In front of more than two million reported live viewers on TikTok alone, seven-division and current unified WBA and WBO female featherweight champion Amanda “The Real Deal” Serrano of Puerto Rico successfully defended her belts tonight (Friday, August 21) with a close 10-round majority decision over Argentina’s WBO No. 2 contender Lucrecia Manzur.
Fighting at Pechanga Resort Casino in Temecula, California, in a Most Valuable Promotions’ first-ever live boxing broadcast on the platform TikTok LIVE, (and the first-ever women’s world championship fight contested over 12 two-minute rounds) 37-year-old future Hall-of-Famer Serrano, 50-4-1 (32 KOs), came in looking for a historic 33rd career knockout over Manzur, 14-5 (7 KOs) of Argentina, but had to settle for a razor-thin verdict on two scorecards.
Despite being a massive betting underdog in the fight, after three closely fought rounds, Manzur figured out she couldn’t miss with the right hand, whether over-the-top or straight down the pipe and landed a concerning number of each throughout.
Perhaps abandoning the idea of the record-breaking knockout, Serrano stole the momentum from round nine and on, keeping Manzur at bay and outworking her with a steady cadence of midrange punches from both sides.
In the final round, a clearly tiring Manzur failed to punctuate her strong effort, while Serrano kept it steady on the outside.
The scores were 114-114 draw, countered by 116-112 and 116-112 for still-champion Serrano.
“I am so happy and honored,” said Serrano, post-fight. “That was the first championship main event fight on TikTok guys, super excited, super honored. Listen, I knew this girl was tough. She’s young. She’s 27. She’s 10 years younger than me. These girls are getting younger and stronger…
“It was surely an honor to be in there with a tough, young fighter. She was hungry, and I knew that coming into training. I trained very hard because I knew it was an opportunity for her… so I (knew I) had to come on my A-game.”
In the night’s co-main event, Varde, Denmark’s Melissa Mortensen won a thrilling but controversial 10-round unanimous decision over former world champion Mayelli Flores, of Mexico City, to win the vacant WBA Women’s junior featherweight championship.
Flores, 13-3-1 (4 KOs), dropped Mortensen, 10-0 (5 KOs), in round two, the first of the Dane’s career, with a compact left hook to the body. After rising, Mortensen decided caution belongs in the wind and an all-out slugfest ensued for the next eight rounds.
The squat 4’ 11” dynamo Flores looked to wade in with quick-fisted, short-arm power shots, while the taller and longer Mortensen focused on catching Flores coming in with authoritative counters, especially with the right hand.
Blessed with seemingly boundless energy, Flores showed an iron chin walking through bomb after bomb from Mortensen to land her own artillery.
In the end, the judges favored Mortensen’s work on the outside by scores of 95-94 Mortensen, 95-94 Flores and a deciding 95-94 Mortensen.
The crowd in attendance did not agree with the decision and booed heartily at the verdict.
Heavy-handed welterweight Avious Griffin stopped Jackson Marinez at the end of five brutal rounds.
“The Underdog” Griffin, 20-1 (19 KOs), of Chattanooga, Tennessee, was content to box with “El Fenix” Marinez, 23-4 (11 KOs) of Santo Domingo, until the Dominican veteran showed signs of slowing.
Then he pounced.
Griffin stepped on the gas in round five and sent Marinez down for a count with an accumulation of heavy punches. A perfect body shot sent him down again near the end of the round.
Wisely, Marinez’s corner elected to keep him on the stool at the start of round six.
Per California rules, the official verdict was RTD at 3:00 of round five.
Minimumweight “Mighty” Brook Sibrian, 10-3 (4 KOs), of Coachella, California, pulled a minor upset with an eight-round unanimous decision over formerly undefeated Lupita Medina, 12-1 (3 KOs), of Los Angeles.
In a barnburner, high-contact fight, Sibrian’s pressure and power gradually wore down Medina as the fight progressed. Both ladies made good accounts of themselves in this show-stealing female war.
The scores were 77-75, 78-74 and 78-74, all for Sibrian.
MVP-signed heavyweight prospect Nelvie Tiafack battered formerly undefeated Mexican Salvador Zavala until Referee David Sullivan mercifully waved the fight off at :55 of round three.
Fresh from training camp with Moses Itauma, Tiafack, 5-0 (4 KOs), a 2024 Olympic bronze medalist from Colon, Germany via Cameroon, had things all his way throughout against the survival-minded Zavala, 7-1 (5 KOs), who had been out of the ring since 2023.
Former 21-time national amateur champion Roxy “Right Hook” Verduzco won a close eight-round split decision over former Olympian Miguelina Hernandez.
A highly skilled contest where both featherweight fighters did good work, amateur star Verduzco, 8-0 (1 KO), of Los Angeles, and the Dominican Republic’s Hernandez, 4-1 (3 KOs), Santo Domingo, went back and forth throughout this uncommon battle between legitimate prospects with Hernandez’s speed making Verduzco’s every move a dangerous one.
The scores were 77-75 Verduzco, 78-74 Hernandez and a deciding 78-74 Verduzco.
In the opening bout of the main card, former amateur standout Jocelyn Camarillo won an entertaining minimumweight battle against Ashley Felix by six-round unanimous decision.
The pair, who went 1-1 in the amateurs, started out competitively, but Camarillo, 7-0 (1 KO), of Indio, California, became more and more dominant as the fight progressed. Felix, 7-5 (1 KO), of Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico, was game and landed some hard right hands, but Camarillo’s conditioning and superior skills allowed her to cruise to scores of 58-56, 59-55 and 60-54.
