Seven division girls’s world champion Amanda Serrano will probably be again in a well-known setting for February. Serrano will battle Erika Cruz for the undisputed girls’s featherweight title at Madison Sq. Backyard’s Hulu Theater February 4th.
Matchroom Boxing made the announcement Tuesday morning of the Serrano-Cruz showdown and in addition American Alycia Baumgardner going for 130 lb. girls’s supremacey agains Elhem Mekhaled within the co-feature,
All of the Featherweight marbles on the road, Feb 4! @Serranosisters
@ErikaCruzHerna5 #SerranoCruz pic.twitter.com/rza0in0md6
— Matchroom Boxing (@MatchroomBoxing) January 3, 2023
From the Matchroom Boxing official launch:
“Amanda Serrano will face Erika Cruz in a Puerto Rico vs. Mexican battle for the Undisputed World Featherweight championship and Alycia Baumgardner takes on Elhem Mekhaled for the Undisputed World Tremendous-Featherweight championship at Hulu Theater at Madison Sq. Backyard in New York on Saturday February 4, solely stay worldwide on DAZN….
Seven-weight World champion Amanda “Actual Deal” Serrano (43-2-1 30 KOs) appears to be like to change into the primary Puerto Rican born fighter to take house the title of undisputed, as she lastly will get the chance at Featherweight the place she has dominated since 2019, after her history-making Light-weight conflict with Katie Taylor at Madison Sq. Backyard final April. Serrano faces off towards Cruz in her hometown of New York Metropolis after a convincing win over Sarah Mahfoud in Manchester, England so as to add the Dane’s IBF title to her WBO and WBC belts at 126lbs.
The lacking piece of the jigsaw is the WBA crown that belongs to Cruz (15-1 3 KOs). The Mexican turned WBA champion in April 2021, ending the lengthy reign of Canadian Jelena Mrdjenovich in West Level, New York. Cruz defended the title in Mexico in November 2021 after which met Mrdjenovich in a rematch in September in Mexico and gained through shutout on factors. The 32 yr previous, nicknamed ‘Dinamita’ will pose a giant menace to Serrano’s hopes of turning into undisputed and put a spanner within the works of the Taylor rematch.
“This can be a pivotal second, not only for me and my very own profession however for my house island of Puerto Rico,” mentioned Serrano. Incomes the chance to be an undisputed lineal champion is one thing most fighters solely dream about however turning into the primary boxer from Puerto Rico to be an undisputed champion would make it much more particular. I sit up for getting into the ring on Saturday, February 4th in my hometown of NYC again at Madison Sq. Backyard, taking up a Mexican champion in Erika Cruz and making Puerto Rican historical past. I encourage all my followers to show up and tune in!”
“I’m grateful that this chance was lastly given to me after a few years of labor,” mentioned Cruz. “I’ve all the time gone towards the whole lot, however God is on my facet, and he has given me the energy to attain my objectives. It’s time to make historical past and provides Mexico its first unified champion at 126 kilos.”
Baumgardner anxious to combat in U.S.
Baumgardner (13-1 7 KOs) had an excellent 2022, capped by her victorious journey to London the place she unified the 130lbs division towards bitter American rival and IBF, WBO and Ring Journal champion Mikaela Mayer in October through cut up resolution. Baumgardner made it three wins on the bounce within the UK having ripped the WBC and IBO World titles from Terri Harper in Sheffield in November 2021 with a shocking KO and defending the belt for the primary time in April in Manchester, shutting out Edith Matthysse over ten rounds.
Like Serrano, the Detroit star simply wants the WBA belt to finish the total set, and that belt is vacant with #3 ranked Mekhaled (15-1 3 KOs), and the French former interim WBC champion comes into the bout on the again of a slender reversal in a bruising encounter with Belgium’s former World ruler Delfine Persoon in Could in Abu Dhabi.
“Naturally, I’m VERY excited to lastly be combating for undisputed to make it official what I’ve recognized all alongside – I’m the world’s greatest fighter on this division!” mentioned Baumgardner.
“To lastly return house and debut in MY nation as a World champion is one thing I’ve been so trying ahead to and to have all of this come collectively as a co-main on the legendary Madison Sq. Backyard in NYC is so unbelievable!
“NYC is an superior illustration of our nation’s variety, the variety that’s so close to and pricey to my heritage… so for me, it’s positively a becoming venue.”
“I get to be an envoy for girls’s boxing in America on one of many largest levels for boxing on the earth! I plan to make use of my expertise as an athlete to point out People and the world a stage of ladies’s boxing that many have by no means seen earlier than.
There’s a stacked card in help of the Undisputed double-header, and it’s led by Brooklyn’s personal Richardson Hitchins taking up New Jersey’s John Bauza for the IBF North American and USWBC 140lb titles.
It’s a second combat below the Matchroom banner for Hitchins (15-0 7 KOs) and the unbeaten 25 yr previous will defend the IBF belt he gained on his first combat with Eddie Hearn in Cleveland in November, his first title combat within the paid ranks and look so as to add a second strap within the course of.
Hitchins fights in New York for the primary time since March 2019, and fellow unbeaten man Bauza (17-0 7 KOs) will wish to spoil his return to motion within the Massive Apple. The Puerto Rican from NJ faces each his first title bout and first battle over ten rounds within the paid ranks on the evening. Bauza was a nationwide champion the identical yr that Hitchins represented Haiti within the 2016 Olympics and the pair are acquainted with one another having sparred previously.
“I’m excited to come back again house and showcase my expertise in entrance of my metropolis and my #1 followers,” mentioned Hitchins. “After I signed with Eddie, he promised he was going to show me right into a star and having the chance to come back again so rapidly after my final combat, and do it at house, man I’m simply so grateful for this.
“Bauza isn’t any joke, we all know one another, however these are the kind of fights I need. I’m combating a younger, hungry, undefeated prospect like myself, however I actually imagine I’m the perfect 140 pounder on the earth and are available combat evening I’m going to point out him I’m on an entire different stage. February 4th goes to be a really particular evening for me, and I simply can’t wait to be again in entrance of my hometown followers and present the world that I’m an issue at 140 lbs.”
