When Amanda Serrano heard the news that her rematch against Katie Taylor was being postponed until November, her first thought was still fighting on July 20.
The long-awaited second fight between two of the top boxers in the world was set to serve as the co-main event to Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson, but the entire card was scrapped after Tyson suffered health complications that forced him to delay his return to action. As a result, Paul vs. Tyson and Serrano vs. Taylor were both moved to Nov. 13.
But despite the massive attention surrounding her rematch against Taylor later this year, Serrano insisted that she get a new opponent so she could still compete on July 20.
“My team with [Most Valuable Promotions co-founder] Nakisa Bidarian, we voiced to him that we needed a fight,” Serrano told MMA Fighting. “Because they pushed it back to Nov. 13 and that’s going to be over a year since I fought.
“My last fight was Oct. 27, so I said we need to fight somewhere — MMA, boxing, we need to go in there and fight. Because my fight in March got cancelled.”
Serrano said Bidarian got to work right away on securing her a new opponent, with plans to build a card around her headlining.
As it turns out, Paul didn’t want to be left out of the fun either, so he also requested to stay on the July 20 date, which is how Paul was ultimately matched up against bare-knuckle boxing superstar Mike Perry on the same night.
“[Bidarian] was working on a fight for just me and Jake was like, ‘I need to fight too!’” Serrano said. “Then they decided to put us together again, which I love fighting on the co-main event with Jake Paul. He just brings so many different types of people to see the fights. I get to steal one or two of his fans, so I’m excited.”
Of course, taking any fight with another bout already scheduled is an incredibly risky proposition.
Just recently, Deontay Wilder was assured a future showdown against Anthony Joshua in what would’ve been a massive fight, but the American boxer ended up suffering an upset loss to Joseph Parker that scrapped those plans.
Serrano recognizes she’s taking the same kind of risk with her new fight against Stevie Morgan — a veteran lightweight with a 14-1 record and 13 knockouts — but there was no hesitation requesting that matchup rather than just waiting to face Taylor in November.
“I wanted to feel comfortable at 140 [pounds],” Serrano said. “Obviously going up another division — once I’m out of featherweight, I’m taking risks. I know fighting Katie Taylor, the last one was at 135 and now she wants to bring me up another division at 140. It is what it is with Katie. But I wanted to fight a big girl because I wanted to test my power and test my endurance for that fight.
“Stevie Morgan is a good girl, she’s a tall girl, she has a lot of knockouts. She fights different than Katie Taylor, obviously. She has 13 knockouts. I just want to be able to go in there and be comfortable at 140.”
The same goes for Paul, who is still expected to face Tyson no matter what happens on July 20, but the narrative around his career completely changes if he gets torched by Perry.
In some ways, Serrano feels like Paul could deal with an even tougher fight on July 20 than what he expects against the 58-year-old Tyson.
“This is I think a little bit scarier than the Mike Tyson fight,” Serrano said. “Because Mike Perry is a lot younger than Tyson and he has a lot more experience. He can punch with bare knuckles. That hurts! But to be in this sport or any combat sport, you have to be a little not all the way up there. This isn’t easy. No one wakes up in the morning and goes, ‘I want to get punched in the face for a living.’
“Mike Perry is a dangerous fight, but I know Jake Paul. He’s a hard worker. He’s just an amazing person, an amazing fighter. He’s going to do good. I think he’s a bigger fighter, stronger fighter, he’s going to do good.”
As for her November fight against Taylor, Serrano isn’t putting much thought into that right now. She’s staying focused on the task at hand on July 20, but that rematch never strays too far from her mind.
“Even though I fought Katie Taylor and didn’t feel no power from her at 135, but obviously [Morgan] has 13 knockouts so I’m going to feel some power from her,” Serrano said. “It’s not the same power I felt with Katie. I won’t know until we fight on July 20 but I did it because I want to be comfortable at 140.”
“[After this fight it’s] right back into camp. The week following on July 26, I have my fighter fighting so maybe I’ll take a week off and then it’s right back. I have that big fight so I need to make sure I get that win this time.”
