Cruz and Serrano take over New York for unification  – World Boxing Association

This week will be very important for women’s boxing as it will be the main event of Saturday’s night at Madison Square Garden. World Boxing Association (WBA) featherweight champion Erika Cruz will face Amanda Serrano, owner of the WBC, IBF and WBO belts in the night’s main event fight.

It will be the second time that a female fight will be the main event at this venue, something that happened for the first time in April last year when Serrano herself faced Irish Katie Taylor. In addition, the undisputed 136-pound championship will be contested and another episode of the historic rivalry between Mexico and Puerto Rico will take place. 

Cruz will go for the third defense of her black and gold belt. She has been champion since April 2021 when she defeated Jelena Mrdjenovich by unanimous decision in West Point. She returned to the ring in November of that same year to make her first defense against Melissa Esquivel in Mexico and then got her second defense by defeating Mrdjenovich again in September last year. 

The Mexican closed her camp last Saturday amidst music and motivation before the big fight she has this weekend. She said it is the most important fight of her career and that she is well prepared to face Serrano and make history. 

Amanda, for her part, is one of the most important fighters of today and one of the most outstanding of all time. She is the owner of three belts in the category and has the main goal of getting the WBA belt to become undisputed champion.

In 2022 she made the fight of the year by moving up two divisions to face Taylor and although she lost she left some great moments in the ring that night. She faced Sarah Maffoud last September and got a good win in her return to featherweight and now she is ready to face this fight against the Mexican. 

New York will experience a week full of boxing with different promotional events including public training, press conference and weigh-in ceremony. Cruz has 15 wins, 1 loss and 3 knockouts, while Serrano has 43 wins, 2 setbacks, 1 draw and 39 knockouts.