Amanda Serrano

Super featherweight world championship

Amanda won the inaugural International Boxing Federation Super Featherweight title with a second round stoppage over Kimberly Connor, who had not lost a fight in seven years. In the second round, Serrano began landing power shots to the head, sending Connor to the canvas on her back midway through the round. Connor beat the count, but appeared helpless on the ropes as Serrano immediately battered her senseless and defenseless with numerous power shots to the head, forcing referee Benjy Esteves Jr. to stop the contest. The rounds were two-minute rounds, and the bout was scheduled for ten.

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.

IBF Super featherweight championship

In the main event of an eight bout card held at Aviator Arena in Brooklyn promoted by Havoc Boxing Promotions, undefeated Amanda Serrano won the inaugural International Boxing Federation Super Featherweight title with a second round stoppage over Kimberly Connor, who had not lost a fight in seven years. The first round was even, with both fighters attempting to do body work on the inside in center ring, but ineffectively. Connor also fought off the ropes with some right hand lead counters to the head, but Serrano was not fazed. In the second round, Serrano began landing power shots to the head, sending Connor to the canvas on her back midway through the round. Connor beat the count, but appeared helpless on the ropes as Serrano immediately battered her senseless and defenseless with numerous power shots to the head, forcing referee Benjy Esteves Jr. to stop the contest. Two minute rounds, scheduled for ten. According to Boxing 360 CEO Dr. Mario Yagobi, Serrano's promoter, negotiations were underway for Serrano to fight an IBF-WBC unification match with WBC female Super Featherweight champion Frida Wallberg of Sweden in early 2012. Serrano sparred for this fight with her sister Cindy Serrano, training for her upcoming female world welterweight title bout with Anne Sophie Mathis. The Serrano sisters are both trained by Jordan Maldonado. Serrano's originally scheduled opponent, Fatuma Zarika of Kenya, was unable to leave that country to get to the United States due to visa problems.^[9]

WBC Featherweight Championship

On April 27, 2012, Serrano faced the undefeated Frida Wallberg in Cloetta Center, Linkoping, 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.

WIBA featherweight world championship

On February 16, 2013, Puerto Rican female star Amanda 'The Real Deal' Serrano (17-1-1, 12 KO's) was once again crowned world champion, capturing the WIBA featherweight title with a first-round knockout of Wanda Pena (8-5, 2 KO's) at Gran Arena del Cibao, Santiago de los Caballeros in the Dominican Republic. The WIBA (Women's International Boxing Association) was the Original boxing organization known for its staging of female championship fights.^[10]

Her first fight in Puerto Rico was attended by a contingent of family members from Carolina, a situation that combined with the fan reception led to an emotive introduction.^[4]

Training

Since early 2015, Serrano quietly worked towards debuting in mixed martial arts (MMA), beginning by incorporating kicks to her training.^[11] 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.^[4] 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.^[12]

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.^[13] 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.^[14] 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.^[15][16]

Public challenge to Ronda Rousey

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.^[17] 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. A round. With boxing world champions".^[17] 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".^[18]

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".^[18] 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".^[18]

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.^[19] 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.^[20] Afterwards, Serrano focused on grappling.^[21] 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.^[22] 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.^[23]

On October 13, 2018, Serrano won her second fight by submitting Eréndina Ordóñez with a standing rear naked choke in the first round.^[24]