On April 11, 2023, at 8:58 AM ET, following an extraordinary win to declare the featherweight champion, Amanda Serrano protected her No. 3 area in ESPN’s pound-for-pound rankings. This puts her simply behind Claressa Shields and Katie Taylor. Serrano’s triumph likewise sets the phase for an extremely expected rematch against Taylor, set up for May 20 in Ireland.
Serrano emerged triumphant with scorecards of 98-92, 98-92, 97-93 in a carefully objected to fight against Erika Cruz. Speaking about her challenger, Serrano acknowledged Cruz’s abilities and the effort took into maintaining her title. She mentioned, “She’s a Mexican champ and we understood that… I understood she wasn’t gonna simply let me take her belt. She strove for this. I strove for mine which’s what we anticipated. That’s what we trained for.”
Also on the exact same fight card held at Madison Square Garden in New York, Alycia Baumgardner, ranked No. 4, controlled Elhem Mekhaled to declare the junior light-weight champion through a unanimous choice triumph. However, Baumgardner fell simply except surpassing Serrano’s ranking at No. 3.
Baumgardner revealed her desire for future huge battles and difficulties. She desired deal with top-tier challengers such as Katie Taylor and other popular fighters. Baumgardner mentioned, “Right now we desire the huge battles, we desire the megafights… I wish to challenge myself. That’s the only method I’m gonna understand where I am and how I can be much better.”
Here is the existing leading 10 ranking:
1. Claressa Shields
2. Katie Taylor
3. Amanda Serrano
4. Alycia Baumgardner
5. Jessica McCaskill
6. Mikaela Mayer
7. Chantelle Cameron
8. Seniesa Estrada
9. Franchon Crews-Dezurn
10. Natasha Jonas
Please note that these rankings stand up until February 8.
The ESPN rankings are figured out by a points-based system, with first-place votes getting 10 points, second-place votes getting 9 points, and so on.
Other fighters who got votes in the rankings consist of Delfine Persoon, Savannah Marshall, Christina Hammer, Kali Reis, Hyun Choi, Yokasta Valle, Terri Harper.
ESPN’s panel of specialists voted as follows:
Michael Rothstein: 1. Shields, 2. Taylor, 3. Serrano, 4. Estrada, 5. Baumgardner, 6. Cameron, 7. McCaskill, 8. Mayer, 9. Jonas, 10. Valle
Timothy Bradley Jr.: 1. Shields, 2. Taylor, 3. Serrano, 4. Baumgardner, 5. Estrada, 6. Mayer, 7. Jonas, 8. Persoon, 9. Marshall, 10. Cameron
Nick Parkinson: 1. Taylor, 2. Shields, 3. Serrano, 4. Baumgardner, 5. Cameron, 6. Marshall, 7. Mayer, 8. McCaskill, 9. Estrada, 10. Harper
Michelle Joy Phelps: 1. Shields, 2. Taylor, 3. Serrano, 4. McCaskill, 5. Baumgardner, 6. Crews-Dezurn, 7. Cameron, 8. Reis, 9. Jonas, 10. Mayer
Salvador Rodriguez: 1. Shields, 2. Taylor, 3. Serrano, 4. Baumgardner, 5. Crews-Dezurn, 6. McCaskill, 7. Jonas, 8. Estrada, 9. Mayer, 10. Cameron
Bernardo Pilatti: 1. Shields, 2. Serrano, 3. Taylor, 4. Baumgardner, 5. McCaskill, 6. Mayer, 7. Persoon, 8. Estrada, 9. Marshall, 10. Cameron
Charlie Moynihan: 1. Taylor, 2. Shields, 3. Serrano, 4. Baumgardner, 5. Mayer, 6. Persoon, 7. Hammer, 8. Choi, 9. Cameron, 10. McCaskill
Kel Dansby: 1. Shields, 2. Taylor, 3. Serrano, 4. Bumgarnder, 5. Cameron, 6. Crews-Dezurn, 7. McCaskill, 8. Estrada, 9. Mayer, 10. Jonas
The specialists’ survey exposes that Shields got the most first-place votes (6) and is carefully followed by Taylor (2). The rankings were differed amongst the specialists, showcasing the variety of viewpoints within the panel.
