Amanda Serrano

Amanda Serrano (born October 9, 1988) is a Puerto Rican professional boxer and mixed martial artist. As a boxer, she is the unified featherweight world champion, having held the WBO title since 2019, IBO title since 2021 and the WBA title since 2023. She held the IBF title between 2022 and 2024. She is the only female, and Puerto Rican, to win world titles in more than four weight classes, and holds the Guinness World Record for the most boxing world championships won in different weight-classes by a female, having held 9 major world titles across seven different weight classes.

Serrano has been recognized with the Female Boxer of the Year Award twice (2016 and 2018) by the WBO, an entity that also granted her the first "Super World Championship" awarded to a woman. As of March 2021, she is ranked as the world's best active female featherweight by The Ring and BoxRec, and the third best active female, pound for pound, by ESPN and third by The Ring.

Serrano was born in the municipality of Carolina, where her sister Cindy was also born. Her grandparents were born in the municipality of Carolina. When she was young, the family moved to New York and joined the large Puerto Rican diaspora there (colloquially known as Nuyoricans). Surrounded by this community, she grew up in an oasis of Puerto Rican culture in which traditional food and salsa music were predominant. Her upbringing is reflected in the manner in which she speaks Spanish, in a dialect with a distinct accent often attributed to that population (Spanglish) The family lived in Brooklyn, where she continued to live well into adulthood. During her youth she was an active child, with a distinct passion for swimming. After her older sister Cindy began boxing training intending to lose weight by attending the gym of her husband Jordan Maldonado, the 12-year old Serrano accompanied her there. She continued frequenting the facility and eventually got her first job there.

Initially Serrano was not as interested in the sport, not even attending a family event to watch the Oscar De La Hoya vs. Félix Trinidad fight, but she was an avid follower of Cindy's career and developed a passion for it as she grew older. When she graduated from Bushwick High School (located in Bushwick, Brooklyn and closed in 2006) at the age of 17, she decided to begin training as a method to buy things and bond with her sister Cindy. Her father supported her decision, but her mother was hesitant until she began earning success and saw it as a way for the elder sister to retire after having her second child. Cindy, knowing that she had already been frustrated during a previous sparring session against a boy, intended to dissuade her by stepping into the ring but the younger sister proved that she could defend herself competently. Admittedly shy, Serrano choose to continue in Maldonado's small gym in Queens with him as trainer, so that the flow of people was controlled and she could focus on her training.

Serrano's amateur career was brief and concluded with a record of only 9–1, but she won the Staten Island amateur championship in 2008. From there she competed in the featherweight division of the New York Daily News Golden Gloves, where she defeated Glenyss Puentevella by referee stopping contest (RSC, the International Boxing Association's equivalent of a technical knockout) in the semifinal and decisioned USA Boxing's national champion Jody-Ann Weller in the final. Serrano is managed and trained by noted female American professional boxing trainer Jordan Maldonado of New York City. Serrano is Boxing 360's first world champion.

On June 11, 2011, Serrano defeated Jennifer Scott to capture the vacant WBC–NABF featherweight title. The bout was scheduled for 8 rounds, but the match was cut quick as Serrano knocked out Scott in 1:04 of round one.

Serrano was in line to face Fatuma Zarika for the vacant WBC super featherweight title, however, Zarika returned to her native Kenya due to an emergency, and was unable to return due to visa problems. On September 10, 2011, Serrano defeated WIBF Inter-Continental lightweight champion Kimberly Connor via second-round technical-knockout (TKO), for the vacant IBF super featherweight title.

Her next fight took place on April 27, 2012, at the Cloetta Center, in Linköping, Sweden against undefeated WBC champion Frida Wallberg. The World Boxing Council—against mandatory rules—allowed the bout to be contested with 10 ounce gloves instead of the mandatory 8 ounce for that division.

Serrano came up short losing a controversial unanimous decision to Wallberg. All three judges' scorecards were in favour of Wallberg with Gudjon Vilhelm scoring it 93–98, Venciclav Nikolov scoring it 93–97, and Franco Ciminale scoring it 94–96.

Her sixth-round knockout (KO) win over Maria Maderna for the WBO lightweight title was held at the Argentine Boxing Federation Stadium. Maderna was going for her fourth title defense, but Serrano dominated the fight with her speed and power.

She next faced the former WBC super featherweight champion Olivia Gerula at the BB King Blues Club & Grill in New York City, New York. Serrano stated in a pre-fight interview that she wanted the winner of Matthysse vs. Mrdjenovich, as she expressed her desire to unify all four featherweight title. Serrano defeated Olivia Gerula via technical-knockout (TKO) in the first round to capture the vacant WBO featherweight title. Serrano then successfully defended her featherweight title by TKO against Calixta Silgado in Brooklyn.

