Michael Rothstein
Multiple Authors
Amanda Serrano achieved a profession milestone Friday night time whereas defending her WBO and WBA featherweight titles, simply not the record-breaker many thought it might be main into her battle in opposition to Lucrecia Manzur.
Serrano did not set a girls’s knockout mark, however in a 116-112, 116-112, 114-114 majority decision win over Manzur at Pechanga Resort Casino in Temecula, California, she picked up profession win No. 50, a benchmark that few girls’s fighters have reached. Serrano informed ESPN on Thursday that it is one thing she by no means thought she would accomplish when she turned professional.
Many handled Friday night time as a coronation and believed it was a fait accompli that Serrano would break Christy Martin’s knockout file in opposition to Manzur. Instead, Serrano (50-4-1, 32 KOs) needed to dangle on in opposition to a fighter 10 years youthful than her. Manzur (14-5, 7 KOs) landed constant overhand left hooks all through the battle, showing to stun the 37-year-old champion in a number of rounds and presenting a much bigger problem than many might have anticipated.
“A tough, young fighter. She was hungry,” Serrano stated within the ring afterward. “And I knew that coming into training.”
According to the printed, Serrano landed 41% (142 of 346) of her energy punches in contrast with Manzur’s 42% (118 of 283). Manzur was constantly the aggressor by means of the primary eight rounds of the battle and appeared to have the clear benefit.
Serrano, who has all the time been keen to take photographs to land extra highly effective ones, settled into her rhythm towards the tip of the battle however nonetheless was in a difficult bout. She stated after the battle that she harm her hand however did not specify the damage.
In a post on X late Friday, Serrano acknowledged that the bout was “rough.” She stated after the win that she plans to battle yet one more time, however in her X put up, Serrano stated she has a decision to make after talking together with her group.
“The mind tells you one thing but the body does another,” she wrote. “You can fight anyone you want and squeeze out a victory but Father Time isn’t allowing [too] much of that. Thank you so much to All my fans you guys are amazing. You’re the reason why I dug in deep tonight.”
Despite the tight scores by the judges, it nonetheless resulted in a victory milestone for Serrano, who began skilled boxing in 2009 after a short newbie profession.
“When I turned pro, never thought I would become a world champion. Never a multiple world champion, multiple division world champion and now going for my 50th win,” Serrano informed ESPN on Thursday. “It’s a milestone. A lot of people, a lot of girls, guys, don’t even make it to that. And it’s something special thinking about it now.”
Before successful world titles in seven divisions and collaborating in a trilogy in opposition to Katie Taylor that elevated trendy girls’s boxing, Serrano fought Ela Nunez in 2009. Serrano had a short newbie profession and 4 skilled fights main as much as that night time in Atlantic City, New Jersey, the place she and Nunez represented the one girls’s battle on the cardboard.
Of all her early fights, it was this one — a four-round break up draw in opposition to a two-time secondary world title challenger — that stood out to her greater than 17 years later.
“I wasn’t supposed to be in there with Ela Nunez,” Serrano stated. “That’s how I got the name ‘The Real Deal.’ And that was like a little turning point for me realizing I have potential. I can do this.”
In 2014, Serrano traveled to South America for the one time in her profession, beating Maria Elena Maderna for the WBO light-weight title and turning into a two-weight champion. It was a battle, Serrano stated, that originally was purported to go to her sister Cindy as a title challenger. They made a deal for Amanda to take the battle as an alternative.
Serrano knocked out Maderna within the sixth spherical, and it was a part of a streak of 9 straight stoppages. It gave her the concept to go after historical past. She stated she thought of the accomplishments of her Puerto Rican idols, equivalent to three-division champions Felix Trinidad and Hector Camacho and four-division titlist Miguel Cotto, and determined to go after belts in as many weight lessons as doable.
“That’s why we started the division quest,” she stated.
Serrano knocked out Eva Voraberger for the WBO junior bantamweight title in 2019 to develop into the primary lady and Puerto Rican to win titles in seven divisions.
Realizing no Puerto Rican fighter had develop into an undisputed champion within the four-belt period, she went after that subsequent, defeating Sarah Mahfoud in 2022 to develop into the undisputed featherweight champion in her first battle after promoting out Madison Square Garden for Taylor-Serrano I.
Serrano later challenged Taylor to attempt to go undisputed in a second division, light-weight, in a 2024 rematch however misplaced a detailed battle.
The accomplishments left her with solely legacy targets to pursue: 50 wins and the all-time girls’s knockout file. Soon after Serrano signed with MVP in 2021, she informed ESPN that she knew the tip of her profession was nearer than the start. She reiterated it a number of occasions, however the consideration she obtained saved rising. Her star energy rose. The trilogy with Taylor grew to become an iconic marker in girls’s boxing, twice filling Madison Square Garden.
Serrano stated in April that this might in all probability be her ultimate 12 months as a fighter. She tied Martin’s file in May. She has lengthy stated that, earlier than her profession ends, she needs to battle once more in Puerto Rico.
“We still got that 33rd knockout [to try for]. I’ve got one more fight,” Serrano stated after the battle. “If I don’t get it, I’m glad that I tied with Christy Martin.”