Seven-weight champion Amanda Serrano’s homecoming fight in Puerto Rico illustrated, once again, why she is one of the stars of women’s boxing.
In her first fight back home since July 2017, Serrano was in imperious form, scoring a ninth-round stoppage of three-weight champion Daniela Bermudez to retain her WBC and WBO featherweight crowns at the Plaza del Quinto Centenario in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on Thursday night.
Southpaw Serrano (40-1-1, 30 KOs) looked razor sharp throughout, riddling tough Argentine Bermudez at will. Leading on all three judges’ scorecards 80-72, Serrano finished matters with a sustained body assault in the ninth round.
A left hand and right hook downstairs caused Bermudez to turn away and visit the canvas in a delayed reaction where she failed to beat referee Roberto Ramirez’s count.
The champion’s manager and trainer Jordan Maldonado was kicked out of ringside for haranguing referee Ramirez in the seventh, but that was the only blip on an otherwise flawless night for Serrano.
“When I saw the body shot – my coach Gary [Stark Sr.] told me, two hooks to the body and that’s what happened. We knew she was tough. She’s Latina, she’s from Argentina. We know that Argentine fighters are tough and she was ready,” said Serrano afterwards. “I beat her to the body. Maybe I have to change my name to ‘Body Snatcher’.
“I want to become undisputed. I want to be the first undisputed champion to come out of my beautiful island of Puerto Rico. That’s definitely my goal – IBF, WBA. Nothing against any champion but I want those belts. If they want to become undisputed champion, then they need to come through me, too, so we need each other.”
WBA champion Jelena Mrdjenovich (41-10-2, 19 KOs), from Canada, is also the WBC’s ‘Champion In Recess’ while Denmark’s Sarah Mahfoud (10-0, 3KOs) holds the IBF belt at 126lbs.
Main image: Tom Hogan – Hogan Photos/Ring City USA.