Is Amanda Serrano the pound-for-pound No 1? Brooklyn boxer delivers a stinging and painful 10-round beating to further her claim
Monday 30 August 2021 07:26, UK
Amanda Serrano delivered a reminder of her brilliance in a one-sided world title defence against Yamileth Mercado on Sunday night in Cleveland.
Serrano successfully defended her WBC and WBO featherweight championships and furthered her case to be recognised as women's boxing's No 1.
The likes of Claressa Shields, Savannah Marshall and Katie Taylor also reign as undefeated world champions but Serrano is unrivalled as a seven-weight titleholder.
Serrano is on a 27-fight win streak and has not lost for nearly a decade.
Her opponent Mercado is the WBC super-bantamweight champion but was coming up a weight division and clearly felt the difference in punching power, opting for caution throughout the entire fight.
Serrano is feted as one of women's boxing's best knockout artists (she has 30 KOs in 41 wins) but could not finish Mercado inside the distance.
He landed a hurtful left hook in the seventh round, then bludgeoned her against the ropes in the eighth.
Serrano opened a cut on Mercado with another left hook in the ninth round then spent the 10th battering her bloodied challenger who nearly fell on several occasions.
The fight was scored 97-93, 98-92, and 99-91 to Serrano.
She said on BT Sport Box Office about fighting Katie Taylor: "I want all the titles at featherweight, I want to become undisputed, and then later, what a great fight it would be, undisputed vs undisputed."
