SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – A lot has changed for Amanda Serrano since the last time she fought in Puerto Rico back in 2021. Serrano had become one of the most popular boxers in the sport, thanks in large part to the commercial success of her three fights with Katie Taylor, while becoming the focal point of the biggest women’s boxing platform in the sport’s history, Most Valuable Promotions.
Saturday’s fight at Coliseo Roberto Clemente against Reina Tellez was a homecoming for Serrano, a Puerto Rico native, but also a celebration of all the seven-division world champion has accomplished.
Serrano gave the fans something to cheer about.
Serrano battled through a badly swollen right eye to defeat Tellez by unanimous decision, retaining her WBO and WBA featherweight titles in the process. The scores were 98-92 on one card and 97-93 on the other two as Serrano, 37, raised her record to 48-4-1 (31 KOs). Tellez, 22, of San Antonio, dropped to 13-1-1 (5 KOs) in her pro career.
The fight was the first for Serrano after she lost back-to-back decisions to Taylor in 2024 and 2025, and it was her first victory since her second-round stoppage of Stevie Morgan in July 2024. The 37-year-old Serrano hadn’t fought at featherweight since October 2023, when she shut out Danila Ramos to retain the titles.
Tellez, who took the fight on two weeks’ notice after Serrano's original opponent, Erika Cruz, was removed from the fight because of an atypical finding of clenbuterol on a VADA test, was fighting in her first scheduled 10-rounder, and for the first time in a fight with three-minute rounds (which is the norm for men but still a growing marker for equality in women’s boxing).
The fight was Serrano’s third with three-minute rounds.
The titles were only on the line for Serrano, as Tellez missed weight by .6lbs the day before the fight.
After a feeling out round where Serrano effectively established her southpaw lead hand, Serrano began to ramp up the pressure in the second round, banging body shots that opened up left crosses upstairs. The crowd chanted in support of Serrano throughout, with little girls with high pitched voices leading the way with chants of “Amanda yo voy a ti!,” which translates in English to “Amanda, I am going for you!”
Tellez slowly began to get more comfortable in the fight as the rounds progressed, trying to match her taller opponent punch for punch, and managed to rock Serrano back with a right hand at the end of an exchange.
There was an air of drama in the fight heading into the fifth as the area beneath Serrano’s right eye began to swell. Serrano responded with greater pressure, particularly with body punches, as the crowd roared in approval.
Serrano’s right eye was virtually closed by the sixth round, though Serrano was still the aggressor. For the first time, it was clear that Serrano was having trouble seeing the punches coming back at her, as right hands began to land with greater regularity.
Serrano regained control of the fight in the seventh and eighth rounds, landing her left cross flush, while using her right hook to cut off Tellez’s movement towards her swollen eye.
Serrano never stopped chasing a stoppage, ramping up her aggression in the tenth as she emptied the tank and snapped Tellez’s head back with left hands. Tellez spent the last two minute of the fight trying to make it to the final bell.
Ryan Songalia is a reporter and editor for BoxingScene.com and has written for ESPN, the New York Daily News, Rappler, The Guardian, Vice and The Ring magazine. He holds a Master’s degree in Journalism from the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism and is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be reached at ryansongalia@gmail.com or on Twitter at @ryansongalia.
