Boxing

Amanda Serrano

Serrano

Serrano has broken more records than any other female in the history of the sport and is a seven-division world champion who has won nine major world titles.

Amanda Serrano is currently one of the leading women's boxers in the entire world and is currently the undisputed world featherweight chanmpion.

She became the first Puerto Rican fighter to become a four-division world champion in 2013 and is a Guinness World Record holder having won nine major world titles in seven weight classes.

Serrano has also fought in the MMA world, venturing into Combate Americas.

Taylor vs Serrano

The 2022 fight was branded the biggest in the history of women's boxing, and it justified the billing as the momentum swung both ways, with Katie Taylor soaking up a brutal onslaught from her opponent in the middle rounds.

The Irish fighter was rocked on multiple occasions and seemed on the verge of being stopped but she showed terrific composure thereafter and used every ounce of her experience to finish strongly.
Two judges scored the fight in her favour 97-93 and 96-93, with a third plumping for Serrano 96-94, handing Taylor a split-decision win as she retained her status as undisputed lightweight champion.

The greatest hits: Wallberg, Connor and Hardy

Serrano has enjoyed a fine career in the pro game, picking up more world titles than any other female fighter.

As well as world titles, "The Real Deal" is a former Staten Island amateur champion who has also won the New York City Golden Gloves and Empire State amateur champion.

Turning over in 2009, has been dominant across numerous weight classes. In just her thirteenth fight she became the inaugural IBF female junior lightweight champion, by beating Kimberly Connor.

The only blotch on her record came against Swede Frida Wallberg. Serrano lost via unanimous decision in their fight for the WBC junior lightweight title.

Serrano

The Puerto Rican has not lost a fight since though, ruling in each weight class she tried her hand at.

She has now had 40 fights with a record of 38-1-1, with 28 of her victories coming via TKO or KO. Serrano has held titles in every weight class from junior bantamweight to junior welterweight.

Her most recent world title win came against Heather Hardy, which was exclusively watched on DAZN USA. Despite many believing it would be a close contest, Serrano dominated the former world champion and won via unanimous decision.

She is also the recipient of the WBO's Female Boxer of the Year award twice, winning it in 2016 and 2018. The WBO gave her the honour of being the very first female 'Super World Championship' titleholder.

Serrano has also done wonders in the rise of women's boxing in her native Puerto Rico.

Amanda Serrano and Ronda Rousey rivalry

It looked like Serrano could have been set for a huge crossover fight with UFC legend Ronda Rousey.

The rumours started circulating in July 2015 when Rousey's trainer Edmond Tarverdyan insisted his fighter "can win the boxing world title" should she choose to enter the sport.

He went on to claim Ronda had never lost a round against a boxer and could become the pioneer for women's boxing.

Serrano responded angrily to this outburst, saying: "Rousey's trainer does not have any knowledge about the sport of boxing. She is a very good fighter in the Octagon, and I really congratulate her for everything she has done.

"Her opponents cannot box and it's easy to look great, but when facing a high-quality boxer with punching power as myself, believe me, things are gonna change. In a boxing ring, the canvas will be your comfort zone."

The Puerto Rican went on to criticize Rousey's stand-up fighting skills while defending her own accolades.

Serrano's trainer, Jordan Maldonado, later said that she chose to confront Rousey to stand up for the sport of boxing, and to earn the sport she loves some respect from MMA fighters like Rousey.

A fight between the pair has yet to come to fruition.

Combate Americas

In December 2017, Serrano announced that she had signed to fight for Combate Americas. This is a leading MMA promotion that concentrates purely on the Hispanic market with its fighters and audience.

She made her debut in April 2018, in a bout that ended in a draw against Corina Herrera. Serrano won the opening two rounds, only to lose the last one having been dropped to the ground by Herrera.

In the aftermath of the result, Serrano recognised that she needed to focus more on grappling in training. She has taken part in various Jiu-jitsu tournaments to a very successful degree.

In recent years she has won several Jiu-jitsu bouts whilst trying to hone her craft. In the meantime, she took part in her second MMA fight. She faced Erendina Ordonez in October 2018 and won via submission in the second round.

Personal life

Serrano was born in the municipality of Carolina, but her family moved to New York to live in a huge Puerto Rican area, more commonly known as Nuyoricans.

Her sister, Cindy, is also a very successful boxer. Cindy is the older of the two sisters and is married to Maldonano, who trains Amanda.

She was not interested in sport to begin with, but her interest grew once Cindy became more involved with the sport.

The sisters broke boxing records as they became the first sisters to hold major world titles at the same time, as Cindy won the WBO featherweight title in 2016.

Amanda is the more successful boxer of the two sisters. But as well as winning the WBO title, she has also challenged unsuccessfully three more times for world titles.

Interestingly, Cindy's last fight was against Amanda's foe Taylor.

"The Bray Bomber" fought Cindy in October 2018, winning via unanimous decision after ten rounds of championship boxing. "Checkmate" Cindy has not fought since leaving her professional record at 27-6-3.

Taylor's win over Amanda's sister certainly adds a lot more fuel to the fire for a potential battle between the duo.

Amanda Serrano News