying it? Which, you know, it wasn't, it was just a chat between old mates.

Obviously she went, I absolutely love it. It's told me that as well. So she genuinely has loved it. She's really, really enjoyed the experience. And I said, how are you finding that grappling and all that? because to boxer that's like you know any boxer it's quite alien and she said I'm absolutely loving it and she said

and I'm actually pretty good at it so I know she's beneficial and I think She says she's changed she says she's staying shape and she's got the strength now and her upper body that she didn't have before Do you know what I think that the physical bit the technical bit whatever Peter will have worked on with her because he'll make those adjustments that he needed

and he would have done whether she'd done MMA or not they're going to work on things aren't they but I think the biggest thing it's done for SAV is mentally because she was getting drained with the sport and we've got to remember she won the world championships. What if she's 17 and 18th birthday or something like...

2012, long time ago, isn't it? And she's had real ups and downs, like 2012 was a massive high, then it wasn't, when she lost. I thought we'd lost her, when she lost the Olympics, without breaking swear, of all that pressure on that, it did make a... I mean, she was gone. In my opinion, I thought we'd never hear from Savannah Marshall again.

She's had the massive ups and downs, and of course, she was part of a massive milestone moving the needle forward for women's boxing with that headline with Clarissa. Yeah, of course. You know, so She's really lived the ups and downs and I think she needed something else for a bit So actually mentally I think this has done her a world of good

And I think we're going to see You know, the best Savannah Marshall Will she have to be the best Savannah Marshall To beat Green? I mean Green's a good talker She looks flashy She had that Watpool didn't she Melinda Watpool last time

And she had to go looking for her And you could hear him in the corner actually say You know she's not going to have to go looking for Sav Yeah In fact I think she'll struggle to keep her off her Because Sav has unbelievable power I've said it before because I've spired with her even in a jab, like you feel every one of them.

We know she has that, and I think, you know, Green will feel that power pretty early on. I don't think she will have been it like that before. And I think if Sav puts it on her, I don't think she'll live with her personally. Because she likes, as we've seen in her fights, to control the distance, control the pace. She likes to, you know, sus-a-s-s-sac-going. And Sam's not going to allow that. And once she gets those long shots going and she's good at working on the inside for, like, a ranger-boxer as well with them longer arms of hers, She can do it all.

And I think, yeah, once she puts it on her, she'll make her uncomfortable, she won't want to be in there, I don't think. And when I went to see her and Chantelle at Peter Furies gym just outside of McElfield, you know, near Congleton. And I've been around Chantel a lot, amateur and pro. I've been around Sav a lot, amateur and pro. And I've interviewed the two of them coming in at a big fights. Obviously, Sav going into the fight with Clareseh at the O2

and Chantel going into the two fights with Katie Taylor. And they've been, you know, you can tell, when they're fired up close to a fight. I'm talking about 10 days before a fight, five days before a fight. This was two weeks ago, so I suppose it would have been three, three and a half four weeks before this fight.

And there was just something about them. They were, like, bright-eyed, and it might sound like a bit of a cliche, but they were ready. And there was, again, another sort of half-clature. There was a hunger back in them. Definitely. I tell what it seemed like, Stacey.

It seemed like they've accomplished an awful lot in the game. They've been part of this revolution, this big revolution over the last four or five years. No disrespect to you guys that were doing. in stuff six, seven, eight, nine years ago. It's the last three or four years, even though Katie's been a pro a long time, the last three or four or five years have really, have snowballed out. You know, this business isn't recognisable to the business.

After COVID. Absolutely. During COVID. The business you were in six years ago, may as well have been 50 years ago. It's 2019, different ballgame. And so Shantel and Sav have been massively part of it. And there was almost like a calm about them. Like, you know, they're both in decent fights.

You know, Shantel, I think, will win quite comfortably. Do you know what I think it comes from what they've been through? Bingo. What they've experienced? Absolutely distraught after that Katie Taylor loss, not just because of the loss. Yeah. She felt, and I won't go into it because we've discussed it privately,

and that's up to her, that's her story to tell, but she felt real unhappy with the way she was treated. I'll just leave it at that, by whomever. That's by the by. But it wasn't about just losing the fight. She felt she didn't get a respect that she was due. So there was a lot of things she was unhappy with that. Then fast forward to Sav, who said this openly,

so I don't mind saying it, she said it publicly, was really unhappy with being invited to the press conference for the Royal Alba Hall show only for a fight not to take place in it. So both of them have had those... Because she's been in camp since January and she was a bit annoyed, yeah. 100%. So both of them have had those experiences. Now they're on this massive platform

where they feel they deserve to be and they know this is a massive opportunity. So I think that that's a different type of fuel in your belly. And I know Shantel's thanked Queensbriff for giving her those couple of fights that she needed and what have you. But they know this is... They know this is a different platform. And I think they're both ready for it.

