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5'5" featherweight Amanda
Serrano was born on October 9, 1988
in Puerto Rico but was raised in Brooklyn, NY.
Amanda's entry into the world of boxing was unusual in that
her older sister Cindy
is also a professional boxer,
and Amanda fell in love with the sport by
watching Cindy fight. "I knew what boxing demanded
early on,” Amanda told
Michael Rivest of timesunion.com, "and when I was about 12, I told Jordan (Maldonado), Cindy’s trainer,
that I wanted to box, too, since I was in the gym all the time anyway."
At first, Cindy and
her trainer Jordan Maldonado tried to dissuade Amanda from following
in Cindy's footsteps, and arranged for Amanda to spar with a
boy who would go all out. Amanda reportedly left her first boxing
experience crying but she kept coming back to the gym for more. “Cindy
and I decided that the best way to handle it would be for her
to take Amanda into the ring herself, just one time to – you know –
‘discourage’ her,” Maldonado said. "Boxing is brutal. We didn’t
want her to do it and besides, as a trainer, I don’t have time to take
on a fighter who’d only waste my time and quit when it gets tough. It’s
not for everybody. But it was the strangest thing. I saw Amanda holding
her own against
her, so I said to Cindy, ‘Stop going easy on her.’ She looked at me and
said, dead serious now, ‘I’m not.’"
Amanda Serrano was hooked on boxing, and began fighting competitively as an amateur.
In 2008, she won the
Staten Island amateur championship and fought in the
81st New York Daily News
Golden Gloves. On March 28, 2008 she dispensed
enough punches to cause two standing eight-counts on Glenyss
Puentevella (Team Free Form) in the 125-pound semifinal, and
the bout was stopped at 1:07 of the third round. On April 18,
2008 in the 125-lb final at Madison Square Garden, Amanda spent a lot
of the fight locked up close with 5'8" Jody-Ann
Weller (New York Boxing Gym) while
they traded uppercuts, but whenever Serrano
got a little space, she popped Weller with lefts and rights for the win.
Amanda Serrano made her pro
debut on March 20, 2009 at the Washington Avenue Armory in
Albany, New York. She weighed in at 127½ lbs and won
a four-round majority (40-36,39-37,39-39) decision over fellow
pro debuter Jackie (Jaci) Trivilino (5'4", 126 lbs) of Plattsburgh, New
York. A review in pugnaciouspromotions.com wrote
that "In the fight of the night, pro
debuters Jackie Trivilino and Amanda Serrano had fans on their feet
after four rounds of non-stop punching that (Serrano) took in a
unanimous decision. Both girls showed tremendous heart,
determination and boxing ability."
On May 9, 2009 at the
Doubletree Hotel in Orlando, Florida, Amanda (125 lbs) knocked out
Brittany Cruz (124 lbs) of Thornton, Colorado at 2:43 in the first
round of a scheduled four-rounder, dropping Cruz's pro record to 3-2 (1
KO). (Cruz is from another boxing family, with
former
WIBA and IFBA champion Terri Lynn Cruz being
her aunt.)
On June 29, 2009 at Coliseo
Carlos 'Teo' Cruz in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Amanda (126
lbs) TKO'd Carpolna Martinez (5'2", 124 lbs) of Santo Domingo
in the first round of a scheduled four-rounder. Martinez fell to 3-9-2
(1 KO).
On July 31, 2009 at Resorts
Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey, Amanda (126 lbs) TKO'd
Christina Ruiz (126 lbs) of San Antonio, Texas in the second round of a
scheduled four-rounder. Serrano dropped Ruiz twice in the opening
round, first with a right
hook, and then with a straight left, before finishing her with a
three-punch combo in round two. Ruiz fell to 1-1 (1 KO) with the loss.
On November 20, 2009 at the
Taj Mahal Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey, Amanda (128½
lbs) fought to a four-round split (39-37,37-39,38-38) draw
with Ela Nunez (132 lbs) of Jamestown, New York. Nunez, who
has fought such top flight opponents as Melissa Hernandez, Rhonda Luna, Lindsay Garbatt, Missy
Fiorentino and Kina Malpartida, moved
her pro record to 9-5-1 (2 KO's). Serrano had taken the fight at
one
week's notice.
