Undisputed featherweight champion Amanda Serrano has never been one to back down from the chance to make history and she will do exactly that on Oct. 27 when she faces Danila Ramos. The fight is the first time since 2007 that a women’s bout will feature 12 three-minute rounds. It is also the first time such rules have applied to a women’s unified championship bout in boxing history.
Serrano is one of the biggest stars in women’s boxing. That position was bolstered when she lost a thrilling April 2022 bout with Katie Taylor that sold out Madison Square Garden in New York City. That fight, for Taylor’s four world championships at lightweight, was Serrano’s first loss since April 2012, but it still raised her profile.
Ramos is the WBO mandatory challenger. She earned her shot at Serrano with a four-fight winning streak, the most recent of which was an August split decision over Brenda Karen Carabajal to win the WBO interim title. Three of her four victories on her recent run have come via either split or majority decision.
“Danila Ramos may be my WBO mandatory challenger, but when we step in the ring, she will understand exactly why I am the undisputed featherweight champion,” Serrano said in the press release announcing the bout. “But this fight is about more than some belts. We have faced a long and hard battle, united as women, to achieve the same pay, respect, and recognition in boxing. Together, on Friday, Oct. 27, we will make history and prove to the world once again, how incredible women’s boxing is and that we are just as tough, dynamic, and capable as any man in the ring, if not more so. This is a fight for women everywhere to be treated the same as their male counterparts.”
The last time a women’s bout featured three-minute rounds over 12 rounds of action was Layla McCarter vs. Melissa Hernandez in 2007 for the GBU lightweight title. That was McCarter’s second consecutive fight under the ruleset that has long applied to male boxers.
The Association of Boxing Commissions and Combative Sports has had all women’s title fights since take place with 10 rounds only lasting two minutes each. This has drawn significant negative attention from various corners of the sport but has been pushed especially hard by the WBC, which has previously said they would never sanction a women’s bout to have three-minute rounds, citing questionable science suggesting women are at increased risk for traumatic injury if bout durations were to be extended.
The WBC featherweight world championship is one of the lines Serrano will defend on Oct. 27.