By Ian S Palmer
There’s a huge women’s boxing title bout on tap in New York City this Saturday, February 4th as Amanda Serrano of Puerto Rico puts her IBF/WBO/WBC/IBO Women’s Featherweight Titles on the line and will be attempting to add the WBA Belt to her collection when she takes on Erika Cruz Hernandez of Mexico. The 10-rounder can be seen live in most nations on DAZN. Serrano last fought in September when she beat Sarah Mahfoud by unanimous decision to take her IBF Belt. Cruz last boxed in September when she downed Jelena Mrdjenovich by unanimous decision.
Amanda Serrano is a 34-year-old southpaw who owns an impressive record of 43-2-1 with 30 Ko’s. She has 202 rounds of experience under her belt since turning pro in 2009 and now resides in Brooklyn, New York. She also has experience in wrestling and mixed martial arts. Serrano stands just over 5-feet-5-inches tall with a 65.5-inch reach and has very good power in her fists with a current knockout ratio of 65.2 per cent but has gone the distance in her last four fights and six of the last 10.
Serrano is a former Staten Island, New York City Golden Gloves, and Empire State Amateur Champion and has won numerous regional and minor pro titles. Since turning pro, she’s has also captured the IBF World Female Super Featherweight, WBO World Female Lightweight, WBO World Female Featherweight, WBO World Female Super Bantamweight, WBO World Female Bantamweight, WBO World Female Super Lightweight, and WBO World Female Super Flyweight Titles.
Her first defeat came at the hands of Frida Walberg in April, 2012 when she lost by a 10-round unanimous decision in a shot at the WBC World Female Super Featherweight Title. She appeared to do enough to beat Katie Taylor in her last outing, which was a fight-of-the-year candidate, but came out on the wrong end of a split decision, while her draw came in 2009 in a four-round affair with Ela Nunez. Serrano has weighed in between 118 and 138.5 lbs during her pro career and has actually won titles in seven different weight classes.
She also has wins over Kimberly Connor, Fatuma Zarika (twice), Calista Silgado, Yazmin Rivas, Dahianna Santana (twice), Marilyn Hernandez, Eva Voraberger, Heather Hardy, Daniela Bermudez and Yamileth Mercardo. Serrano is unbeaten in the last 10 years, which covers a span of 29 fights. All of her victories have come by way of stoppage or unanimous decision except for her pro debut which was a four-round majority decision over Jackie Trivilino.
The 32-year-old Cruz is also a southpaw and enters the ring with a record of 15-1 with 3 Ko’s. She’s gone 95 rounds since making her pro debut in 2016 following an amateur carer which saw her fight at the 2012 AIBA World championships. She’s 5-feet-6-inches tall with a 64-inch reach which means she’s half-an-inch taller than Serrano but gives up 1.5-inches in reach.
As far as power goes, Cruz doesn’t really have a lot of it as her current knockout ratio comes in at just 18.9 per cent. Her lone loss came at the hands of Alondra Gonzalez Flores by way of four-round majority decision in Cruz’s second pro fight back in 2016. She won the vacant WBC Silver Featherweight title in 2019 with a unanimous decision over Vissia Trovato after dropping her in the first and second rounds.
Cruz then won the WBA Featherweight Title in April, 2021 with a seven-round technical decision over Jelena Mrdjenovich when Mrdjenovich couldn’t continue due to receiving an accidental headbutt. Cruz defended her title with a split decision win over Melissa Esquivel seven months later and then beat Mrdjenovich in their rematch in her last outing.
Prediction…
This matchup features two of the top female boxers in the world with the rounds being two minutes long. I believe Serrano’s the best female boxer out there at the moment and deserved to get the nod against Katie Taylor. She’s an exciting, aggressive boxer with enough power to do some damage while Cruz also has fine skills but lacks power. I think if Serrano punches in volume as she usually does, she should add Cruz’s belt to her collection on Saturday.
