Serrano-Ramos women's title fight: 12 rounds, three minutes each
Featherweight championship bout will go by men's rules
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Undisputed women’s featherweight champion Amanda Serrano and WBO interim titlist and mandatory challenger Danila Ramos will meet on Oct. 27 (DAZN) at the Caribe Royale Resort in Orlando, Florida, in a fight that will have a different look than a typical female title fight.
Instead of the women’s standard 10-round championship fight with two-minute rounds, Serrano-Ramos is scheduled for 12 rounds with three-minute rounds, the same as a men’s fight, Jake Paul’s Most Valuable Promotions announced on Wednesday.
There have been women’s bouts under those rules but they are rare and not believed to not have happened since Layla McCarter won two lightweight title bouts under those rules in Las Vegas in 2007.
The additional rounds and the three-minute duration have been approved by the Florida Athletic Commission, according to MVP co-founder Nakisa Bidarian.
The WBC, however, which is staunchly against increasing women’s fights to 12 rounds or having rounds last for three minutes, is not sanctioning the bout for its title, so only three of Serrano’s belts sanctioning body belts will be at stake.
“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. “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, 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 WBO ordered Serrano-Ramos last week and gave them 10 days to make a deal or a purse id would have been ordered.
In her last fight, Serrano (45-2-1, 30 KOs), 34, a Puerto Rican fighting out of Brooklyn, New York, and the only woman to win world titles in seven divisions, retained the title via one-sided battering of former titlist Heather Hardy in a rematch on Aug. 5 on the undercard of Paul’s decision win over Nate Diaz.
Ramos (12-2, 1 KO), 38, of Brazil, won a split decision over Brenda Carabajal to claim the interim belt on Aug. 18.
“Fighting Amanda Serrano for 12 three-minute rounds for a unified championship is set to break the barriers that we women have been looking to do for many years,” Ramos said. “We will go down in history and in the books. It will be a fight of two women warriors.”
Also on the card, bantamweight Antonio Vargas (16-1, 9 KOs), 27, a 2016 U.S. Olympian fighting out of Kissimmee, Florida, will face a foe to be named in a 10-rounder.
The rest of the undercard will be the third installment of MVP’s “Most Valuable Prospects” series and include the Serrano-managed Puerto Rican bantamweight Krystal Rosado (1-0, 1 KO), 20, in a four-rounder.
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It's unfortunate Rocchigiani didn't end the WBC.
Having the same number of minutes as the men's title fights is a step forward, although i'd be happier if it had been done over time so we got to see how it went so instead of the former 10 x 2 minute rounds we had 12 x 2 minute rounds or 10 x 3 minute rounds and if all good then 12 x 3 minutes.