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(Photo: Giro d'Italia Women)
2. The first ever all-women's boxing card at Madison Square Garden 🥊
This Friday, Katie Taylor v. Amanda Serrano will face-off in an epic third match-up that headlines the first all-women's card at Madison Square Garden. 💥
74 million viewers
This will be the third showdown between the two boxers — and it comes after their fight back in November averaged 74 million viewers on Netflix and became the most watched women's sporting event ever.
At the time, the bout was an opening act for the heavily publicized Jake Paul v. Mike Tyson fight. But the headliner ended up being a snoozer, and Taylor v. Serrano was the undisputed match of the night 👑
Who will win this time?
So far it's been 2-0 for Taylor in the two times they've fought. New York-based Serrano 🇵🇷 (who is a world champion in *seven weight classes*) has to step up three weight classes to fight junior welterweight champ Taylor 🇮🇪
Last fight, Serrano was also bloodied from a bad cut above the eye in Round 4 and criticized Taylor for head-butting. And the crowd had strong feelings as the belt was awarded to Taylor following a unanimous judges' decision.
🥊 ALSO: Serrano was pushing to make this fight 12 rounds of three minutes (like most men's fights), but no agreement could be reached and they'll instead square off for 10 rounds of two minutes (the standard in women's fights).
📺 WATCH: The matches will air exclusively on Netflix on Friday — with undercards starting at 8 p.m. ET and the main event beginning at 11 p.m. ET
A TIMELINE OF WOMEN'S BOXING: The first women's boxing match is considered to have taken place in 1876, and both men's and women's boxing were introduced as display events at the 1904 Olympics but only men's boxing was accepted. It wasn't until 2012 that women's boxing made its debut at the Olympic Games.
3. WNBA Players Association rejects league's initial contract proposal
“As the league grows, it’s time for the CBA that reflects our true value. We are fighting for a fair share of business that we built."
Last year, the WNBA Players Association announced it would opt out of its current collective bargaining agreement (CBA) — giving the players and the league until Oct. 31 of this year to negotiate a new one. With a new $2.2 million media deal signed last year, and league revenue and team valuations skyrocketing, players want a piece of this expanding pie!
But, initial talks so far are not going well 💰
There are two major issues:
At the core of the issue is how much of the growing WNBA revenue (now at $200 milion) goes to players. Under the old agreement, players receive less than 10% of total league revenue and their compensation has not gone up as league revenue has gone up. By comparison NBA players get roughly 50% of what the NBA brings in 🤔
CONSIDER: No, the WNBA is not "unprofitable"
READ: "If Caitlin Clark's worth a 'billion' to the WNBA, why is she only paid a fraction of that?" |
