New York Amanda Serrano He emphasized in all the interviews he gave before his 126-pound unification fight against the Mexican Erika Cruz that he was preparing for war between Puerto Rico and Mexico.

Yesterday, Saturday, Serrano’s prediction came true. It was a war, and in the end, Serrano walked out the wide door and became the first Puerto Rican boxer – male or female – to become the undisputed champion of the division.

The fight at the Hulu Theater in Madison Square Garden left a record number of offenses. Cruz was a “war machine” that the Puerto Rican was able to handle with her greater experience and boxing skills.

Cruz (15-2, 3 KOs) is the fighter who has landed the most punches in a women’s fight with 968, according to the CompuBox computerized punch scoring system. For his part, Serrano (44-2-1, 30 KOs) was second at 949.

In fact, this fight became the first in the women’s division, in which the most combinations were thrown – 1917.

The information collected by this platform also showed that the seventh round took the first place with the most combinations thrown at 255.

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In addition to those numbers, the final image of both fighters covered in blood and sweat showed the intensity of the 10-round contest they faced, which ended with the Puerto Rican winning by unanimous decision. Serrano took the World Boxing Association belt held by Cruz to add to the World Boxing Organization, World Boxing Council, International Boxing Federation, International Boxing Organization and The Ring belts at 126 pounds.

Avoid “no answer”

One of the details revealed at the post-fight press conference is that Serrano’s corner warned him to “hold the shrapnel” with Cruz until the fourth round to prevent doctors from stopping the fight due to bleeding. which the Aztec submitted as a result of a headbutt in the third round.

The statement came after reporters asked about Serrano’s drop in intensity in the fourth round.

“We put up with it because Cindy (Serrano, Amanda’s sister, who was also a boxer) tells us, ‘she’s cut before the fourth round and we don’t want them to stop the fight and end it ‘no contest’ before the fourth round.” So I told him to keep it up a little bit and we’ll be back in four,” manager and trainer Jordan Maldonado said.

“That was a great observation from Cindy. It was she who told us that if they stopped the fight before the fourth round, the fight would be declared a “no fight”. We’re working really hard for that, so we kind of stopped until we got through that fourth round and then we got back to what we had to do,” Maldonado added.

The manager admitted that the team was aware that Cruz tends to stick his head in. However, this habit took its toll on him as he took a cut early in the fight.

Happy and looking forward to a great reception

When Serrano heard the unanimous result in her favor from the judges, she was overcome with emotion. His first words were: “Puerto Rico, we won. puñeta”which caused applause from those present.

Asked about her impressions of her historic achievement during a press conference, the 34-year-old flashed a big smile and said she was “extremely happy”.

“This is a dream for my island and for my fellow Puerto Ricans. I’m “over the moon” right now. I can’t wait to get back to the island and enjoy life with my people. I’m happy”she was visibly excited.

How do you expect this celebration to take place in Puerto Rico?”, he was asked.

“I don’t know. I can’t wait to see,” he said with a laugh.

Do you expect them to look like Tito Trinidad?” he insisted.

“I’m waiting. That would be great”he noted.