Amanda Serrano achieved a career milestone Friday night in defense of her WBO and WBA featherweight titles, just not the record-breaker many thought it would be leading into her fight against Lucrecia Manzur.
Serrano, 38, didn't set a new women's knockout record, but in a 116-112, 116-112, 114-114 majority decision win over Manzur, she picked up career win No. 50, a benchmark that few women's fighters have reached. Serrano told ESPN on Thursday it's something she never thought she'd accomplish when she turned pro.
Many treated Friday night like a coronation and felt it was a fait accompli that Serrano would break Christy Martin's knockout record against Manzur. Instead, Serrano (50-4-1, 32 KO) had to hang on for a win over a fighter 10 years younger than her. Manzur (14-5, 7 KOs), 27, landed consistent overhand left hooks throughout the fight, appearing to stun the champion in multiple rounds and presenting a bigger challenge than many could have expected.
"A tough, young fighter. She was hungry," Serrano said in the ring afterward. "And I knew that coming into training."
According to the broadcast, Serrano landed 25% (142 of 346) of her power punches compared with Manzur's 34% (118 of 283). Manzur consistently came forward toward Serrano through the first eight rounds of the fight, appearing to have the clear advantage.
Serrano, who has always been a come-forward fighter willing to take shots to land more powerful ones, settled into her rhythm toward the end of the fight but still ended up in a challenging bout.
Serrano said after the fight she hurt her hand but didn't specify the injury.
In a post on X late Friday, Serrano acknowledged that Friday's bout was "rough."
"The mind tells you one thing but the body does another," she wrote in the post. "You can fight anyone you want and squeeze out a victory but Father Time isn't allowing [too] much of that. Thank you so much to All my fans you guys are amazing. You're the reason why I dug in deep tonight."
Despite the closeness of Friday's fight, it still resulted in a victory milestone for Serrano, who started professional boxing in 2009 after a brief amateur career.
"When I turned pro, never thought I would become a world champion. Never a multiple world champion, multiple division world champion and now going for my 50th win," Serrano told ESPN on Thursday. "It's a milestone. A lot of people, a lot of girls, guys, don't even make it to that. And it's something special thinking about it now."
Before winning world titles in seven divisions and taking part in a trilogy against Katie Taylor that elevated modern women's boxing, Serrano fought Ela Nunez in 2009. Serrano had a scant amateur career and four professional fights leading into that night in Atlantic City, New Jersey, when she and Nunez represented the only women's fight on the card.
Of all her early fights, it was this one -- a four-round fight resulting in a split draw against a two-time secondary world title challenger -- that stood out to her more than 17 years later.
"I wasn't supposed to be in there with Ela Nunez," Serrano said. "That's how I got the name 'The Real Deal.' And that was like a little turning point for me realizing I have potential. I can do this."
Five years later, in 2014, Serrano traveled to South America for the only time in her career, beating Maria Elena Maderna for the WBO lightweight title, making her a two-weight champion. It was a fight, Serrano said, initially supposed to go to her sister Cindy as a title challenger. They made a deal for Amanda to take the fight instead.
Serrano knocked Maderna out in the sixth round, part of a streak of nine straight stoppages. It gave her the idea to go after history. She said she considered the accomplishments of her Puerto Rican idols, such as three-division champions Felix Trinidad and Hector Camacho and four-division titlist Miguel Cotto, and decided to go after belts in as many weight classes as possible.
"That's why we started the division quest," she said.
Serrano won a title in a seventh division in 2019, knocking out Eva Voraberger to win the WBO junior bantamweight title, becoming the first woman and Puerto Rican to win titles in seven divisions.
Realizing no Puerto Rican fighter had become an undisputed champion in the four-belt era, she went after that next, defeating Sarah Mahfoud in 2022 to become the undisputed featherweight champion in her first fight after selling out Madison Square Garden for Taylor-Serrano I.
She later challenged Taylor to try and go undisputed in a second division, lightweight, in a 2024 rematch but lost a close fight.
The accomplishments left her with only legacy goals to pursue: 50 wins and a potential all-time women's knockout record. Soon after Serrano signed with MVP in 2021, she told ESPN she knew the end of her career was closer than the beginning. She reiterated it multiple times, but the attention she received kept growing. Her star power rose. The trilogy with Taylor became an iconic marker in women's boxing, twice filling Madison Square Garden.
Serrano said in April this would probably be her final year as a fighter. She tied Martin's record in May. She didn't break it Friday night, but said after her win over Manzur she plans on fighting one more time. She's long said before her career ends, she wants to fight again in Puerto Rico, her home.
"We still got that 33rd knockout [to try for], I've got one more fight," Serrano said after the fight. "If I don't get it, I'm glad that I tied with Christy Martin."
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