Amanda Serrano relishes win in Puerto Rico, drops hints about next possible fights

Having built a comfortable lead, Amanda Serrano could have opted to work behind the jab during the 10^th round of Saturday night’s fight against a game Reina Tellez.

Instead, the unified WBA/WBO featherweight world champion stalked forward and unloaded power punches to the head and body of the rugged challenger, targeting a 32^nd career stoppage which would have tied Christy Martin’s mark for the most knockouts in women’s boxing history.

Serrano did not get that coveted knockout. But at 37 and following an epic trilogy with Katie Taylor, Serrano (48-4-1, 31 KOs) did demonstrate how much boxing brilliance she still has left. The seven-division world champion beat a previously-undefeated Tellez (13-1-1, 5 KOs) by a dominant, hard-fought unanimous decision, live globally on DAZN.

Serrano especially relished delivering the week’s buildup of events, culminating in her rousing performance at the Coliseo Roberto Clemente in San Juan, Puerto Rico. In many ways it was redemptive in stark contrast to the heartbroken feeling she left Puerto Rico with in March 2024.

That is when she entered the ring fight night against Nina Meinke in what was supposed to be a homecoming main event, only to tell the crowd at the Coliseo Jose Miguel Agrelot that the bout was cancelled last minute due to a doctor’s refusal to let her fight because of an exposed cornea. Some of the crowd booed her that night in disappointment over the bad news she emotionally shared with them.

Fast forward less than two years later and the crowd in San Juan celebrated their Puerto Rican boxing legend all the way through her action-packed 10 rounds with Tellez. The bout had Serrano flexing her ring generalship and savvy in dictating the terms of the fight by being the front-foot aggressor who pounded the gutsy challenger with laser-like jabs, a steady stream of potshots and crunching body work in high volume output.

Despite suffering a badly swollen right eye in the fifth round, Serrano never let up on a younger Tellez, cutting the ring off and blasting the 22-year-old at will toward the victory.

“It’s been two years since I fought at this weight,” Serrano told DAZN’s Claudia Trejos, “so the next fights are going to be much, much better.”

She added: “The last time I was supposed to fight here, unfortunately things happened and I couldn’t fight which was really, really sad for me, but I’m super happy I was able to fulfill another dream of fighting here once again in front of my people.”

As much as Puerto Rico got to celebrate its champion, Serrano also commemorated the fact that the all-women’s main card had its chief support bout and co-main event contested over three-minute rounds instead of the two-minute rounds women have been locked into.

So after a tremendous week ending in a triumphant win to launch her New Year on a solid note, what does Serrano have in store next?

Perhaps a run at the undisputed featherweight crown as she will need the hardware carried by WBC champ Tiara Brown and ironically IBF titleholder Nina Meinke to accomplish the feat.

“There’s a lot of new girls, new champions at featherweight so that’s a nice thing to see,” Serrano said. “Maybe one day we can all get together and fight each other.”

Maybe one day soon, giving Puerto Rico and the boxing world overall more reason to celebrate.