Amanda Serrano still has more than enough fight left

Amanda Serrano is 38 years old, finally showing the wear of 55 professional fights and coming off an underwhelming performance in what was meant to be her boxing swan song.

But if anyone ever deserved to end their career on their terms, and to go out with a bang – proverbial, literal or otherwise – it’s Serrano.

Maybe that’s why the mood at Tuesday’s press conference promoting “The Last Walk” – the tagline for Serrano’s unified featherweight title defense against Skye Falzon set for Jan. 9 at Coliseo de Puerto Rico in San Juan – made it feel like more of a celebration than a showdown.

“I'm going to miss you guys screaming my name, cheering for me,” Serrano said. “I think that's going to be the hardest part: not being able to walk into an arena and have people cheer for me and me performing for you guys.”

Serrano, 50-4-1 (32 KOs), is a bona fide women’s boxing pioneer who has only recently had the opportunity to begin enjoying the fruits of her punishing labor.

Toiling in relative obscurity and for working-class wages, Serrano began her career 42-1-1, with a ridiculous 30 KOs, fighting mostly in her native Puerto and Boricua-friendly New York. When she signed with Jake Paul’s fledgling MVP Promotions in 2021, both Serrano’s career and women’s boxing – not coincidentally – took off.

In April 2022, Serrano challenged undisputed lightweight champion Katie Taylor, and the two filled Madison Square Garden in the first-ever women’s fight to headline at boxing’s mecca. They fought twice more, selling out MSG again in the series finale in July 2025. Serrano went 0-3 against Taylor, but her demonstration of power, grit and class in the trilogy – and over her career – has minted Serrano’s significant legacy.

“I want people to remember me as a game-changer and that I gave it my all in the ring,” Serrano said. “Every time I fall, every time I train, I just left everything in the ring.”

That seemed less evident in Serrano's most recent outing, a too-tight decision over unheralded Lucrecia Manzur in August. The fight was expected to be Serrano's last, but it wasn't the postscript anyone was satisfied with for her storied career.

Now Australia’s Falzon, 12-2, (7 KOs) and not exactly the second coming of Taylor, awaits. For context, Falzon’s most recent – and most notable – win came in September in a wide decision over India’s 10-3 Monika Singh. That she is the WBA’s No. 4 contender somehow defies belief and yet is par for the course.

The fine print isn’t actually that hard to read. Falzon may not be cannon fodder, but if Serrano blasts her off in San Juan, all the better for just about everyone involved in this event. Having already tied Christy Martin’s women’s record of 32 knockouts, Serrano will undoubtedly be swinging for the fences against Falzon, with an eye on sole possession of the record.

Falzon, bless her, has refused to be put in a corner. Or in a cannon.

“I'm not here just to take part in Amanda's history,” she said. “I'm here to try to write my own. I wouldn't be a fighter if I didn’t believe I could win.”

In any other circumstances, her opponent would be rooting for her. Serrano respects nothing more than the fight. As she has done so often for her bouts in the past, she pushed for three-minute rounds – the men’s standard – against Falzon. Serrano didn’t get her wish, but sometimes that’s how it goes. You fight to win. But the fighting, not the winning, is the point.

“I love that she's going to come in shape, and she's going to try to take my titles away,” Serrano said. “These titles are going to stay here, first and foremost. I love it, and just for her to go out with that mindset, knowing that when I do beat her, I'm beating the best Skye Falzon.”