WBC and WBO featherweight champion Amanda Serrano will return to the ring on Sept. 24, facing IBF titlist Sarah Mahfoud in a unification bout as the co-main event of the Joe Joyce-Joseph Parker card at the AO Arena in Manchester, England, it was announced Tuesday.
It’s the first fight at featherweight for Serrano, the WBC and WBO titleholder since August 2021, when she beat Yamileth Mercado by unanimous decision. In her career, Serrano has held titles at seven different weight classes.
Her last two fights came at lightweight, including the split-decision loss to undisputed lightweight champion Katie Taylor on April 30 at Madison Square Garden, widely considered to be the best fight in women’s boxing history. It was the first loss for Serrano since 2012, when she lost a unanimous decision to Frida Wallberg — a streak spanning 28 fights.
The loss to Wallberg in Sweden was only time the 33-year-old Serrano (42-2-1, 30 KO) has fought in Europe before September.
“I am so excited over the prospect of fighting in the UK,” Serrano said in a statement. “It has been on my to-do list for a long time, with the amazing fans who really get behind the sport, as well as the huge growth in women’s boxing.”
Mahfoud (11-0, 3 KO) will be making the second defense of her IBF title. She won the interim title in a unanimous decision win over Brenda Carbajal in February 2020 and was elevated to full champion later that year. Carbajal was supposed to be Serrano’s opponent on the canceled Aug. 6 Madison Square Garden card she was co-headlining with her promoter, Jake Paul.
Mahfoud, 32, born in the Faroe Islands but residing in Denmark, last fought in April, beating Nina Meinke by unanimous decision in Copenhagen. Mahfoud has never fought outside of Denmark in her six-year pro career and according to amateur fights listed by BoxRec has never fought outside Denmark or Sweden.
“It will be an experience like no other to win three more belts in England and then take them all home to Denmark,” Mahfoud said in a statement. “It will be my first fight outside of Denmark and I cannot think of a better place to fully introduce myself and my talent to the wider world than beating Amanda Serrano in Manchester.”
This fight continues a string of big-name women’s fights in England in September, adding to the Natasha Jones-Patricia Berghult junior middleweight unification bout on Sept. 3 in Liverpool and the Sept. 10 all-women’s card in London featuring the undisputed middleweight title fight between Claressa Shields and Savannah Marshall and the junior lightweight unification fight between Mikaela Mayer and Alycia Baumgardner.
Source: www.espn.com