Amanda Serrano’s Victory May Open the Door to Female Fights on TV

Amanda Serrano – On the throes of Amanda Serrano’s record-breaking fourth world title in four weight divisions, her win could also break the barrier that has kept female fighters from television screens.

Lou DiBella, president of DiBella Entertainment that promotes Serrano, said talks of opening up the door for women’s boxing on television have begun.

“There’s a possibility of having women shown on something like ShoBox,” said DiBella on Thursday.

Serrano’s 44-second knockout victory over Alexandra Lazar in Puerto Rico showcased the Puerto Rican fighter’s electrifying power and ability to win a WBO world title in the 122-pound super bantamweight class.

“She’s definitely one of the best female fighters pound-for-pound,” said DiBella. “She works very hard.”

The New York-based Serrano already has world titles in the lightweight, super featherweight, and featherweight divisions. Instead of moving up in weight, she reversed the course and has shrunken down. There are talks of moving down one weight class to grab a bantamweight title and later moving up to super lightweight. But first the featherweights.

“A fight with someone like Canada’s Jelena (Mrdjenovich) or Jennifer Han is something that would interest us,” said DiBella of the two featherweight champions. “These are the type of fights that would be good for television.”

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DiBella Entertainment also promotes Heather “The Heat” Hardy whose recent victory in an action-packed fight with Shelly Vincent was televised on NBC Sports Network. That fight drew a large audience and opened up the eyes of fans that were unaware of female boxing.

Both Hardy and Serrano are based in New York City and could possibly fight each other in the future. DiBella said that Hardy is focusing on a world title fight next year. She currently holds a WBC International title.

“One thing about the female fighters is they work hard to sell tickets,” said DiBella. “And when they fight they don’t run around. They usually give exciting fights.”

DiBella said he began noticing the quality of female boxing improve five years ago before the 2012 Olympics when women were first allowed to compete in Olympic boxing.

“The skill level of women fighting has really improved,” he said.

Serrano’s fourth world title in four weight divisions was history-making for Puerto Rican fighters. She plans to defend all of the weight divisions and add two more weight division titles.

“First she will defend the featherweight title and then probably add a title in the bantamweight division,” said DiBella, adding that a super lightweight title will be the last goal. “She’s the best or among the best female fighters today.”

DiBella, who also promotes Shelly Vincent and Jennifer Salinas, said regularly televised female bouts could arrive as early as 2017.

Amanda Serrano / Check out more boxing news and videos at The Boxing Channel.