Amanda Serrano (born October 9, 1988) is a Puerto Rican

professional boxer Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional bouts are supervised by a regulatory autho ...

mixed martial artist Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, incorpo ...

and

professional wrestler Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring o ...

. As a boxer, she is the unified

featherweight Featherweight is a weight class in the combat sports of boxing, kickboxing, mixed martial arts, and Greco-Roman wrestling. Boxing Professional boxing History A featherweight boxer weighs in at a limit of . In the early days of the division, t ...

world champion, having held the WBO title since 2019 and the WBC and IBO titles since 2021. 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 won titles at super flyweight,

bantamweight Bantamweight is a weight class in combat sports. For boxing, the range is above and up to . In kickboxing, a bantamweight fighter generally weighs between . In MMA, bantamweight is . The name for the class is derived from bantam chickens. B ...

, super bantamweight,

, super featherweight,

lightweight Lightweight is a weight class in combat sports and rowing. Boxing Professional boxing The lightweight division is over 130 pounds (59 kilograms) and up to 135 pounds (61.2 kilograms) weight class in the sport of boxing. Notable lightweight ...

and light welterweight. 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. 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 Pound for pound is a ranking used in combat sports, such as boxing, wrestling, or mixed martial arts, of who the better fighters are irrespective of their weight, i.e. adjusted to compensate for weight class. As these fighters do not compete direc ...

, by

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and third by ''The Ring''.

Early life and introduction to boxing

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

Nuyorican Nuyorican is a portmanteau of the terms "New York" and "Puerto Rican" and refers to the members or culture of the Puerto Ricans located in or around New York City, or of their descendants (especially those raised or currently living in the N ...

s). 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 Spanglish (a portmanteau of the words "Spanish" and "English") is any language variety (such as a contact dialect, hybrid language, pidgin, or creole language) that results from conversationally combining Spanish and English. The term is mos ...

) 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 sister 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. 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 The Golden Gloves is the name given to annual competitions for amateur boxing in the United States, where they are awarded a belt and a ring. And the title of nations champion is awarded. The Golden Gloves is a term used to refer to the Nation ...

, where she defeated Glenyss Puentevella by referee stopping contest (RSC, the International Boxing Association's equivalent of a

technical knockout A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, muay thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving strikin ...

) in the semifinal and decisioned USA Boxing's national champion Jody-Ann Weller in the final.

Professional boxing career

Serrano is managed and trained by noted female American professional

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermine ...

trainer Jordan Maldonado of

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. Serrano is Boxing 360's first world champion.

NABF Featherweight championship

On June 11, 2011, Amanda defeated Jennifer Scott to capture the vacant NABF featherweight champion. The bout was scheduled for 8 rounds, but the match was cut quick by Serrano knocked out Scott in 1:04 in round 1.

WBC Featherweight Championship

On April 27, 2012, Serrano faced the undefeated Frida Wallberg in Cloetta Center, Linköping, Sweden. The WBC 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. The referee was Victor Loughlin and the judges were Gudjon Vilhelm 93-98 , judge: Venciclav Nikolov 93-97 , judge: Franco Ciminale 94–96.

Serrano vs. Bermudez

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/WBO featherweight titles. Heading into the bout, Serrano and Bermudez were ranked inside ''The Ring'''s P4P top 10.

Serrano vs. Taylor

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 Katie Taylor (born 2 July 1986) is an Irish professional boxer and former footballer. She is a two-weight world champion and the current undisputed lightweight champion, having held the WBA title since 2017; the IBF title since 2018; and the ...

and Serrano, with Taylor’s undisputed lightweight titles on the line. Taylor defeated Serrano by split decision.

Mixed martial arts career

Training

Since early 2015, Serrano quietly worked towards debuting in

mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, inc ...

(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 Holly Rene Holm (born October 17, 1981) is an American mixed martial artist, who competes in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. She is the former UFC Women's Bantamweight Champion, and a former professional boxer. She was a multiple-time wor ...

, and

Cristiane Justino Cristiane Justino Venâncio (born July 9, 1985), known professionally by her ring name Cris Cyborg (and formerly by her married name Cristiane Santos), is a Brazilian-American mixed martial artist who as of January 2021 competes in Bellator MM ...

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 The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Zuffa, a wholly owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. It is the largest MMA ...

(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.

