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Andreas Hale
Amanda Serrano successfully defended her WBA and WBO featherweight titles with a dominant unanimous decision over Reina Tellez on Saturday night at Coliseo Roberto Clemente in Serrano’s native San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Two judges scored the fight 97-93, while the third judge had it 98-92. The fight was scheduled for 10 three-minute rounds under men’s boxing rules.
Serrano (48-4-1, 30 KOs) got back into the win column in her natural weight class after dropping two straight fights to Katie Taylor at junior welterweight.
“It feels amazing [to fight in Puerto Rico], but it feels even better to be back at 126 pounds,” Serrano said. “It’s been two years since I fought at this weight. So the next fights are going to be much, much better. I feel finally I gave the fans a show.”
Tellez (13-1-1) accepted the fight on 15 days’ notice after Serrano’s original opponent, Erika Cruz, was pulled from the bout after an adverse finding in her drug test last month. It was a massive step up in competition for Tellez, 22, but she made a strong account of herself despite being outclassed by Serrano, a seven-division world champion.
“I’ve never been in 10 rounds, let alone three minutes, and I just did that with one of the best in the world,” Tellez said. “Against somebody I have idolized my whole life, I stood in there and fought to the end. So whatever anybody had to say about me, go to bed. I stayed focused, and I showed them tonight what’s up.”
The difference in skill and experience was evident from the opening bell as Serrano marched forward and bounced combinations off Tellez. But Tellez’s resilience kept Serrano from steamrolling her, and she even caused some swelling under the champion’s right eye, albeit from an accidental clash of heads.
Serrano’s swarming offense began to operate with caution as the swelling increased in the middle rounds, but her corner kept the eye from closing, and the champion resumed her high-volume output in the back half of the fight.
In Round 5, Serrano began working Tellez’s body, but the challenger held her ground, fighting off the stalking champion. Although well ahead on the scorecards going into the final round, Serrano pursued a knockout and rocked Tellez with a variety of body punches and combinations. But Tellez made it to the final bell, avoided being Serrano’s 31st knockout victim and secured future opportunities under the Most Valuable Promotions banner with her performance.
At age 37, Serrano made it clear that her career will continue and that she will remain in her natural weight class moving forward, but she refrained from calling out anyone.
“There are a lot of new girls and new champions at featherweight,” Serrano said of a division that includes WBC champion Tiara Brown and IBF titleholder Nina Meinke. “Maybe one day we can all get together and just fight each other. I am the unified featherweight champion, and there’s other champions out there.”
In the co-main event, Stephanie Han (12-0, 3 KOs) retained her WBA lightweight title with a technical unanimous decision over Holly Holm (34-3-3, 9 KOs) after an accidental headbutt cut Han over the right eye in Round 7 and the ringside doctor rendered her unable to continue.
Judges scored the fight 69-65, 69-64 and 68-65. The bout was contested under men’s rules and was scheduled for 10 three-minute rounds.
Han made the second defense of her title and dominated the fight from the second round on with her volume and counter right hand. Han outlanded Holm 87-29 and was in control once she began timing her opponent’s advances.
Holm, 44, signed with Most Valuable Promotions last year after a successful tenure as an MMA fighter, notably becoming UFC bantamweight champion with a stunning knockout of Ronda Rousey in 2015. She won her first boxing match in over a decade when she defeated Yolanda Vega by unanimous decision in June.
But she was unable to mount much offense Saturday night outside of the occasional left hand, as Han, 35, used her speed to neutralize the former three-division champion.