SERIAL belt-collector Amanda Serrano is again on the prowl for more titles this Saturday (February 4) when she meets Mexico’s Erika Cruz Hernandez at Madison Square Garden, New York.
Having returned final 12 months to featherweight, the division in which she owns WBC, IBF and WBO belts, Serrano will in New York be seeking to full the set by taking fellow southpaw Hernandez’s WBA belt; a belt Hernandez is not going to be keen to give up frivolously.
Indeed, whereas Serrano has reigned as champion for a very long time and in more than one weight class, Hernandez’s reign as belt-holder has been comparatively short-lived, solely successful her WBA belt in 2021 when she stopped Jelena Mrdjenovich in the seventh spherical as a consequence of cuts attributable to an unintentional head-butt. Since then, Hernandez has been in a position to develop as a champion and legitimatise her place with subsequent wins, together with a break up choice victory over Melissa Esquivel later that very same 12 months in addition to a second win towards Mrdjenovich, this time beating her by unanimous choice in September 2022.
Now, after establishing herself as a belt-holder and clearing up any uncertainty with Mrdjenovich, Hernandez is able to step up a degree and sort out considered one of finest feminine fighters of all time. She will, in the method, be boxing exterior her native Mexico for solely the second time as an expert (her first combat towards Jelena Mrdjenovich was additionally stateside) and also will, after all, be a substantial betting underdog for the primary time in her seven-year profession.
Serrano, in spite of everything, is normally a lower above most opponents, significantly at featherweight. It is there she has by no means misplaced as a professional and it was there final September she defeated Sarah Mahfoud over 10 rounds in Manchester. Before that, Serrano dabbled at light-weight in order to combat Irish famous person Katie Taylor, a combat she would lose narrowly after 10 swashbuckling rounds. It is at featherweight, although, Serrano, 43-2-1 (30), is clearly at her finest.
At 34, it’s the division that fits her and the one in which she possible sees her future. In this future, too, Serrano will little doubt see a second combat with Katie Taylor in some unspecified time in the future, although it’s only a disgrace the 2 of them won’t ever be capable of meet at a weight class that actually brings out the perfect in each. Instead, and for the time being, Serrano should make do with as soon as once more confirming her standing as the most effective featherweight in the world, which, based mostly on each expertise and type, she ought to have little issue doing towards Hernandez this weekend.
For whereas Hernandez, 15-1 (3), is using the crest of a wave at current, and has not misplaced a combat since dropping a four-round choice towards debutant Alondra Gonzalez Flores in 2016, she is considered one of many women who could have grown up admiring the likes of Amanda Serrano from afar.
Something of a late bloomer, Hernandez is definitely coming into her personal now at 32, but it’s onerous to think about any state of affairs in which she teaches Serrano something on Saturday evening the Puerto Rican doesn’t already know. It’s for that purpose Serrano needs to be anticipated to finish the set of belts at featherweight, doing so almost certainly by way of choice.
Another ladies’s world title combat replete with numerous belts going down at Madison Square Garden on Saturday sees super-featherweight champion Alycia Baumgardner put all of it on the road towards Elhem Mekhaled of France.
Baumgardner, generally known as “The Bomb”, is somebody whose profession has taken off in latest years, significantly in the UK, the place she has scored two of her greatest wins: the primary towards Terri Harper in 2021 (a fourth-round TKO), and the second final 12 months towards fellow American Mikaela Mayer (a break up choice).
The Mayer win, in specific, actually pushed Baumgardner in the direction of the famous person standing she so clearly covets. It was helped little doubt by the rivalry she concocted with Mayer, one about as actual because it will get, however she additionally helped herself, too, by performing nicely below stress on the evening and, whereas the combat was shut, boxing with a poise and composure for which she was not essentially identified.
Here, towards Mekhaled, Baumgardner, 13-1 (7), shall be preventing a 31-year-old who, in her final combat, gave account of herself when shedding over 10 rounds towards Delfine Persoon in Abu Dhabi. That combat came about final May and, though she misplaced, Mekhaled managed to push Persoon shut, discovering herself on the incorrect finish of narrow-ish scores of 96-94, 97-93 and 97-94 after 10 rounds.
Before that loss, her first as a professional, Mekhaled had received 15 fights in a row, three by stoppage, and appeared getting ready to someday difficult for a full model of a world title. She claimed the European super-featherweight belt in 2018, when halting Marina Sakharov in 9 rounds, and he or she additionally managed to outpoint the unbeaten Danila Ramos the next 12 months in Spain to take the WBC interim super-featherweight title; arguably her most interesting achievement so far.
Never, nevertheless, has the Parisian crushed anybody with the pedigree and athleticism of Baumgardner, nor, the that matter, the ability. Which is why on Saturday the 28-year-old American ought to be backed to tame Mekhaled and retain all three of her belts (plus win the vacant WBA), almost certainly on factors.
Also showing on the MSG undercard is a decent-looking combat at super-lightweight between unbeaten fighters Richardson Hitchins, 15-0 (7), and John Bauza, 17-0 (7). The two Americans, one (Hitchins) from New York and the opposite (Bauza) from New Jersey, meet over 10 rounds and know, having been well-matched thus far, that their respective unbeaten information have by no means been more susceptible than they are going to be this weekend.
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