Public challenge to Ronda Rousey

On July 31, 2015,

Ronda Rousey Ronda Jean Rousey (; born February 1, 1987) is an American professional wrestler, actress, former judoka and mixed martial artist. She is currently signed to WWE, where she performs on the SmackDown brand and is the current SmackDown Women� ...

'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 " rom aboxing 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".

Combate Americas

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.

iKON Fighting Federation

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.

Professional wrestling career

At the same time that she made her involvement in MMA public, an interest in potentially joining

World Wrestling Entertainment World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and va ...

, noted in 2019, Serrano revealed that she had been training under Jonathan Figueroa (known by his ring name

Amazing Red Jonathan Figueroa (born April 26, 1982), better known by his ring name Amazing Red, is a Puerto Rican professional wrestler and promoter. He is best known for working for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), where he is a former three-time ...

) to become a

and that she would be performing for a promotion soon.

Professional boxing record

Mixed martial arts record

, - , Win , align=center, 2–0–1 , Valentina García , Submission (guillotine choke) , iKON Fighting Federation 7 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 1:00 ,

Los Mochis, Sinaloa Los Mochis () is a coastal city in northern Sinaloa, Mexico. It serves as the municipal seat of the municipality of Ahome. As of the 2010 census, the population was 362,613, which was 61 percent of the municipality's population. Los Mochis is th ...

, Mexico , , - , Win , align=center, 1–0–1 , Erendira Ordóñez , Submission (rear-naked choke) , Combate 26: Mexico vs. USA , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 4:23 ,

Tucson, Arizona , "(at the) base of the black ill , nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town" , image_map = , mapsize = 260px , map_caption = Interactive map ...

, United States , , - , Draw , align=center, 0–0–1 , Corina Herrera , Draw (unanimous) , Combate 20: Combate Estrellas 1 , , align=center, 3 , align=center, 5:00 ,

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, United States ,

Submission grappling record

, colspan="12" style="text-align:center;" , 5 matches, 5 wins (4 submissions) , - style="text-align:center; background:#f0f0f0;" ! Result ! Record ! Opponent ! Method ! Event ! Division ! Type ! Date ! Round ! Time ! Location ! Notes , - , Win , , align="center", 5–0 , , Erin Finkeldey , , Decision (unanimous) , , Grappling Industries – BlueBelt No-Gi Jiu-Jitsu , , align="center", -61kg , , No-Gi , , , , align="center", 1 , , align="center", 5:00 , , Manhattan, New York, U.S. , , , - , Win , , align="center", 4–0 , , Rebecca King , , Submission (guillotine choke) , , Grappling Industries – No-Gi Jiu-Jitsu , , align="center", -61kg , , No-Gi , , , , align="center", 1 , , align="center", , , Manhattan, New York, U.S. , , Tournament finals – , - , Win , , align="center", 3–0 , , Cristina Gardella , , Submission (armbar) , , Grappling Industries – No-Gi Jiu-Jitsu , , align="center", -61kg , , No-Gi , , , , align="center", 1 , , align="center", , , Manhattan, New York, U.S. , , Tournament semi-finals , - , Win , , align="center", 2–0 , , Lulu Zhong , , Submission (guillotine choke) , , Grappling Industries – No-Gi Jiu-Jitsu , , align="center", -61kg , , No-Gi , , , , align="center", 1 , , align="center", , , Manhattan, New York, U.S. , , Tournament quarter-finals , - , Win , , align="center", 1–0 , , Danielle Riendeau , , Submission (guillotine choke) , , Grappling Industries – No-Gi Jiu-Jitsu , , align="center", -61kg , , No-Gi , , , , align="center", 1 , , align="center", , , Manhattan, New York, U.S. , , Tournament preliminaries , -

Personal life

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).

References

Notes Footnotes

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Serrano, Amanda 1988 births Living people People from Carolina, Puerto Rico Puerto Rican women boxers Sportspeople from Brooklyn Boxers from New York City Super-flyweight boxers Bantamweight boxers Super-bantamweight boxers Featherweight boxers Super-featherweight boxers Lightweight boxers Light-welterweight boxers Puerto Rican female professional wrestlers World super-flyweight boxing champions World bantamweight boxing champions World super-bantamweight boxing champions World featherweight boxing champions World super-featherweight boxing champions World lightweight boxing champions World light-welterweight boxing champions World Boxing Council champions World Boxing Organization champions International Boxing Federation champions International Boxing Organization champions Bushwick High School alumni 21st-century American women Puerto Rican female mixed martial artists Mixed martial artists utilizing boxing Submission grapplers