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DAZN Commentary Criticised For Being Biased Against Katie Taylor

DAZN Commentary Criticised For Being Biased Against Katie Taylor
Donny Mahoney
By Donny Mahoney
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Katie Taylor is STILL world champion after a fight for the ages against Amanda Serrano in the early hours of this morning in New York City. Taylor was pushed to the absolute limit by her Puerto Rican opponent but Taylor proved yet again that she is the greatest Irish boxer of all time.

Fans watching the fight on either side of the Atlantic were struck by a sense that DAZN's commentary did not fully appreciate Taylor's greatness during the fight. In fact many watching at home accused the boxing broadcaster of bias towards Amanda Serrano.

It was an all-American commentary crew on DAZN that featured commentary by Todd Grisham, a former WWE commentator, and co-commentary from boxer Jessica McCaskill, whom Taylor beat four years ago, and Sports Illustrated's Chris Mannix, who played the role of judge for the evening.

You can get a sense of the focus of the commentary in the post-fight 'Get In The Zone' segment. Katie Taylor has just defeated Serrano, but viewers are treated to a montage reel of Serrano punches and McCaskill notes how Taylor's nose was bloodied twice in the fight.

SEE ALSO: The Rock Leads Tributes As Boxing World In Awe Of 'Best Ever' Katie Taylor

SEE ALSO: Hearn Wants Katie Taylor Vs Amanda Serrano Rematch In Croke Park

Katie Taylor 'highlight' reel

A small segment in the final round also captures the flavour of the commentary:

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McCaskill: Katie's taking some big shots here

Grisham: But she's landing some too

And this is just from the official clips shared by DAZN. Anyone who heard McCaskill's interview with Second Captains this week wouldn't have been expecting a lovefest from the Chicago boxer for Katie, but Irish fans were still surprised at how one-sided the coverage was.

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It wasn't just Irish fans however. Legendary trainer Teddy Atlas called out DAZN's bias.

The contrast in styles between the fighters did perhaps give pundits a sense that Serrano's higher-impact punches were having a greater effect.

Fans were especially aggrieved with the scorecard of pundit Chris Mannix, who incredibly scored 5 of the first 6 rounds to Serrano. Meanwhile boxer Tony Bellew, who was a DAZN pundit but not doing fight commentary, gave the first three rounds to Taylor.

Mannix's final scorecard had the fight as a draw. The judges final scorecards were 96-93 Katie Taylor, 96-94 Serrano and 97-93 Katie Taylor.

However in the end Eddie Hearn's pre-fight prediction proved to be spot-on

“I’m actually going for a Katie Taylor late stoppage in this fight and I don’t think that’s going to be a common pick from people but I just feel like she’s got that eye of the tiger.

“People look at Katie sometimes and think, ‘softly spoken, oh she’s such a nice girl,’ and she is, but she’s a fierce competitor and she really wants to do a job on Amanda Serrano.

“It’s going to be a great fight.”

SEE ALSO: Irish Fans Drown Out Jake Paul After Calling Katie Taylor Fight 'Draw At Best'

Jake Paul after Taylor-Serrano

 

 

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