But I do think that fuel, that hunger that you're talking about in their eyes, comes from those experiences. And they're both looking for massive fights against women that have beaten them. You know, Chantelle still wants Katie. She still wants that final fight. You know, that's Chantel's thing and she can move around weight-wise. And Sav, you know... Once Clarissa.

I'd forgotten how much... Cloresa Drive. None of us want to see that in the octagon, do we really. No, do we? No, no, no, no disrespect. You know, other people who are seeing? To the octagoners? But boxing people don't want to see it in the octagon.

Are they called octagoners? I don't know. What'd you call it? What's the collective was for that moment? I mean, I used to call them the Lycra gang. Like 10 years ago when we were first around, I just called them the Lycra gang. People used to go crazy. We want to see that in a boxing ring buns.

We don't want to see it in PFL. So, you know, this takes us a step closer to it, surely. Do you know what I mean? It's in America. It's where she can call her out. If she puts in a good performance against Green, she can get on the mic, which she can do these days. And you know, seeing them two now is amazing,

because when we're used to be on the, like the Europeans and worlds together, I used to call Shan and Sav, the Asbo's, because they'd come to breakfast about 10 seconds, say about three words, and then be back in the room. We'd never see him again. So we always called them the antisocials. Well, that's the first word you've added, because there's no way they said three words.

Sav didn't say three words for 10 years, I don't tell you. Definitely not it. So Sean, Yeah. And so who does that live? Let's, yeah, Camaro, who we saw against Caroline Dubois. Yeah, that was a strange offer. We can't take too much than that.

Exactly. So I think she'll struggle to keep Shannon at Bay, though. I think Chantelle will put in a performance. Then we're left with... And she's dead happy, by the way, with Stephen Smith, isn't she? Seems to be going well. He's not even to work. Yeah, seems to be working for it.

And she's bounced around different trainers, aren't she? So hopefully this is the right fit for her now. And it really... I mean, I was talking to her and I was talking to Swiftie Smith, Stevie, who I've known for a long time and he's a top kid, and I think he's going to develop into a good trainer, and I tell you why I know that. When he's around his brothers, Callum,

Liam, and obviously Paul, they've been in some battles in some different places. Oh, amateur and men. The great guys as well. Paul was a Commonwealth Games finalist in, like, whatever was, 2002 in Manchester and lost to the Frenchman, the French

Canadian, whose names momentarily escaped me, doesn't matter, who fought Pascal, lost to Pascal. It was an incredible fight. It was brilliant. And then he has all those other fights, as does Liam and as Callum is still. But they defer to Swifty.

They all deferred to Swifty. He's the coach. He's the box in brain. So I like that. So I like that. I like that a lot about the Chantelle move. I think it works. I tell the fight I really do like.

I'm liking this Bantamweight fight. I'm liking, you know, we just talked about earlier on, Metcalfe and Johnson. I like it. I like it a lot. You know, it's one of those fights. This could steal the show.

It could. And like, say, they're back stories, particularly Metcalfe like I mentioned before just boxing up at these bars and people are chucking $10, $5 in as you're fighting literally that is a scrap like say Going back to the old boxing days You've been there'd medical was a ringside

I doubt it Plasters baby isn't it wasn't a doctor in the house Was there? Bit of tea oil or something or an old remedy T T T-ch oil My mum put that on everything I feel like cup being off your bagged tea trail on it Yeah I bet they had a wet sponge or something

But that was about it But that is a proper rocky stuff story to then go from there to actually being at Madison Square Garden fighting, like down the road from some of, you know, these, well, not down the road, because it's a big country in it, but back in Dallas, wherever she was, fighting in them bars. That's a phenomenal story, isn't it? And there's a lot of interesting, I mean,

a lot of these fighters have fought each other at different times, haven't they? There's loads of movement available. Yeah, and, you know, it's interesting from a fighter's perspective, which other people won't notice or pick up on, but when you're going to all these press conferences and these things where they're all together, there is that bit of, do you know what I mean,

needle that you've had that past history, it adds elements to it. I often don't look at the press conference itself. I'll look at the way they go up and down on the table. And when someone comes up, there's a row of six women one side of Jake paw in the middle, and there's six women in the other side.

