Background and career
Amanda Serrano (born October 9, 1988) is an American professional boxer and mixed martial artist. As a boxer, she is the unified featherweight world champion, having held the WBO title since 2019, IBO title since 2021 and the WBA title since 2023. She held the IBF title between 2022 and 2024 and the WBC title between 2021 and 2023. She is the first undisputed world champion, male or female, of the four-belt era from Puerto Rico, accomplishing this feat in 2023 at featherweight. She is the only Puerto Rican, male or female, to win world titles in more than four weight classes (seven weight classes), and holds the Guinness World Record for the most boxing world championships won in different weight-classes by a female, having held 9 major world titles across seven different weight classes. Serrano has been recognized as Women Boxing Archive Network (WBAN) Fighter of the Year five times (2016, 2019, 2021, 2023, 2024). She was also named Female Boxer of the Year three times (2016, 2018, 2019) by the WBO, an entity that granted her the first "Super World Championship" awarded to a woman. In June 2019, she was named Athlete of the Year by the Puerto Rican Day Parade committee, and in December 2019, she was named Ring 8 New York's Fighter of the Decade. She was additionally named Female Fighter of the Year by the Boxing Writers Association of America in 2021 and 2023. As of December 2025, Serrano is ranked as the world's best active female featherweight by The Ring and BoxRec, and the third best active female, pound for pound, by ESPN and second by The Ring. She is signed to Jake Paul's boxing promotion Most Valuable Promotions after signing a lifetime deal with the company in March 2025.
Serrano was born in the municipality of Carolina, where her sister Cindy was also born. Her grandparents were also born in the municipality of Carolina. When she was young, the family moved to New York and joined the large Puerto Rican diaspora there (colloquially known as Nuyoricans). Surrounded by this community, she grew up in an oasis of Puerto Rican culture in which traditional food and salsa music were predominant. Her upbringing is reflected in the manner in which she speaks Spanish, in a dialect with a distinct accent often attributed to that population (Spanglish) The family lived in Brooklyn, where she continued to live well into adulthood. During her youth she was an active child, with a distinct passion for swimming. After her older sister Cindy began boxing training intending to lose weight by attending the gym of her husband Jordan Maldonado, the 12-year old Serrano accompanied her there. She continued frequenting the facility and eventually got her first job there. Initially Serrano was not as interested in the sport, not even attending a family event to watch the Oscar De La Hoya vs. Félix Trinidad fight, but she was an avid follower of Cindy's career and developed a passion for it as she grew older. When she graduated from Bushwick High School (located in Bushwick, Brooklyn and closed in 2006) at the age of 17, she decided to begin training as a method to buy things and bond with her sister Cindy. Her father supported her decision, but her mother was hesitant until she began earning success and saw it as a way for the elder sister to retire after having her second child. Cindy, knowing that she had already been frustrated during a previous sparring session against a boy, intended to dissuade her by stepping into the ring but the younger sister proved that she could defend herself competently. Admittedly shy, Serrano choose to continue in Maldonado's small gym in Queens with him as trainer, so that the flow of people was controlled and she could focus on her training.
Serrano's amateur career was brief and concluded with a record of only 9–1, but she won the Staten Island amateur championship in 2008. From there she competed in the featherweight division of the New York Daily News Golden Gloves, where she defeated Glenyss Puentevella by referee stopping contest (RSC, the International Boxing Association's equivalent of a technical knockout) in the semifinal and decisioned USA Boxing's national champion Jody-Ann Weller in the final. Serrano is managed and trained by noted female American professional boxing trainer Jordan Maldonado of New York City. Serrano is Boxing 360's first world champion.
On June 11, 2011, Serrano defeated Jennifer Scott to capture the vacant WBC–NABF featherweight title. The bout was scheduled for 8 rounds, but the match was cut quick as Serrano knocked out Scott in 1:04 of round one.
Serrano was in line to face Fatuma Zarika for the vacant WBC super featherweight title, however, Zarika returned to her native Kenya due to an emergency, and was unable to return due to visa problems. On September 10, 2011, Serrano defeated WIBF Inter-Continental lightweight champion Kimberly Connor via second-round technical-knockout (TKO), for the vacant IBF super featherweight title.
Her next fight took place on April 27, 2012, at the Cloetta Center, in Linköping, Sweden against undefeated WBC champion Frida Wallberg. The World Boxing Council—against mandatory rules—allowed the bout to be contested with 10 ounce gloves instead of the mandatory eight ounce for that division. Serrano came up short losing a controversial unanimous decision to Wallberg. All three judges' scorecards were in favour of Wallberg with Gudjon Vilhelm scoring it 93–98, Venciclav Nikolov scoring it 93–97, and Franco Ciminale scoring it 94–96.
