NEW YORK -- As they head for a third bout, Amanda Serrano and Katie Taylor have found something to fight about.
A respectful rivalry turned testy Wednesday over Serrano's contention that the undisputed 140-pound champion backed out of an agreement to stage their July 11 match in 12 three-minute rounds, the same as a men's championship match.
Both of Taylor's narrow victories over Serrano have come in fights featuring 10 rounds that were two minutes long, the standard for women's boxing. But Serrano has fought other recent bouts in the longer format and said Taylor agreed that she would do it for their return to Madison Square Garden, site of their first bout.
"First of all, we shook on it," Serrano said during their opening news conference, repeating what she said in the press release announcing the fight. "She didn't agree when we went to sign the contract."
Taylor first brought up the three-minute rounds while still in the ring after her victory in the second fight last November on the undercard of Jake Paul's victory over Mike Tyson, saying she believed they had agreed to it already for the next matchup.
The 2012 Olympic gold medalist from Ireland said Wednesday she was open to the idea, but wasn't going to let anything be the challenger's choice.
"Regardless, I think as a matter of principle that the challenger shouldn't be dictating the terms of the fight," Taylor said. "I am 2-0 here and I'm in the driver's seat here and that's only right. At the end of the day Amanda needs this fight a lot more than I do. I have a long history of big fights against big names and a line of people queuing up to fight me for the payday."
Serrano then interrupted to repeat that Taylor shook on the agreement, saying: "And if you say that you call the shots, then you could have called the shots that day. You shouldn't have shook my hand.
"You know that if you have an extra minute that it won't go your way," Serrano said.
Serrano had Taylor in trouble in the fifth round of their first fight and stung her right off the bat in the rematch. Perhaps she could have finished the job and not left it to the judges with an extra minute to continue the assault.
The seven-division champion is such a believer in three-minute rounds that she vacated the WBC version of her featherweight titles because the organization wouldn't allow its women's belt to be contested in them. Taylor would have had to do the same for this bout.
"So if that's her choice, then that's her choice," Serrano said. "But I believe heartily women should get the recognition and the equality that men get."
But it's unclear who even ultimately made the decision. Tomas Rohan, from Taylor's team, said it was Netflix, which streamed the Tyson-Paul card and will stream this one, that said there was no reason to change from the two-minute format and the action it provided. But Paul, who co-heads the Most Valuable Promotions that represents Serrano, said Netflix wanted three-minute rounds and pointed at Taylor as the reason stopping it.
Taylor doesn't believe that an extra minute of fighting would mean an extra minute of action.
"I think the point of the three-minute rounds was to prove to people that you get more knockouts. How many knockouts did you get in your 12 three-minute rounds. Zero," she said toward Serrano. "They end up being boring fights and it wasn't a good advertisement for 12 three-minute round fights for women. It was boring, so I don't think Netflix is too disappointed that this fight will be will be a 10 two-minute round fight."