And I like to see how the women that walk up, how they deal with the women, the people who are sitting there, whether they touched them on the shoulder, whether they nod, whether they give them a hug, whether they completely blanked them. And it can be, of course, weights. Yeah.

So I'll take more from that stuff that's silent. You're absolutely right. 100%. That degree attention. 100%. And you can feel it. So this is an interesting show from that point of view, because a lot of these have faced each other at different weights,

in some cases, others not. So that's an interesting element. So what we should do is we should do this part of the show, which we don't do, where we do the accumulator. Imagine we could do an accumulator and the winner, the person that comes closest to it wins, I don't know, a sausage roll somewhere. So Stace, I'm going to ask you to go from top to bottom, bottom to top, any way you like, pick me a five or six winners from the fights that we've been talking about. Before you do yours, this is the way I do mine, and this is my provisor. This is my giant asterisk.

I can change my opinion when I see someone walk out. Because if I pick Katie Taylor to beat Serrano and K. Katie comes to the edge of the arena and she runs to the ring, doesn't look up. I'll notice something wrong. Because when she beats Iran her first time, she came out. Save it every second. It took her about four minutes to get to the ring. That's when I know her head's right.

So I could literally, if we were sitting ringside on Friday night, I could turn to you, drag your head set off and say, oh, Bets are off, something wrong with Katie. And sometimes when people are really pale. Because all the adrenaline's light flood the system and you go, oh, they don't look right. You get a word of, also you see them in the week. I mean, I saw Raven Chapman, no disrespect. So I saw her fall apart the two or three days before the Sky Nicholson fight.

She was brilliant on Monday. On Tuesday, she was good. Wednesday she was okay. Thursday, the event had got to her. So when I'm asking you, who'd you sort of half fancy, we're talking about ideal world a few days out. So I'm not going to hold you accountable for this. But what's your gut feeling?

Well, Shantel. I think we'll... I think she'll overwhelm Kamara. And she'll want to overwhelm Kamara. She'll want to do a job. And I think she's got that real fire in her belly now because she knows, you know, she's on the same show as that major adversary who she wants.

So, you know, she's got to perform. She knows she has and I think she will do. And she hasn't been in a fight like this since the second Katie Taylor. Which is a long time ago now. November 2023. It's going to feel like a very long time to her. So she'll be more than ready for this. Sav, I think she'll be, I think she could even stop Shadayshadha Green, potentially.

That's a statement. That's a statement. And I know she's been out of the ring two years. Yeah, yeah. But she hasn't been, she hasn't been not fighting. I've been doing a different type of fighting, of course. But yeah, I think she'll make her really uncomfortable if she puts it on her and keeps the pressure on her, which she's capable of doing. Great at cutting the ring off when she needs to.

She's going to make it feel really small for Green. She won't get to dictate the pace. So, yeah, I think I go with Sav. for that. Bumgardner with Miranda I don't know you've got a fancy

Bumgardner I mean she's defending her titles as well she comes here as the champion so that one will have to see throughout the week but I don't see any reason

why you would go against it at the minute unless something changes now we come to the harder ones I'll see what you're done stays don't worry Elie Scotty and Macardo is a tough one

and he knows it's a tough one yeah oh absolutely and obviously there's the element of the things that could happen on the night that we don't anticipate that one big shot are caught there's all sorts of things that can happen you just wake up and you don't feel right I think Ellie handled the weak well I think Ellie's gonna handle this week well you know what I'm always had that that great mentality where she's she's never had an inflated ego but she's humble and she takes it all in

and she's excited by it she's a proper boxing fan and she's really knowledgeable about boxing. So she's, yeah, I think she sits in the right place for it. And her faith is really important, so Ellie, that keeps her grounded. And I think the great thing is, is that the massive highs and lows of boxing, she comes back to her faith. That's her middle grounder home, if you like. It's a grounding, without doubt.

