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Amanda Serrano and Ronica Jeffrey: Brooklyn Ladies Post Impressive Wins on Long Island – Boxing News

AmandaBy Chris “Man of Few Words” Benedict

Amanda “The Real Deal” Serrano, born in Puerto Rico and fighting out of Brooklyn, ventured out to The Space at Westbury on a rain-drenched Thursday to take on Fatuma Zarika on a card originally conceived to feature the “comeback” of Zab Judah since back-to-back 2013 losses at the hands of Danny Garcia and Paulie Malignaggi. Although Zab was on hand, it was in the ancillary role of co-promoter rather than main event boxer after his fight was called off the day before when a scuffle broke out at the weigh-in. Judah’s opponent Hevinson Herrera backed out as a result of an alleged injury and it was entirely too late in the game to scare up a suitable replacement.

The only drama between Serrano and Zarika would take place inside the ring. They had squared off three and a half months prior in Memphis with Serrano claiming a six-round unanimous decision and Zarika-hailing from Nairobi, Kenya-had fought to a draw with Amanda’s older sister Cindy at Resorts World Casino in Queens two months before that. The five-fight winless streak (one win in her last nine) that Fatuma brought into the ring Thursday night is not indicative of the toughness and resilience represented in her overall record of 24-11-2 with 14 KOs as well as her astounding work ethic. Having engaged in four bouts in 2015 to this point, Zarika already had her next one lined up against Dina Thorslund in Denmark on Halloween night. One of those losses came against Diana Prazak, a protégé of women’s boxing legend Lucia Rijker, in a bid for her WIBA World super-featherweight title. Cut above her eye in round six, Zarika toughed it out for the ten round distance but came out one the short end of that decision.

Serrano, meanwhile, has held the NABF, UBF, and WIBA versions of the women’s featherweight title as well as wearing the IBF and UBF Intercontinental super-featherweight straps and currently sitting atop the WBO lightweight throne. Amanda’s solitary loss occurred on April 27, 2012 in Linkoping, Sweden when she challenged then-WBC super-featherweight champion Frida Wallberg, who is still recovering from the terrifying effects of paralysis and memory loss suffered after being knocked out by Diana Prazak in the eighth round of their title fight in June 2014.
Sporting a tank top advertising the movie “Fight Valley Knockaround Girls”, which has been likened to a female “Fight Club” that she and Cindy recently wrapped filming on, Amanda dictated the pace and style of Thursday night’s brawl, confining Zarika to uncomfortably close quarters against the ropes and getting the better of their tense and powerful exchanges. With her second consecutive unanimous decision over Zarika, Amanda Serrano improved her record to 25-1-1, 18 KOs and brazenly issued open challenges to Diana Prazak and Ronda Rousey, hoping to personally dispel the UFC bantamweight champion’s notion that she could “easily become a world champion if she decided to switch sport” according to Rousey’s trainer Edmond Tarverdyan.

RJOne night later and fourteen miles north of Westbury, “Queen” Ronica Jeffrey made her regal return to the ring at the Paramount in Huntington. Fighting professionally since 2008, she won her four-round debut against Karen Dulin. No sorcery or superstition was required for Ronica to rack up thirteen straight victories over the likes of Ela “Bam Bam” Nunez, Jackie Trivilino, and Natasha Spence. In addition to having laid waste to her competition, Jeffrey also laid claim to the NABF, WBC Silver, WIBA, and IWBF super-featherweight titles. Following a one-year layoff, Ronica emerged in May 2014 to challenge Carla Torres, who she had previously beaten in her fifth fight, for the WIBA world featherweight championship at the Armory in Whitehall, New York, losing a disputed split decision.

Sixteen months separated that outing from last night’s contest against 5-2-1 Ontario, California native Celene Roman which had Huntington’s own Gerry Cooney and Chris Algieri, as well as former New York State Athletic Commissioner Randy Gordon, behind the broadcast table for a future televised program. The power-punching Roman was admittedly befuddled by Jeffrey’s speed and dexterity, unable to get her timing down as Ronica earned the hard-fought six-round decision.

As long as she remains active, there is no reason why Jeffrey will not continue to be a major player in female boxing and have the world champions and higher-ranked contenders in the featherweight division all looking nervously over their shoulders.

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