After Amanda Serrano Vacates Title, WBC Makes Bold Move, Orders Fight for Vacant Featherweight Title

Amanda Serrano‘s decision to vacate her WBC featherweight title has caused a domino effect. Overnight, the status of ‘The Real Deal’ changed. Until now, she was an undisputed champion. On October 27, she created history by fighting a 12-round bout against Danila Ramos for her featherweight title defense. Unfortunately, among the sanctioning bodies, the WBC refused to budge from their stance and renounced her decision to compete under the rules currently followed for men’s boxing.

As a result, Serrano decided to part ways with their belt. Now she is a unified featherweight champion. But in the latest twist, the WBC followed the Puerto Rican champion’s lead with their move. Per the latest reports, the vacant WBC title will have to be occupied soon. It appears the sanctioning body already has the candidates in hand to pick from. They will have to slug it out, and the winner will become the new WBC featherweight champion.

A new regime is set to kick off

So Meadowbrook, Queensland, Australia-born Skye Nicholson may have to fight Faroe Island-born Danish boxer Sarah Mahfoud. While the former is the reigning interim featherweight champion, the latter lost her IBF featherweight title to Amanda Serrano last year.

Yesterday, through an Instagram post, Amanda Serrano shared that she is the first undisputed champion among women to have participated in a 12-round (3-minute each) bout. So in the future, if a sanctioning body doesn’t approve of her and her opponent’s decision to fight under the same rules as men, then she won’t be fighting for that body. She said, “Moving forward, if a sanctioning body doesn’t want to give me and my fellow fighters the choice to fight the same as the men, then I will not be fighting for that sanctioning body.”

She thanked the sanctioning bodies, which embraced equality and progressed. However, Amanda Serrano reserved her criticism for the WBC. According to her, the body has been unyielding in its opposition to gender equality in boxing. Hence, she’s letting go of their title.

Amanda Serrano: The Journey of a Change

Amanda Serrano tried her best to make the epic fight against Katie Taylor a 12-round bout. However, the Irish undisputed light welterweight champion, then an undisputed lightweight champion, refused to oblige. On September 7, through a tweet, WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman clarified the organization’s stand on 12-minute rounds.

Thanking sports journalist Chris Mannix, he cited the examples of basketball and tennis, where men and women follow different sets of rules. He said, “Thank you, Chris, [for] posting the @WBCBoxing position. Tennis: women play 3 sets; basketball: the basket is shorter and the ball [is] smaller, and those are not contact sports. We stand by [the] safety and well-being of the fighters.“

However, on X/Twitter, Amanda Serrano said that both she and Danila Ramos faced no problems competing under the new regulations.

Read More: Pros and Cons of Having 12 3-Minute Rounds for Women’s Boxing, Was Amanda Serrano’s Stand Against WBC by Vacating Titles Warranted?

What’s your take on the latest development? Please share your views with us in the comments below.

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