The great Amanda Serrano returns to the ring Saturday, February 4th at the Hulu theatre at Madison Square Garden against WBA featherweight champion Erika Cruz Hernandez. Serrano currently holds the other three major belts, making this a fight for the undisputed featherweight championship. 

The significance of this fight has been extremely understated. While Cruz (15-1, 3 ko) may not have the biggest name, she is coming off career best wins over long time champion Jelena Mrdjenovich, both to take the WBA title and in a rematch to retain said title. The winner of this fight will become the first ever undisputed women’s featherweight champion. 

Serrano (43-2-1, 30 ko) has shown to have the ability to go up and down in weight throughout her career about as effectively as any fighter in boxing. In fact, in her last four fights she has alternated between featherweight and lightweight, coming back down to featherweight against Sarah Mahfoud after the 2022 fight of the year against Katie Taylor at 135 lbs. In a more extreme case, in 2018 Serrano beat Yamila Esther Reynoso at jr. welterweight (140 lbs) only to drop down to jr. flyweight (115 lbs) in her next bout against Eva Voraberger in a first round knockout win. That is about as drastic a weight drop any fighter has undergone from fight to fight while still maintaining their power and effectiveness equally at both weights. In many ways, Serrano makes more  interesting matchups than any other fighter in boxing. She could be an interesting opponent for anyone from bantamweight Ebanie Bridges to current undisputed jr. welterweight champion Chantelle Cameron. 

She could also make an a great matchup for Alycia Baumgardner (13-1, 7 ko), the current unified jr. lightweight champion who fights in the co-main. She takes on tough contender Elhem Mekhaled (15-1, 3 ko) who is coming off a razor thin decision loss to long time champion Delfine Persoon. This too is an underrated matchup, and despite the fact that many fans were hoping for a rematch with Mikaela Mayer, Mekhaled is a legitimated contender. 

For Serrano, a win against Cruz to become undisputed champion would be yet another accolade to add the list of accomplishments in her career. For Cruz, a chance to catapult her name to the top of the sport and to open doors to almost any big fight she could think of, with four belts around her waist. One thing is for sure though; as Serrano approaches the back end of her career, she does so having already solidified herself as an all time great. Everything going forward is to see just how great she really is. 

Also on the card:

• Undefeated jr. welterweight prospects Richardson Hitchins (15-0, 7 ko) and John Bauza (17-0, 7 ko) face off in a 10 rounder in Bauza’s first fight since a decision win over Tony Luis 3/19.
• Featherweight prospect Skye Nicholson (5-0) takes on Tania Alvarez (7-0, 1 ko) of Spain.
• Super middleweights Shadasia Green (11-0, 10 ko) takes on Elin Cederroos (8-1, 4 ko) for the WBC silver title.
• Jr. featherweights Ramla Ali (7-0, 1 ko) vs Avril Mathie (8-0-1, 3 ko).
• Aaron Aponte (6-0-1, 2 ko) vs Joshua David Rivera (8-1, 3 ko).