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Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
Sport
Vincent Whelan

Kellie Harrington hails 'absolutely incredible' Katie Taylor following win over Amanda Serrano

Kellie Harrington was among the countless number of fans who were in awe at how Katie Taylor dug out a victory against Amanda Serrano.

The Bray hero had to come through a war to earn a split decision nod from the judges at a sold-out MSG.

Half of Ireland seemed to stay up for the bout and it meant social media was buzzing with pride and delight in the wee hours of Sunday morning when she got her hand raised.

Among those to pay tribute was another Olympic champion in Kellie Harrington.

She tweeted: "Incredible, absolutely incredible. What a warrior KT."

The pair go way back from their days together with Team Ireland (©INPHO/Donall Farmer)

A common sentiment expressed over the past few hours is that if she wasn't already, the 35-year-old must surely now be Ireland's greatest ever sportsperson having built up such an extensive legacy in the pro game to go with her dominance in the amateur ranks.

Serrano was the one throwing more punches as the action commenced, but Taylor was much more accurate with her shots and had success in the opening round countering the challenger.

But one punch that did land on the lightweight champion drew blood from her nose.

Taylor continued to move brilliantly in the second round, ducking and diving from a lot of Serrano's punches and she landed a beautiful right on the Puerto Rican.

The referee had to split the pair midway through the third before Serrano got much closer to the champion.

Taylor landed some nice combinations in the fourth but things began to go badly wrong for her in the fifth when Serrano got her into the corner.

Katie's nose began to bleed badly at this stage and Serrano began to really inflict damage with a mix of body shots and punches to the head as Taylor's guard went completely and she began to get hit with everything Serrano threw.

It was a similar story for much of the sixth but Taylor did have some success later in the round as she began to land some combinations.

Taylor began to move better in the eighth and got the cleaner shots off, but Serrano threw more.

The Irish crowd got behind their hero once again as 'Ole, Ole, Ole' chants rang out before shouts of 'Katie Katie Katie'.

She had more success again in the ninth.

Serrano continued to press in the tenth but Taylor landed some beautiful shots and all the momentum was with her as the clock ticked down.

Both of them continued to throw everything they could in the final seconds and hugged as the final bell sounded.

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