On October 18, 2016 Serrano defeated Alexandra Lazar in the fifth round to capture the vacant WBO junior featherweight title. Already a three division champion, she moved back down to the junior featherweight limit to tie Miguel Cotto's record and become only the second Puerto Rican boxer, male or female, to win world titles in four weight classes.

In 2017, fighting on the Shawn Porter vs. Andre Berto undercard, Serrano dominated Dahiana Santana en route to an eighth-round KO victory to win the vacant WBO bantamweight belt, which made her the first female fighter in boxing history to win world titles in five weight divisions.

On September 8, 2018, the Brooklyn-based hitter moved up an unprecedented five weight classes to defeat Yamilia Esther Reynoso via tenth round unanimous decision (UD), and captured the WBO light welterweight.

On January 18, 2019, Serrano defeated Eva Voraberger in the first round to capture the vacant WBO super flyweight title. In doing so she became only the second male or female to capture a major title in seven weight classes after Manny Pacquiao.

On September 13, 2019, Serrano defeated undefeated Heather Hardy (22–0), to capture the interim WBC and WBO featherweight title. The Brooklyn native dominated the 10 round bout with a score of 98–91, 98–91 98–92.

On February 4, 2021, Serrano was promoted to full WBC featherweight champion. The move came following a breakdown in talks regarding a targeted showdown with Edmonton’s Jelena Mrdjenovich.

On March 25, 2021, Serrano KO'd Daniela Bermudez with a body punch in round nine at Plaza del Quinto Centenario, San Juan, Puerto Rico. Serrano retained her WBC and WBO featherweight titles. Heading into the bout, Serrano and Bermudez were ranked inside The Ring's P4P top 10.

The first women's boxing match to headline Madison Square Garden, described as the 'biggest women's fight of all time', was held on April 30, 2022, between Katie Taylor and Serrano, with Taylor's undisputed lightweight titles on the line. Taylor defeated Serrano by split decision in what was named Fight of the Year by Sports Illustrated.

On February 5, 2023, it was announced that the rematch between Taylor and Serrano would take place on May 20 in Dublin, Ireland, for the undisputed lightweight championship of the world. However on February 28, Serrano withdrew due to an injury she had sustained during training camp and Taylor fought undisputed light-welterweight champion Chantelle Cameron instead.

Upon returning to the featherweight division, Serrano was set to fight undefeated IBF champion Sarah Mahfoud in a title unification bout. Serrano resumed normal service on Saturday, responding to her second professional defeat earlier this year by picking up another world title with a unanimous-decision win. In a mostly one-sided affair, Serrano earned convincing scores of 99–92, 97–93, 97–93 to unify the world featherweight titles at the AO Arena.

Serrano faced WBA champion Erika Cruz on February 4 at Hulu Theatre in Manhattan, in an undisputed showdown for all four major world titles in the featherweight division. On fight night, Serrano defeated Cruz via unanimous decision with the scores of 98–92, 98–92, 97–93. With the win she also became the first undisputed champion, male or female, of the four-belt era from Puerto Rico.

In the first defense of her undisputed featherweight titles, Serrano rematched Heather Hardy in the co-main event of the Jake Paul vs. Nate Diaz card on August 5, 2023. She won the fight by unanimous decision.

On October 27, 2023, Serrano defeated Danila Ramos via unanimous decision and retained her WBO, WBA and IBF world featherweight titles. It was the first women's world title fight held over twelve, three-minute rounds since 2007. The bout did not include the WBC belt as Mauricio Sulaiman, the WBC president, did not sanction the fight. He has cited studies and safety issues and the week prior to the fight told the BBC he was "praying that there will be no mishap or injury due to this deeply misguided and mistaken initiative."

On December 5, 2023, Serrano vacated the WBC title due to their refusal to sanction future female boxing matches at her desired twelve, three-minute rounds.

On December 21, 2023, it was announced that Serrano would be defending her WBA, WBO and IBF featherweight titles in twelve-round bout against Nina Meinke at El Coliseo de Puerto Rico in San Juan, Puerto Rico. However, the fight was cancelled at the last minute, after Serrano was declared "medically unfit" by the Puerto Rican Boxing Commission due to an eye injury.

Serrano faced Stevie Morgan at the Amalie Arena in Tampa, FL on the Jake Paul vs. Mike Perry event on July 20, 2024. Serrano defeated Stevie Morgan by technical knockout in the second round.

Serrano was originally scheduled to challenge Katie Taylor for her undisputed super lightweight title in a rescheduled rematch on July 20, 2024 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TX on the Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson card. However, due to a personal issue with Mike Tyson, the event was postponed and took place at the same arena on November 15, 2024. Taylor was awarded the victory in a controversial, unanimous decision.

