Unified lightweight champion Katie Taylor is crossing her fingers that a showdown with Amanda Serrano will finally come off in 2022.

Both female stars have fights lined up for next month - with the hope being, by both sides, that both will win and then collide in the coming year.

Taylor will face mandatory lightweight challenger Firuza Sharipova in Liverpool next month, while Serrano takes on former Taylor foe Miriam Gutierrez. 

The Olympic gold medal winner believes the fight has to come off next year or it will be a big blow for the sport.

"I think if it doesn't happen next year, it will be very disappointing for the sport as a whole," Taylor said to RTE.

"I will be very surprised if it didn’t happen next year, with all the talk that’s happened over the past few months. Even the fact that she’s fighting one of my past opponents in her next fight herself, is going to be a perfect build-up to our fight. It’s definitely looking very, very likely but we both have to get past our opponents in the next few weeks. Once we do that we can talk seriously about us. Right now it’s looking likely."

Taylor cautions that she is not overlooking her upcoming opponent Sharipova, 

"I can never, ever get complacent," Taylor said. "I'm so aware of that. I never ever find it tough to focus on these fights, even with so much noise around other fights, my focus is completely on the fight ahead and once this one is over we can start speaking about big fights."