Conor McGregor and Jake Paul have traded jabs following Katie Taylor’s victory over Amanda Serrano at Madison Square Garden, despite not being the boxers in the ring.
Taylor narrowly outpointed Serrano in an enthralling battle which was the first women’s bout to headline New York’s famed venue.
However, Serrano’s promoter Paul has described the verdict as a “robbery” and called for a rematch in Taylor’s native Ireland.
👀 @jakepaul thought Amanda Serrano deserved the win
Do you agree? 🤔#TaylorSerrano pic.twitter.com/chmIOxJPO1— DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) May 1, 2022
The Youtuber-turned-boxer stepped into the ring for a post-fight interview where he described the fight as a “draw at best” – drawing boos from the crowd present.
Watching from home, MMA star McGregor weighed in by comparing the pink glasses sported by Paul to those worn by disgraced television and radio personality Jimmy Savile.
“Who the f**k is this jackass in the pink Jimmy Saville (sic) glasses?” he wrote on Twitter.
Paul fired back in a lengthy post, claiming he had "done more for fighters" than McGregor ever had.
“I’m the one who has done more for fighters than you ever have,” he said.
“The one who has won 5 fights in the past 2 years while you have lost 5.
“The one who isn’t owned by Dana White.
“The one who made the fight you just watched happen.
“The 1 who got your hero Katie Taylor paid.
“That’s who.”
McGregor responded to Paul’s tweet with a photo of Jimmy Savile wearing pink glasses.
Paul later spoke about the online spat during a post-fight press conference, saying McGregor was “not tall enough to ride a rollercoaster and I feel bad for him and he’s ducking me, so we’ll get that settled one day.”
In a video posted to social media after the event, Paul described the fight as a “bit of a robbery” and called for a rematch on Irish soil.
“Bit of a robbery. Amanda is already training for the rematch. Eddie Hearn let’s run it back in Ireland, no problem, but everyone wants to see that fight again and Amanda is going to win this time,” he said.
Taylor has said a rematch in Ireland would be “absolutely phenomenal”.
“If it was in Dublin, we could sell out Croke Park,” she said. “That would be unbelievable. We’ve seen something special here. Imagine fighting in front of 80 or 90,000 people at Croke Park. Absolutely, that can happen.”
Katie Taylor’s biggest fear ahead of this huge bout in New York…?
Appearing on the undercard of a Jake Paul “fight”. 😂
The champion in great spirits ahead of the Madison Square Garden world title clash. pic.twitter.com/vCBAww8GcL— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) April 29, 2022
Ahead of the bout against Serrano, the Bray woman had said she was “glad” of Paul’s involvement “to actually get this fight over the line” but jokingly questioned his own boxing credentials.
"I guess I first became aware of Jake Paul when he had his first ‘fight'… a couple of years ago," Taylor told reporters, using air quotes on the word fight.
"That's my idea of trash talking,” she added. “That's it over!”
