Amanda Serrano is fighting for herself and the future of women's boxing
-
Michael Rothstein, ESPN Staff Writer
When Amanda Serrano and her trainer and manager Jordan Maldonado started formulating their plan for Serrano’s upcoming fight — one that will make history on Friday night — they understood that, despite all the training and experience the undisputed featherweight champion has amassed in her hall of fame career, preparation for this bout would need to be different.
This type of fight is one she’d considered for a while. A bout where she knows she could make a difference. On Friday, when Serrano puts her IBF, WBO and WBA titles on the line against Danila Ramos, the bout will be scheduled for 12 three-minute rounds, the same as a men’s championship fight.
As she enters the later stages of her career, Serrano wants to push the sport forward. She’s already been one half of the biggest fight in women’s boxing history — against undisputed lightweight champion Katie Taylor last year — and she’s helped push for better pay for elite female fighters with a seven-figure payday for the Taylor fight.
This fight on Friday offers a chance to expand on what Serrano has already done and a chance for true ring equality in women’s boxing. “If I could get three-minute rounds,” Top Rank CEO Bob Arum told ESPN in July 2021. “I would sign a number of women.”
Mayweather Promotions CEO Leonard Ellerbe agreed. He told ESPN in 2021 he believed three-minute rounds offer more opportunities for excitement and could create another way to increase popularity within the sport. Longer rounds could lead to more knockouts and more strategy, which could lead to potentially bigger paydays.
That’s what Serrano wants to accomplish, the aspiration. Now she and Ramos just had to prepare properly.
“It’s a little different,” Maldonado said. “But we welcome it. It’s like a new adventure. It’s almost like starting all over again.”
Friday will be Serrano’s 49th professional fight and in some ways, she has a changed level of energy. She’s always been extremely prepared because of her high-output, aggressive fighting style. To try and keep up with that, while also adapting to longer rounds and potentially a longer fight at 36 minutes instead of 20, it meant additions. Everything they did before, Maldonado said, they came close to doubling.
“I just added,” Serrano said. “A little more.”
This bout will potentially have a high level of importance for the future of women’s boxing. For Serrano and Ramos, though, everything leading up to it — the training and preparation — is going to be even more critical.
WHEN SERRANO AND her team decided to do this, it almost forced a different approach. So often, women’s fights become fist-throwing free-for-alls. No time for rest. No time for extensive planning because too much sitting back could lead to a lost round. When you start making adjustments, the 2 minutes are over.
Now the mindset shifted, and Serrano can take a different strategic view.
“There’s certain little things that now we can do, ‘OK, we’re going to study this, we’re going to set this up,’ ” Maldonado said. “Whereas before, it was just, we’re going to go out there and do it.”
In sparring, Serrano worked on longer set ups for punches she is targeting. However, it’s not a complete stylistic change — more of a different mindset. Serrano won’t be racing against a clock to accomplish everything she wants to within a round anymore. Maldonado believes the change will showcase the better fighters, the more skillful boxers, which is what they’ve been working toward. Serrano is also excited for the opportunity the longer fight brings.
“I have to make sure I can show we can go three minutes, but [also] be exciting,” Serrano said. “I’m actually excited to see myself. I’m one of the girls that throw a lot of punches. So, I want to see if I can still maintain that punch status for three minutes and prove everyone wrong.”
One change has been to ramp up sparring sessions. Training in Puerto Rico — Serrano moved her base from New York to her home island earlier this year — Maldonado brought in Puerto Rican champions to work with her.
It became a test. As workouts improved, Maldonado increased intensity. When they started at eight three-minute rounds in sparring, Serrano was tired by the end. Then they went to 10 three-minute rounds and then 12 and beyond.
“I’ve done everything I wanted in boxing in my career. So I think now is just to set different standards as far as women’s boxing. I’m an undisputed champion and I think I want to continue to do three minutes…. Two minutes, it makes no sense to go backwards.”
Amanda Serrano
They also altered their days. Mornings were strength and conditioning. Afternoons for boxing work or sparring — for two hours. Nights? Running. This added an extra workout from their typical twice daily plan for two-minute round fights.
On non-sparring days, they would do 12-ish rounds on a heavy bag, three or four rounds of shadow boxing and then three or four rounds of jumping rope. At night, Serrano began 90-minute runs to help increase her endurance.
The first week, Maldonado said, they both wondered what they’d gotten themselves into because they hadn’t done it before. Once they understood, it started to normalize, becoming part of the routine as Serrano’s body adjusted to the different training after a 14-year pro career.
“Sometimes you’re in a sport and it becomes redundant and you’re like, ‘ahh, same thing again,’ ” Maldonado said. “Your motivation, you know, it’s not really there. Now, she’s like re-motivated.
“She’s like, ‘I feel like when I was in my amateur days,’ you know, where everything was working hard and I’m excited.”
SENIESA ESTRADA HAS been through this before. She’s one of the few modern-era fighters to have fought a championship-level three-minute round fight, defeating Marlen Esparza in a scheduled 10-round bout in 2019.
Like Serrano, she trains at a high level. To fight Esparza, Estrada began sparring three-minute rounds in training.
The extra minute allowed Estrada to consider things in sparring and training she might not have otherwise done before. Adjusting to the difference in minutes didn’t take long — like Serrano, it brought Estrada back to her amateur days with longer rounds.
“I was able to sync out my plan and I knew it was going to work exactly how I was planning it in my mind and how we were planning it during sparring and training,” Estrada said. “Just because I had that extra minute, and I was confident.
“I was like, I know I’m not going to get tired. I already know that. I know I can do these three minutes easily and I know that I’m just gonna be an even better fighter because I have time.”
Estrada believes three-minute rounds will benefit Serrano because of her potential for patience and Serrano’s power.
When Estrada entered the ring against Esparza — and even during training — she felt calmer than normal because she knew she had more time.
“We were able to slow things down and just, like, think more,” Estrada said. “I was able to show more of my skill set in my fight with Esparza.”
FOR ALL THE changes in training and planning, Serrano and Ramos must do one thing to make this successful — deliver a captivating fight. Serrano has put herself and her team out there by pushing for change, for equality.
Serrano helped gather over two dozen fighters earlier this month seeking the choice for future 12, three-minute round championship level fights. The seven-division world champion saw this as the next attempt to leave a legacy on the sport.
Estrada and Esparza weren’t the first to do it. Layla McCarter fought two scheduled 12 three-minute round fights in 2017, but in this era of women’s boxing and the growth and depth it now has, this could be the flashpoint for the future.
“It means more than me right now,” Serrano said. “It’s for the whole sport of women’s boxing.”
Fighting three-minute rounds as the normal is next on her list of goals.
“I’ve done everything I wanted in boxing in my career,” Serrano said. “So, I think now is just to set different standards as far as women’s boxing. I’m an undisputed champion and I think I want to continue to do three minutes.
“Two minutes? It makes no sense to go backwards.”
