Mathis vs. Serrano On October 1, Holyfield Gives Up WBF Belt

ByBoxing Press

Brooklyn-based Cindy “Checkmate” Serrano (15-3-2, 7 KOs) had her first shot at a world championship in 2005 when she fought to a draw with Rhonda Luna for the vacant WIBA Featherweight crown.

Almost six years later she will get a second chance, as she travels to France to take on hard-punching reigning WBF Women’s Welterweight Champion Anne Sophie Mathis (24-1, 21 KOs) on October 1.

That December night back in 2005 at the Turning Stone Casino in Verona, New York, Serrano’s 16 year old younger sister Amanda was sitting at ringside. Amanda since started her own boxing career, and became a world champion earlier this month when she won the IBF Super Featherweight title.

While happy for her sibling’s success, Cindy obviously doesn’t want to take a backseat to her kid sister. With that in mind, Serrano has worked vigorously with trainer Jordan Maldonado at Glendale Boxing Club in Queens, N.Y., and believes they have come up with the right strategy to beat Mathis, even in the champion’s home country.

However, it will be a very tough assignment for the 29-year-old Puerto Rican-American. Anne Sophie Mathis has only tasted defeat once as a professional, and that was almost six years ago and in her second bout. In 1995 Mathis was overwhelmed by the more experienced and undefeated Marischa Sjauw, who later went on to win multiple world titles.
Eleven victories later Mathis won the WBA Light Welterweight title, along with the EBU European crown, in an all-French super-fight against current WBF Light Welterweight champ Myriam Lamare, stopping her then undefeated countryman in seven rounds. Six months later she beat Lamare again in a rematch, this time by a close majority decision in a defense of the WBA belt.

In 2008 Mathis added the WBC and WIBF titles by defeating Panamanian Ana Pascal. She defended the WBA trinket once more later that year, before taking 2009 off and moving up to welterweight. In April 2011 she captured the WBO European championship in a tune-up towards winning the WBF and WIBA Welterweight titles in June with a stoppage over Switzerland’s Olivia Boudouma.

Against Serrano, Mathis will be making her first WBF title defense, and at 34 years of age she is fighting better than ever and appears to have many years as champion left in her. Cindy Serrano is however coming to cut her reign short, become her family’s second world champion, and ruin plans for a welterweight super-fight that Mathis has lined up against Holly Holm in the USA in December.

Against Serrano, Mathis will be making her first WBF title defense, and at 34 years of age she is fighting better than ever and appears to have many years as champion left in her. Cindy Serrano is however coming to cut her reign short, become her family’s second world champion, and ruin plans for a welterweight super-fight that Mathis has lined up against Holly Holm in the USA in December.

Evander Holyfield has decided to relinquish the WBF Heavyweight title in order to challenge Alexander Povetkin for the WBA “regular” title in December. The legendary American informed this personally to WBF president Howard Goldberg.

“I have been in talks with Evander Holyfield over the past couple of weeks. He has secured a December fight against Povetkin for one of the WBA titles and informed me that with much regret he would have to relinquish his WBF world title”, said Goldberg.

“Evander and I have always had an open relationship and he expressed his great pride in having fought for and having held our WBF world heavyweight title and that he will always keep the WBF close to his heart.”

Holyfield, 44-10-2, (29), won the WBF title in April 2010 stopping Francois Botha in eight rounds at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, and made one defense, a No-Contest with Sherman Williams in January. In his latest outing, on May 7, he stopped Dane Brian Nielsen in a non title fight.

“It has always been our philosophy at the WBF to allow our champions to grow, be it with us at the WBF or whether they are offered opportunities elsewhere. We have never, and will never, prevent our fighters from growing – that is not who we are”, continued Goldberg.

“So I take this opportunity to thank Evander for being our WBF champion, and for holding our title with such gratitude and pride, and wish him all the best for his upcoming fight in December.”

Evander Holyfield will forever be considered one of the greatest Heavyweight Champions in the history of the sport. After Unifying the WBA, WBC and IBF Cruiserweight titles in the late eighties, he won the Heavyweight World titles of the same organizations in 1990 by stopping James “Buster” Douglas in three rounds.

He since won and lost world titles several times, and will only cement his legacy further should he defeat Alexander Povetkin (22-0, 15 KOs) in December.