Even with everything
Amanda Serrano has accomplished inside the squared circle, she remains very ambitious.
The seven-division champion will look to etch her name further into the history books Saturday when she
defends her Ring, WBA and WBO featherweight titles against Reina Tellez at Coliseo Roberto Clemente in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on
DAZN. In beating Tellez, Serrano hopes she can take another step closer to reaching 50 wins and setting the record for knockout victories by a woman.
“I truly want to continue to open the doors for women in this sport,” Serrano said at the final press conference Tuesday. “It's been a long journey, and I love seeing these women here grow and get the opportunities, get the better pay days and [I’m taking it] one fight at a time, but I do have goals. I need the record of knockouts. I need 50 wins, so there are certain goals. I gotta keep on going.”
The record is held by 2020 International Boxing Hall of Famer Christy Martin, who won 32 of her 49 fights by knockout. Serrano is one knockout away from tying Martin.
Serrano-Tellez will be contested over 10 three-minute rounds. Serrano was originally set to face Erika Cruz, but an atypical finding in her Voluntary Anti-Doping Association test
led to her being replaced by Tellez (13-0-1, 5 KOs) on December 18.Serrano (47-4-1, 31 KOs) is returning to 126 pounds after consecutive razor-thin decision defeats to 140-pound champion champion Katie Taylor.
In their third and final meeting, she lost by majority decision to Taylor (25-1, 6 KOs) on July 11 in New York.
Serrano, 37, will be fighting on her home island of Puerto Rico for the first time since 2021, when she defeated Daniela Romina Bermudez by ninth-round knockout. Her bout against Tellez will mark the fifth time she’s fought in Puerto Rico as a pro.
“There's a different emotion when I fight here in Puerto Rico, because the love is real,” Serrano said. “It's genuine, and we bring it different. Latinos bring it different. Boricuas bring it different. Everyone on the card is going to be able to feel the energy in that arena, and they’re going to bring the best out of each other."
Serrano has long been a pioneering force in women’s boxing. Even with the accolades she’s accumulated since debuting in 2009, Serrano wants her legacy to go beyond her own accomplishments.
“I want to be remembered as a game changer,” she said. “As someone who is helping the sport, women's boxing and sports in general. … In the beginning, women had to have a job [and] had to have a nine-to-five because we weren't getting paid the way we are getting paid now, and it's still not the best. Not everyone is getting paid the best.
"I've been blessed, but we have other lives as well. I want to see women's boxing grow. I want the women to be able to concentrate just on boxing, just on the sport, on their craft and get what they deserve and get the pay that they deserve.”