On Friday night (Oct. 28) Amanda Serrano (46-2-1) retained her WBO, WBA, and IBF World featherweight titles by unanimous decision after defeating Danila Ramos (12-3) in the first unified women's championship fight to be contested over 12 3-minute-rounds, the typical length for a men's fight.
No women's fight has included 3-minute rounds since 2007, when Layla McCarter consecutively defeated Donna Biggers and Melissa Hernandez in men's-length contests. Since then, the Association of Boxing Commissions and Combative Sports has set all women's contests at 10 2-minute rounds, ostensibly over safety concerns.
Serrano's WBC title was not on the line as that organisation refused to endorse a contest with longer rounds.
But after dominating the fight against her mandatory WBO challenger Ramos, earning three 120-108 scores and averaging 92 punches a round, Serrano said she "really couldn't feel a difference."
"In the sixth round I was like, is it really three minutes or did they go back to two minutes?" said the 35-year-old.
"I felt good, I was in really good shape. I trained really hard for this fight knowing I had to go out there and prove to everybody, prove people right or prove people wrong, that women can do whatever they put their minds to."
Ramos has also noted the importance of the fight, saying "This was the time for me to come through... and to let the world meet me. I've always been a woman who fought for equality and women's rights." She and Serrano hugged in the center of the ring after the fight.
It's unclear if Serrano will fight a rematch with Katie Taylor, who defeated her in a historic sold-out crowd at Madison Square Garden last year. All eyes are now on Taylor's rematch with Chantelle Cameron, set for Nov. 25 in 3Arena.
