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5'4½"
featherweight Cindy "Checkmate" Serrano was born in Puerto Rico on
May 8, 1982. She boxes out
of the Glendale Boxing Club in Queens, New York where she is trained by
Jordan Maldonado.
Like many beginners, Serrano started boxing
to get in shape and lose some weight. After a few weeks' trainer her
first three-round sparring session with a more experienced partner was an
eye-opener. "I was little nervous at first," she told Doug Harden in an
interview, "but
after the workout I knew I would be back". The next time
they sparred, Cindy "chased her out of the ring". Maldonado says
"after I saw her kick that girl's (butt) after only
her second time in the ring I knew she had something special inside. We
would try to get other girls to spar with us but nobody wanted to work with
us. So we take a negative and make it a positive. She spars with men, pros
and amateur. I think the fact that she trains with men inspires her to push herself more
in the gym."
Before boxing professionally, Serrano trained
for one year and had amateur experience that included winning the 2003
Empire State Games Tournament. However, lack of fight opportunities
persuaded her to turn pro.
She made her pro debut on September 12, 2003
at the Rollins Center at Dover Downs Slots in Dover, Delaware. She weighed
in at 130 lbs and won a unanimous 40-36 decision over fellow pro debuter
Kathy Rodriguez (5'4", 129 lbs) of Brooklyn, New York.
On November 13, 2003 at Michael's Eight Avenue in Glen Burnie, Maryland
Cindy (128½
lbs) TKO'd Kathy Rodriguez (130½ lbs) in the
second round of a rematch. Rodriguez fell to 0-2.
On December 4, 2003 at the Days Inn in Allentown,
Pennsylvania, Cindy (126 lbs) TKO'd Shannon Birmingham (5'7", 122 lbs) of
Hamilton, Alabama at 0:59 in the first round.
Birmingham fell to 2-3 (1 KO) with the loss. It was reported that Serrano's
skills were far too superior for Birmingham to handle.
On January 2, 2004 at the Big Kahuna Club in
Wilmington, Delaware, Cindy (130 lbs) TKO'd Helen Penson (135 lbs) of
Spartansburg, South Carolina at 0:29 into the first round. The fight had
been scheduled for four rounds. Penson fell to 0-3 with the loss.
On June 12, 2004 at the Cedarbridge Athletic
Association Grounds in Hamilton, Bremuda, Cindy (129 lbs) won a four-round
split (39-38 Witherspoon; 39-38 Serrano; 40-37 Serrano) decision over
Shakurah Witherspoon (128½ lbs) of
Pennsylvania. According to ringsiders this was a very tough
bout with Shakurah utilizing her ring experience to survive and not get
KO'd, and Serrano mixing combinations to her head and body.
On July 7, 2004 at the Mountaineer Racetrack in Chester, West Virginia Cindy won by
a TKO at 1:35 in the first round over
Philadelphia's Wanda Satterthwaite, who fell to
0-5.
On July 11, 2004 at Cedar Beach in Allentown,
Pennsylvania, Cindy
KO'd
Susan Nance of Gore ,Oklahoma at 1:05 in the first round. Nance was outboxed and was caught with a barrage of combinations
that ended the fight. She fell to 1-6-1 with the loss.
On April 8, 2005 at the Hanover
Marriott in Whippany, New Jersey,
Cindy (122 lbs)won a six
round unanimous (59-53,58-53,59-51) decision over
Sharon Gaines (122 lbs) of Kansas City, Missouri.
The hard hitting Serrano came out strong in round 1 with one power
punch after another. Gaines opened up round 2 nicely and was probably
out-punching her opponent until she was dropped with a perfectly placed body
shot. Gaines answered the eight-count only to be dropped again by the same
devastating body shot. Serrano's fans went wild, thinking the fight was
over, but Gaines answered the eight-count and survived to battle on. Gaines
recovered in round 3 and launched a comeback in the next two rounds as
Serrano appeared to tire.
Gaines out-boxed Serrano for those rounds, and showed she was in better
condition, but was unable to close the gap on the scorecards.
Sharon Gaines said after the fight "so many people came up to me and told me how much heart I had,
how they thought I was down for the count in round 2 and couldn't believe I came
back to win some rounds. Although I appreciate their comments, my only thinking
was 'I wish I hadn't had to show so much heart!' When someone has to have a lot of heart to
finish a fight you know something went wrong early on. Serrano does have a lot of power and she
threw a lot of punches in the first two rounds. However, she was not conditioned to take that
power through to the end of the fight. Although I lost fair and square and am not proud of hitting
the canvas, I am proud that I had the strength and stamina to come back fight a
couple of the best rounds of my career."
On May 7, 2005 at the Crown
Plaza in Allentown, Pennsylvania, Cindy
(127 lbs) won by a second-round TKO over Corie Raw (131½ lbs) of
Philadelphia who fell to 1-2-0.
On July 22, 2005 at Polideportivo De Sabana Perdida in Santo Domingo,
Dominican Republic, Cindy (122 lbs) won a six-round unanimous decision over
Delia Hoppe (122 lbs) who fell to 2-2 (1 KO).
On August 20, 2005 in Costanza, Dominican Republic, Cindy (126 lbs) won a
six-round unanimous decision over Angela Garcia (127 lbs) of San Cristobal,
Dominican Republic who fell to 1-6-0.
On October 15, 2005 in Santo
Domingo, Dominican Republic, Cindy (126 lbs) won by a first-round TKO over
Luisa Maria Romero (126 lbs) of the Dominican Republic for the WIBA
FedaLatina Featherweight title. Romero fell to 0-4-0.
