Tiara Brown’s trainer is excited about the featherweight titleholder signing with Most Valuable Promotions and what opportunities may await her now that she’s with the foremost promoter of women’s boxing.
“Definitely a blessing to have MVP to be able to pick Tiara up,” said Ernesto Rodriguez of Hillcrest Boxing Gym, located just outside of Washington, D.C. The trainer previously guided Jarrett Hurd to become a unified junior middleweight titleholder, and his current fighters also include prospects Francois Scarboro Jnr and Ervin Fuller III.
“She’s been around for so long. She deserves the opportunity that MVP presents, to give her the platform that she deserves to be able to display her skills and show that she's the best 126-pounder out there.”
Brown, 20-0 (11 KOs), has reached this point relatively deep into her career. She turned pro in 2016 but didn’t get her first title shot until last March, when she traveled to Australia and unseated Skye Nicolson for the WBC belt at 126lbs. Brown made her first defense in September on an Overtime Boxing card in Houston, Texas, widely outpointing the 10-3-1 Emma Gongora.
But at 37 years old, the window for Brown to capitalize on her accomplishments isn’t as wide as it might be for younger boxers. Rodriguez stresses that Brown and her managerial and promotional teams will make the decisions on who she fights, but the coach has his hopes for what 2026 will look like for his pupil.
“We’re ready to unify it and hopefully by the end of the year challenge for undisputed if it’s available,” he said. “Coming into MVP, the first fight, I would say let her get her introduction fight. She hasn’t fought since September. Let her get a voluntary [defense], and then after the voluntary we can go ahead and challenge Nina [Meinke] for the IBF to unify that.”
That would seemingly be allowable by the WBC. The sanctioning body’s rankings actually include both of the other titleholders at 126lbs: Amanda Serrano, the former undisputed champ who still has the WBA and WBO belts, is rated first; Meinke, the IBF titleholder, sits in the second spot.
Meinke, 20-3 (4 KOs), is a 32-year-old from Germany who picked up the vacant belt in September 2024 with a majority decision over former three-division titleholder Daniela Romina Bermudez. Meinke’s last fight was a unanimous decision win over Bermudez in their rematch this past May.
“She’s a very tough fighter. She’s definitely a good challenge, but I see Tiara taking the title from her,” Rodriguez said. “Tiara is a special fighter. She rises to the level. She’s very strong, very well-conditioned. She has a good IQ, and she spars with men, and she does well with men sparring, so psychologically, physically, mentally and spiritually, she’s definitely very confident that she can beat Nina.”
That would then leave a potential fight with Serrano for undisputed. Serrano is a future Hall of Fame inductee and the top star within MVP’s stable. She’s also friends with Brown.
“I’m sure that they will fight each other. I’m pretty sure that they would if it came down to it,” Rodriguez said. “But at the same time, that's a decision that Tiara will have to make. I don’t make the decision. As a trainer, I just look at what’s in front of us.”
Serrano, 48-4-1 (31 KOs), returned to featherweight in January after wrapping up her trilogy with Katie Taylor at lightweight and junior welterweight. Serrano kicked off her 2026 by outpointing a good prospect named Reina Tellez.
Serrano controversially went 0-3 against Taylor. Rodriguez believes Serrano deserved the first two decisions. And though Serrano is also 37 and has more than 50 professional fights behind her, Rodriguez recognizes the skill and talent “The Real Deal” can still bring to the ring.
“Amanda’s a devastating puncher. She’s always in great shape. And she’s fan- friendly,” Rodriguez said. “She’s still a dangerous champion and one that is very well-respected throughout the world and in women’s boxing. I look at her as a threat still. She’s still the same Amanda that I’ve seen before, until I see otherwise. I think her coming back down to 126, she's gonna be at her strongest.”
Serrano would be a tough opponent, but it’s a winnable fight for Brown, he said.
“I believe in my fighter. I believe in what we do. I believe that we serve a God that has given us everything that we asked,” Rodriguez said. “We have faith. Manifestation has become a reality right before our eyes. When we took the fight in Australia, we went to another continent to fight Nicolson in her backyard. Not one time did I [think] that we were going to lose that fight, but many other people did.
“Nevertheless, we went down there and captured the title and brought it back to U.S. soil. So I believe in my fighter. Whenever we fight anyone, we're going to do the due diligence to study, to prepare, and to make sure that we make the necessary adjustments to become victorious on that specific night.”
But while this reporter asked plenty of questions about Serrano, Rodriguez emphasized that she is not their focus right now.
“We take one fight at a time,” Rodriguez said. “There are many fighters that you can say [Tiara] could fight, but we're not focused on all of them. We only focus on who's in front, then we prepare for that, and once we dethrone that then we move on to the next. So yeah, we could talk about Amanda Serrano, who is the super champion of the division, multiple times, multiple weight division champion. But we're not focusing on Amanda Serrano at all right now.
“I think that they're focused on their friendship, and they're focused on now coming on MVP and having Tiara put herself in a position to become a superstar. Then once those things are out of the way, if and when the Amanda Serrano fight presents, then we focus on that. Then we’ll begin to sit down and strategize as to what we need to do to win the fight. But as for right now, we’re not focusing on anyone. We’re focusing on the next fight, and we’re just waiting to hear what date and who it is.
“We just got to wait and see what her management team does and promoter does. And my job is just to prepare her for the bout. I could say a lot of things, but they and Tiara are the ones that make the final decision. And my job is just to prepare her for victory.”
David Greisman, who has covered boxing since 2004, is on Twitter @FightingWords2. David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” is available on Amazon.