Since early 2015, Serrano quietly worked towards debuting in mixed martial arts (MMA), beginning by incorporating kicks to her training. The idea emerged after she participated in the filming of Fight Valley along her sister, meeting Miesha Tate, Holly Holm, and Cristiane Justino and learned of the lifestyle that they could afford. This triggered the interest of people involved in MMA and she was approached and told about the economic potential of the move. When queried about the matter, Serrano expressed additional motivation due to the absence of a Puerto Rican female fighter in Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) at the moment.

With the consent of her boxing trainer Jordan Maldonado, Serrano continued her introduction to kickboxing, citing a general lack of money for women in boxing. By the summer of 2016, Serrano admitted that she had seriously considered retiring to take up MMA due to frustration with the state of the business, but that being able to appear in ShoBox changed that. Instead, she began working towards becoming the first person to hold both boxing and MMA titles at once, setting her debut for late 2017. Towards this goal, she continued training in kickboxing under former world champion Luis Ruiz and incorporated Brazilian jiujitsu working with brown belt Gabriel Marte at the Dojo NYC.

On July 31, 2015, Ronda Rousey's trainer, Edmond Tarverdyan, expressed the belief that his fighter "can win the boxing world title" while discussing a potential fight with Justino. After noting that "Ronda spars with boxing world champions that punch way harder than Cyborg", Tarverdyan claimed that she "has never lost a round in the gym. With boxing world champions". Within a week, Serrano responded by stating that "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".

She went on to criticize Rousey's stand-up fighting technique and challenging her to a boxing match, stating that "[from a] boxing point of view, she looked like a rookie amateur fighter, throwing very wide punches with no coordination. I heard that Cyborg is not willing to come down to the lightweight division to fight Ronda, but I can go up to 135, and we can settle a boxing match so I can prove her trainer wrong. I once went up to the lightweight division, and traveled to Argentina for a world title fight. At the end, the results was that I became the first ever Puerto Rican female boxer to captured a world title in two weight classes". Serrano's trainer noted that they "do not challenge other fighting styles." And that the reason for calling out Rousey was because they "represent boxing and [...] want to get some respect." by showing "Edmond Tarverdyan how wrong he is about boxing".

In December 2017, Serrano announced that she had signed with Combate Americas, a MMA promotion that mostly featured Latin American fighters in its roster. Her debut was scheduled for April 13, 2018, when she drew with Corina Herrera after winning the first two rounds but losing the third when forced to the floor. Afterwards, Serrano focused on grappling. This training was put to the test on August 18, 2018, when she won gold in her first career jiu jitsu tournament, a Grappling Industries event held at New York where she gathered four submissions. After winning a sixth world championship in boxing, it was announced that MMA would be Serrano's focus in the foreseeable future due to better salaries.

On October 13, 2018, Serrano won her second fight by submitting Eréndina Ordóñez with a standing rear naked choke in the first round. In February 2019, she participated in her second jiu jitsu competition, defeating Erin Finkeldey in her only bout. Serrano was scheduled to headline her third MMA event (tentatively another fight with Dahiana Santana, making her debut), this one in Puerto Rico, on January 25, 2020. However, the card was postponed due to a series of earthquakes and ultimately cancelled. Serrano considered the “last minute” cancellation frustrating after missing the holidays due to her training. Afterwards, Combate Americas entered into a hiatus caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, remaining inactive until 2021. During this timeframe, Serrano’s contract came to an end and she continued boxing.

In May 2021, iKON announced her participation in the main event of a card held at Sinaloa and aired through UFC Fight Pass. On June 11, 2021, Serrano defeated Mexican Valentina García by submission (standing guillotine) in a minute.

On August 2, 2023, it was announced that Serrano had signed with the Professional Fighters League (PFL).

At the same time that she made her involvement in MMA public, an interest in potentially joining WWE, noted in 2019, Serrano revealed that she had been training under Jonathan Figueroa (known by his ring name Amazing Red) to become a professional wrestler and that she would be performing for a promotion soon.

After becoming a full-time boxer, Serrano adopted a seclusive routine that required not purchasing a cell phone (or any other device that allowed text messages and the sort) to avoid distractions and avoiding getting involved with boyfriends. When asked about it, she insisted that there would be time for that in the future, after carving a legacy. Serrano has noted that one of the prime movers in her boxing career has been to pursue records in possession of foreign athletes and securing them for Puerto Rico (for example, wanting to win a title in a sixth division so that a local could have bragging rights to more divisions than Floyd Mayweather Jr. or wanting to complete concurrent crossovers between sports).

Her older sister, Cindy, is also a professional boxer. The pair became the first sisters to hold world titles from major sanctioning bodies at the same time after Cindy won the WBO featherweight title in 2016.