Rhonda Luna battles Cindy for the WIBA title
© Copyrighted photo taken by Durell Wambolt
On December 10, 2005, at the Turning Stone
Casino in Verona, New York Cindy (125¾ lbs) fought Rhonda Luna (125¼ lbs) of
Ontario, California to a ten-round split
draw (96-94 Serrano, 98-92 Luna, 95-95) for the vacant WIBA World
Featherweight title.
According
to WBAN correspondent Rick McLean, who
said this was the best women’s match
he had ever seen, "Round one started out
fast and furious with Luna moving straight ahead at Serrano looking to land
bombs early on. Serrano, on the other hand looked very calm and composed,
she was definitely prepared for this bout and rushed nothing in the opening
round.
Serrano moved back and took her time counter punched Luna effectively with
solid straight right and left hands. Cindy moved her head well, snapped out
very nice jabs and went downstairs to the body well. What was very
impressive from both women was the constant body work throughout the match.
They were not just head hunting but were cognizant of the fact that they had
to work the body in order to slow each other down. Luna kept the pressure on
Serrano and also landed solid combinations to the body however she was
unable to land clean punches to the head."
"The second, third, and fourth rounds started off the same as the first
with Luna coming straight ahead and moving Serrano back. Serrano landed
stiff left jabs and straight right hands that kept Luna off balanced and
slowed her forward progress. Cindy also landed impressive counter left hooks
to Luna’s head and body. Luna kept the pressure on Serrano and started to
find her way in and landed strong right hands to the head. The crowd
was chanting Cindy! Cindy! and by the end of the fourth round Luna had
significant swelling under her right eye and it looked as though it would
only be a matter of time before the eye closed."
"In the fifth, it was evident that Luna had found a hole in Serrano’s
defenses and made adjustments to exploit it because from that round on Luna
controlled the pace and momentum of the bout. The adjustment was to start
moving her head more and to start landing lead right hands which set up
openings for the left hook to the head. This allowed Luna to finally get
Serrano pinned on the ropes where she was able to land harder punches. Once
pinned on the ropes Serrano was unable to effectively counter like she had
been doing through out the bout. Serrano had a confused look on her face
periodically during the round."
"In the fifth, it was evident that Luna had found a hole in Serrano’s
defenses and made adjustments to exploit it because from that round on Luna
controlled the pace and momentum of the bout. The adjustment was to start
moving her head more and to start landing lead right hands which set up
openings for the left hook to the head. This allowed Luna to finally get
Serrano pinned on the ropes where she was able to land harder punches. Once
pinned on the ropes Serrano was unable to effectively counter like she had
been doing through out the bout. Serrano had a confused look on her face
periodically during the round."
"Rounds six through eight followed the same pattern as Luna’s punches
were starting to get through. Now Serrano was backing up and looking hurt
instead of effectively counter punching like she was earlier on. However,
Serrano stood in there and traded with Luna and landed devastating straight
rights and left hooks to Luna’s head but it looked like it was not having
any effect on Luna because she kept moving forward and kept pressing the
action. Both women were still going downstairs and landing excellent right
and left hooks to the body. By round 9, Serrano no
longer had a cocky and confident look on her face. Instead she had a pained
and concerned look on her face as well as a badly swollen left cheek. The
crowd was no longer chanting Cindy! Cindy!, but instead were just going wild
because these women were giving their all inside the ring. Luna was still
slipping punches well and landing solid right hands. Serrano blocked many of
Luna’s best punches and countered with her own hard punches. However she did
not look like the aggressor and this is what could have cost her rounds on
the judges score cards."
"Round 10 was a
total slugfest where both Luna and Serrano stood toe to toe and punched with
everything they had left. Both women were definitely going for the knockout
and very little defense was shown in this round. Both boxers raised their
arms after the round feeling they had won the match. Even before the
decision was given the announcer stated that there would be a rematch
between the two at Turning Stone Casino in the future. The bout was ruled a
draw and the audience erupted into boos."
Rhonda Luna was 10-0-1 (1 KO) after this result.
On July 26, 2006 at Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City,
Cindy (130 lbs) won a six-round unanimous (59-55,59-55,60-54) decision over
Tawnyah Freeman (135 lbs) of Fort Smith, Arkansas who fell to 7-3 (3 KO's).
Cindy (right) vs. Jessica Mohs in February 2007
© Copyrighted photo taken by Richie Maldonaldo
On February 22, 2007 at Roseland Ballroom in New York City,
Cindy (126½ lbs) won a six-round unanimous (60-54,60-54,60-54) decision over
Jessica Mohs (127 lbs) of Oklahoma City, who fell to 6-15-1 (1 KO).
On July 7, 2007 at Joe Bruno Stadium in Troy, New York,
WBAN #2 ranked junior lightweight Melissa Fiorentino (126¾ lbs) of Cranston, Rhode Island won an eight round
unanimous (79-73 on all cards) decision over Cindy (129 lbs, then ranked #7) to become the NABF’s first Super Featherweight world champion. According to an insider,
it was an exciting bout with both displaying excellent boxing skills. Fiorentino lost the first round on
all three judges' scorecards, but came
back by winning the final seven. "I felt the crowd was cheering for her
so I thought I was the underdog," Fiorentino said. "That spurred me
on. I kept the pressure on her and she wore down a little bit near the end."
Serrano suffered a substantial gash under her eye that required over 20
stitches. Fiorentino ran her record to 16-1-0 (6 KOs) while Serrano fell to
15-1-1 (7 KO's) with her first pro loss. See also Cindy's
open
letter to fans following the fight.
Other Cindy Serrano links
To check out fight reports, complete up-to-date boxing records, with huge digital photos you can go to
the WBAN Records Member Site
Page last updated:
Monday, 24 December 2007 |