Amanda was named WBAN Rookie
of the Year for 2009 in our annual end-of-year awards, with the
citation "Not
only did Amanda Serrano fight five times in 2009 as a rookie, but she
took on significant competition. In her last fight in 2009,
she took on a very tough opponent Ela Nunez (the boxer who stopped the
now world champion Kina
Malpartida in 2007). Serrano had a four-round draw
against Nunez. Serrano also moved around to outside venues to
fight some of her opponents, including traveling to the
Dominican Republic for one of her fights."
On February 26, 2010 at the
Turning Stone Resort and Casino, Verona, New York, Amanda (126½
lbs) won a six-round unanimous (58-56,58-56,59-54) decision over Lucia
Larcinese (127 lbs) of Montreal, Quebec, Canada, who fell to 4-5 (0 KO's).
Larcinese started slowly and Serrano won the early rounds but
Larcinese showed ring management and finished stronger as Serrano
appeared to tire. Larcinese's ability to slip to the side frustrated Serrano: "Amanda spent too much time chasing her around the
ring instead of cutting her off,” Maldonado told
Michael Rivest after the fight. “She’ll never make that mistake again.”
 On
June 4, 2010 at the
Tropicana Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey, Amanda Serrano
(124 lbs) won a six-round unanimous (60-54,60-54,59-55) decision over
undefeated Nydia
Feliciano (122 lbs) of the Bronx, New York. Serrano
won every round on two judges' scorecards using
effective combinations to the body of
Feliciano followed by powerful shots to the head. The two
female fighters drew a standing ovation at the end of their
exciting bout. “She came to fight, Feliciano did,” said trainer Jordan Maldonado. “She took a beating and kept on fighting.” Feliciano fell to 2-1-2
(0 KO's) with her first pro loss.
On September 18, 2010
at Coliseo Carlos 'Teo' Cruz in Santo Domingo, Dominican
Republic Amanda Serrano (126 lbs) won by TKO when Jennifer Encarnacion
(124 lbs) of the Dominican Republic retired at the end of the fourth
round of punishment in a scheduled six-rounder. Encarnacion,
who has not fought outside the Dominican Republic and Haiti, fell to
2-5-0
(1 KO).
 On January 29, 2011 at the
Turning Stone Casino in Verona, New York, Amanda Serrano (128 lbs), this time with a full training camp behind her, won
a clear six-round unanimous (59-55,59-55,59-55) decision in a rematch
with Ela Nunez (130 lbs) of Jamestown, New York. Correspondent Mark Jones told WBAN that "Both fighters boxed cautiously
in the first round with Serrano, a southpaw, getting the better of the
action scoring well with the jab and an occasional straight left. In
both the second and third rounds, Nunez, typically a swarmer, elected
to fight at long range mostly forgoing lateral movement relying instead
on in and out movement. When Nunez moved to the left, she did so at
long range to avoid Serrano’s hook. It was apparent that Nunez was
sitting at long-range in hopes that Serrano would aggressively reach
with punches opening up countering possibilities. Serrano was
too fundamentally schooled to make that mistake, but while struggling
with her range, she was too reserved with her punch production allowing
Nunez to take command. Nunez landed several overhand rights to the body
and head in the process. Rounds two and three belonged to Ela Nunez.
Round four began in similar fashion as the previous two with Nunez
employing in and out movement attempting to draw Serrano into counters.
This tactic waned in effectiveness as Serrano found a comfortable range
and began landing combinations to the head and body of Nunez causing
numerous big exchanges during the remainder of the round with Serrano
landing the more telling blows. Amanda closed the round strong
cementing her claim to it. Ela Nunez changed strategy in the fifth
round by exchanging on the inside with Serrano, but had difficulty
moving laterally due Serrano apparent improved ability in cutting such
movement off. Nunez scored with the overhand right sporadically and
seldom threw in combinations of more than two punches whereas Serrano
put together compact four and five punch combinations. Serrano’s punch
quality appeared to take some steam out of Nunez who was visibly
fatigued after the fifth round. The sixth and final round
could have been fought in a phone booth, if there are any of those
left, with both fighters exchanging punches at close quarters. (Serrano) dominated the action landing the crisper and
cleaner shots, but (Nunez) fought valiantly making
for great action. Long before the final bell, the capacity crowd rose
to their feet and applauded the efforts of both fighters."
Nunez fell to 9-8-1 (2
KO's) while Serrano improved to 8-0-1 (4 KO's).
Other Amanda 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
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last updated: Friday, March 18, 2011
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