‘He Backed Out!’

A $1,000,000 bet between Eddie Hearn and Jake Paul was cancelled last minute after Hearn claimed it would be illegal for him to participate in.

Not only was Katie Taylor vs. Amanda Serrano the biggest women’s boxing bout in the history of the sport, it came with a big money bet between promoters Eddie Hearn and Jake Paul. The two had a million dollars riding on the results of the fight, with Paul committing to donate the mil he’d win off Hearn to his fighter Serrano if she won.

Unfortunately, it didn’t work out that way. Amanda Serrano came out aggressive in the early rounds and almost ran away with the fight in the fifth and sixth rounds. But Olympic gold medalist Katie Taylor regained her composure and fought a smart fight to win a split decision 97-93×2, with the dissenting judge seeing it 96-94 Serrano (watch the highlights here).

Good news for Jake Paul, though: Eddie Hearn pulled out of their bet a day before the fight.

“He backed out of the bet yesterday,” Paul said at the post-fight press conference. “Yeah, and he said that legally he couldn’t do it for some reason. And now we’re going to try and figure out some bet to help charity. But we’re going to figure that out behind the scenes and obviously … I lost the bet [laughs] and we’ll follow through.”

“Sorry Jake!” Serrano exclaimed.

“No, you’re literally amazing, Amanda Serrano,” he continued. “You inspire me. I admire you and regardless you put up a hell of a fight. Obviously we didn’t get the result we wanted but we’re standing behind you, Most Valuable Promotions always, we’re a family. And we’re going to go get the next one in Ireland.”

“Double or nothing on that one with Eddie?” a reporter asked.

“Yeah, why not?” Paul replied.

Taylor vs. Serrano sold out Madison Square Garden in what was the first women’s main event in the building ever. The crowd was electric, the fight was fantastic, and both women agreed immediately after the bout that a rematch needed to happen in Taylor’s home country of Ireland. Perhaps with three minute rounds as well.

Yes, similar to women’s MMA in the early days, women in boxing are still being forced to fight shorter rounds: two minutes instead of the standard three.

“I was sitting next to Eddie during the fight,” Paul said. “We were both scoring the fight together as the rounds went on. We both were sitting there saying ‘Hey, this needs to be three minute rounds next time.”

“It’s up to the team,” Amanda Serrano said. “If the money is great again, then we’ll do it.”

We’re sure it will be. While specifics haven’t come out yet, both promoters have come out and said the women will be making seven figure paydays for their fight on Saturday night.