Yeah. But I think obviously what really helps her, she's got a brilliant tactician. She's got real trust that she's built with Shane, adding from day one of her pro career. So that's going to make a big difference in fights like this. That can be your 1%. So, yeah, I think Ellie, as I say, she's got better every fight. So I'm not judging this off the last, Ellie. I'm judging this off the better Ellie.

We're going to see this time out. And I think she'll bring the best out of her. So Johnson and Metcalfe? This one, I think, is a really tough one to call. And it could be completely one-sided yet. I think it's difficult. It's been in such different journeys. This is the one I'm watching the two of them as the week progress.

I want to see what they're like tomorrow. I want to see what they're like on Wednesday. You know what we like to do sometimes. He's going, well, they box them and they look like that. Like with Sav, they've both boxed Franchon Cruz Dersern. So you can say, well, they did this, they did that, whatever. There's a bit of comparison. Difficult with these two, such different routes that they've come through and all that.

So, Cheneika, maybe you could give the nod for having a bit more experience, perhaps. So now we're up to the big one? Round 21. Or is it round 21? I think, I don't know, unless, Serrano does something different and it doesn't need to be drastically different. It doesn't need to be drastically different

because they were so close. They were razor close. But I do think the onus is on her more to do something different which I think is fair to say given that Katie, whether people agree with it not, has been given the nod.

And I think Serrano does land those big shots and statistically landed more, 107 more or whatever they were touting last time. And she lands the big shots. But what Katie does really well is she'll land three or four in between, and then bum, she's gone. Bab, bab, bam, those little raids. Those little rocky moments.

Yeah, she comes in, bu, bum, and she's out. And her hand speed and her accuracy and precision hasn't waned, has it? Even though she's getting older and advanced, you know, that hand speed still is undoing Serrano at times, where, you know, even though she's come up from lighter, she really leans in with the shots, but she might throw a couple and then Katie, bam, bam, and then she's gone again. So unless Serrano can change that rhythm and that pattern,

then I don't see a different outcome. But if Serrano does, and she's found a way to crack that code or whatever way you want to say it, then yeah, we could see a win. But either way, I'm just absolutely delighted that we've got a mega women's trilogy. Because men's boxing, we've loved them, haven't we, over the years? And they've been some of the best. Over a 60-year period.

We know a three or four that we love. We haven't had these, and these are top quality. Amazing, blistering pace, dead exciting. We're going to have a trilogy. That's something it's been done. It will have been done then, you know, so it opens the door for more. And just to say that both myself and Stacey could change our minds 100% by the time that first bell sounds, that's the way the business works.

I've got to tell you, Stace, I feel like I've not gone four rounds, not gone six rounds, not gone eight rounds, not gone ten to us. I feel like I've gone 15-3s of you here this month. morning and that's the way it should be. Stacey Copeland, if you want an insight, if you want the absolute facts, you want the absolute figures and if you want off-mike, some of the rumours, she's your person. So that's Monday here in New York finished. A busy day, but the rest of the week, well, I'd like to tell you exactly what we're going to do, but I can't because there is a genuinely relentless week of action. In fact, we've just found out in the

last hour or so that there will be some big fight announcements, involving British boxers for fights later this year in November, October, maybe even August taking place in Saudi Arabia. New York must be the centre of the boxing world this week. Friday night fights, massive. Saturday night fights, massive. Announcements all week. People in and out. The list of potential boxers that are going to attend at some point this week

and that we will try and get on our pods is quite ridiculous. I paid that guy in that fire wagon to put that bleeper just as I was coming to the end of the piece that's the way it works it's going to be a special week I'm Steve Bunce and this is without now 5 live boxing

from the Big Apple Boxing's capital city this week From my very first game I knew that I wanted to be a goalkeeper the buzz and the adrenaline that I got from it The dream was to always represent my country Mary Earbs Desperate to impress

I remember saying, I know I've got what it takes. You have to be obsessed. Mary arms with a super save. You just look at some of the saves that she makes. Not everyone can do that. I really had no idea really how far I would go. It felt like my world was ending. That was the moment.

I was in pieces on the kitchen floor. You have to hit rock bottom to understand what you really want. Mary would put herself in front of anything and feel like she could stop it. I've done something that I'd always dreamed of doing, that I never knew if I'd get the opportunity. need to do. Mary Earbs, Queen of Stops. Watch on BBC Eye Player.