Four years ago, they were fellow Brooklynites, world champions, sparring partners, stablemates, and friends who said they had no interest in an actual punch-up with one another despite public demand, especially among New York fight fans. But boxing is a funny thing, nothing if not unpredictable, and this Saturday Amanda Serrano and Heather Hardy square off for the second time. This time with the Undisputed featherweight title on the line.
Their September 13, 2019 scuffle was a pivotal turning point for both women, their trajectories diverging in dramatic fashion after the final bell.
Hardy, the 22-0 WBO world featherweight champion, exhibited every bit of her trademark grit and tenacity in weathering a hellish first round onslaught but lost her belt and her undefeated record in one night. Serrano, already a seven-division world champion, continued her seven-year win streak by reclaiming the very title she had vacated in pursuit of another three years earlier, won next by her sister Cindy to keep the WBO belt in the family until she too relinquished it to open the door for Hardy’s reign which briefly interrupted the Serrano’s shared supremacy.
Subsequently, Hardy would produce mixed results through her experimentation inside the MMA octagon before returning to boxing and moving up to lightweight, flooring Jessica Camara in the first round a year and a half after her defeat to Serrano but dropping a unanimous decision to the Canadian who earned a shot at then-WBA/WBO/IBO champion Kali Reis. A wrist injury forced Heather to pull out of a scheduled bout opposite a rebounding Terri Harper, and has since struggled to tough out victories over seasoned veteran Calista Silgado and relative newcomer Taynna Cardoso in her last two fights, six and eight rounders respectively. These bouts both occurred at the intimately-sized Sony Hall theater in Times Square whereas the now 41-year-old Hardy, who ten years ago became the first female signed to a long-term contract by Lou DiBella, was once the regularly featured attraction and major ticket seller at the Barclays Center.
Meanwhile, Serrano was already being mentioned in the same breath as Katie Taylor as pound for pound ring rivals, her win over Heather being the second of a three-fight co-promotional deal between Lou DiBella and Eddie Hearn which was meant to culminate in a showdown between the Puerto Rican southpaw and the Bray Bomber. It took three years of tense negotiating to finally make it happen, but Katie and Amanda would eventually headline a sold-out Madison Square Garden last April.
By this time, Serrano was awarded the WBC featherweight title stripped from Jelena Mrdjenovich, who failed to consent to a mandated unification fight against Amanda, and added the vacant IBO strap to her growing collection when she stopped Daniela Bermudez with a body shot in March 2021. Following her split decision loss to Katie Taylor, Serrano turned down an immediate rematch to become Undisputed at 126 pounds, which she did by defeating IBF titleholder Sarah Mahfoud and WBA champion Erika Cruz in back-to-back outings.
An even more high-stakes Undisputed vs. Undisputed grudge match between Serrano and Taylor was announced in the Hulu Theatre ring right after Amanda’s bloody victory over Cruz, to have taken place in Dublin on May 20 but for an untimely injury which forced Serrano to withdraw. She was replaced by Chantelle Cameron, and we all know how that played out. However, with Katie’s lightweight crown still intact, Amanda insists that conversations are being had regarding their eagerly-awaited rematch, the result of Taylor/Cameron 2 notwithstanding. Taylor’s focus for the time being on avenging her first and only professional loss to Cameron left a recuperated Serrano with a void on her calendar in need of filling.
Amanda’s four-year long Undisputed whistle stop tour began by disembarking at Madison Square Garden’s Hulu Theatre to take away the WBO belt that belonged to her friend Heather. No hard feelings. Strictly business. Hardy was wise to what was going on. She could see the writing on the wall when the contract was signed. The implication that, even as the reigning and defending champion, she was being offered up as a sacrificial lamb, a steppingstone to initiate Serrano’s ascendance toward the featherweight throne. Which only gave her all the more reason to fight like her life depended on it. In the boxing sense, it pretty much did.
Her re-emergence from near obsolescence and back into world title contention was made possible by Serrano’s desire to repay an old debt to a good friend, presenting Heather with the opportunity now that Hardy had first made possible for her four years ago. An act of reciprocal altruism that should not be mistaken for Serrano treating Heather as a charity case.
Hardy is in good standing, having paid her debts to the fight game in full and deserving of what she is pragmatic enough to know is more than likely her last chance. To make that long walk from the dressing room down the aisle and bring ‘The Heat.’ To see her image lit up on an arena marquee. To defy the odds. To prove the doubters and haters wrong. To have her name remembered and spoken by future generations as a fighter who mattered.
If pushing and shoving and talking shit during fight week is your thing, you’ve come to the wrong place. Nothing but mutual respect here, albeit with a dose of classic New York attitude. This Saturday in Dallas, Texas, Amanda Serrano and Heather Hardy plan to show the world that you can take the girls out of Brooklyn, but see what happens when you try to take the Brooklyn out of these girls.
Denied her mandatory shot at then-Undisputed super-middleweight champion Franchon Crews-Dezurn, who instead lost her title to Savannah Marshall last month, Shadasia Green stays busy with a tune-up against 7-1 Olivia Curry on this weekend’s undercard.
Green last shared a bill with Serrano at the Hulu Theatre in February, decking and ultimately stopping former unified WBA/IBF 168-pound champion Elin Cederroos to send the unmistakable message to the women occupying the upper echelon of the division that you can run but you can’t hide from ‘The Sweet Terminator.’ This was the ninth knockout in a row for the power-puncher from Paterson, New Jersey, who has gone the distance only once in twelve fights so far.
As for Curry, the 33-year-old fighting out of Chicago is coming off a unanimous decision win over battle-tested veteran and former super-featherweight world champion Olivia Gerula on April 8. A 2019 National Golden Gloves finalist, Curry made her debut in the paid ranks two years later and experienced her only loss in her third pro bout, a four-round decision which went to Karina Avila Ortiz.
Shadasia Green has had enough of standing by, next in line, and waiting patiently for her turn to come only to be ducked and leapfrogged. Saturday evening, she will look to take her frustrations out on Olivia Curry as a proxy for Savannah Marshall. No more deferments or formalities. Shadasia’s time is now.
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