Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano came face to face in Manhattan, as fight week officially kicked off in New York City on Tuesday.
And there could not have been a more high-profile location for the meeting of the world's best women’s boxers ahead of their historic clash at the iconic Madison Square Garden on Saturday night.
Soaring 1,454 feet above midtown Manhattan, Taylor and Serrano met for a ceremonial photoshoot atop one of the most famous and recognised landmarks in the world, the Empire State Building.
A fitting start to an important week for the sport, as the boxers faced-off on the famous 86th Floor Observatory, a 360-degree, open-air platform with views of New York and beyond – the Empire State Building will be illuminated with the colours of Ireland and Puerto Rico in honour of the two fighters on Saturday night.
Since 2011, the building has been fully powered by renewable wind electricity, and the winds of change are certainly blowing in New York this week, with Taylor putting her undisputed world lightweight title on the line, as women’s boxing headlines Madison Square Garden for the very first time in the venue's illustrious history.
And while the boxers have only arrived in the Big Apple, the fight, which is labelled "For History" has already been in full promo mode throughout the Manhattan midtown, with sprawling billboards putting the two fighters up in lights ahead of Saturday’s showdown.
Katie Taylor’s rise through the professional ranks, since ending her amateur career in 2016, has been a crusade of sorts, as the five-time world champion set her sights on the top titles in the lightweight division.
The Bray native secured the fourth and final piece of that particular jigsaw by 2019, defeating Delphine Persoon,
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