Erika Cruz to Defend WBA Junior Featherweight Title Against Nazarena Romero

Erika Cruz is going on the defensive…

The 33-year-old  Mexican professional boxer will defend her WBA junior featherweight title against Nazarena Romero on Saturday, May 11, per promoter Matchroom Boxing.

Erika Cruz,The fight at the Palenque de la Feria National de San Marcos in Aguascalientes, Mexico, will be the co-main event of Eduardo Hernandez‘s junior lightweight bout against Daniel Lugo.

Cruz (17-2, 3 KOs) is a two-division champion. She won the WBA featherweight belt with a technical decision victory over Jelena Mrdjenovich in April 2021. She made two successful defenses before losing the title to Amanda Serrano in a unification bout in February 2023. Cruz then moved up in weight and defeated Mayerlin Rivas in November to grab the WBA title at 122 pounds.

Her focus now is on title unification.

“I’m stepping into the ring not just to defend my title, but to conquer,” Cruz said in a news release. “Romero may be the mandatory opponent, but my sights are set on bigger dreams. Yamileth Mercado [WBC], Ellie Scotney [IBF], Segolene Lefebvre [WBO] — I’m coming for all the belts. Romero won’t be the one to stand in the way of my destiny.”

Romero (13-0-1, 7 KOs), of Argentina, will be fighting in her second consecutive title bout. In June, she challenged Rivas for the WBA junior featherweight belt, but the bout ended in a technical draw after Romero, who suffered a cut over her left eye because of an accidental clash of heads, was unable to continue. She now has another chance at the same belt against Cruz.

“I think my time has come,” Romero said. “In my life nothing was, is, or will be easy. I was born for this, and I feel like the best of all. I prepare like a champion, I think like a champion and I need to live like a champion.”

Amanda Serrano to Face Erika Cruz in Undisputed Featherweight Title Bout

Amanda Serrano will be fighting for undisputed status in February…

The 34-year-old Puerto Rican professional boxer, mixed martial artist and professional wrestler, the current IBF, WBC and WBO featherweight titleholder, will face WBA champion Erika Cruz in an undisputed featherweight title fight, according to ESPN.

Amanda SerranoThe fight between Serrano and Cruz will headline a card on February 4 at the Hulu Theater in New York City.

If Serrano wins, it will be the first time the seven-division titleholder would be an undisputed champion in a division, and she would be the first Puerto Rican undisputed champ, male or female.

Serrano (43-2-1, 30 KO) was last in the ring in September, when she beat Sarah Mahfoud by unanimous decision to win the IBF featherweight title. Serrano is ESPN’s No. 3 pound-for-pound fighter.

She fought twice last year, against Mahfoud and Katie Taylor, a split-decision loss at the big room of Madison Square Garden in what was named ESPN‘s women’s fight of the year in 2022.

Cruz (15-1, 3 KO), 35, won the WBA belt in April, 2021, when she beat Jelena Mrdjenovich by technical decision.

She since defended the title twice, beating Melissa Esquivel by split decision in 2021 and Mrdjenovich by unanimous decision in a rematch in September. Cruz suffered her only loss in 2016, a majority decision loss to Alondra Gonzalez Flores in a four-round fight in Cruz’s second career fight.

For all of Serrano’s accomplishments – and there have been many since she began fighting professionally in 2009 – she has never become an undisputed four-belt champion, something she would become should she beat Cruz.

This could be the beginning of a big year for Serrano, who has said she would like to face Katie Taylor in a rematch of an April fight that saw Taylor win a split decision over Serrano for Taylor’s undisputed lightweight titles.

But first, Serrano said, she knew she wanted to fight Cruz.

“After Cruz,” Serrano told ESPN recently. “It’s a great storyline. Undisputed versus undisputed champion, and of course it’s a different weight class, but it is what it is. The first fight was great, and I think the second fight would be even better.”

Serrano said she would go up to lightweight to fight Taylor a second time should that fight happen.

ESPN previously reported Ramla Ali is also expected to fight on the February 4 card.

WBA Orders Amanda Serrano to Fight Erika Cruz for Undisputed Featherweight Title

Amanda Serrano has received her orders…

The WBA has ordered a fight between the 34-year-old Puerto Rican professional boxer, mixed martial artist and professional wrestler and Erika Cruz for the undisputed featherweight title, according to the organization’s Twitter account.

Amanda SerranoThe sides will have 30 days to close a deal before a purse bid is ordered.

Serrano (43-2-1, 30 KOs) holds the WBO, WBA and IBF titles at 126 pounds while Cruz (15-1, 3 KOs) holds the WBA version.

Serrano met Katie Taylor in the biggest boxing match in women’s history in April and dropped a split decision. That fight was at 135 pounds for the undisputed lightweight championship. Afterward, Serrano returned to 126 pounds and successfully defended her three titles with a unanimous-decision victory over Sarah Mahfoud in September.

Cruz, 32, won the featherweight title in 2021 with a technical decision over Jelena Mrdjenovich and has made two defenses. Most recently, she scored a shutout decision over Mrdjenovich in a September rematch.

Serrano is ESPN’s No. 1 featherweight and No. 3 pound-for-pound boxer. Cruz is No. 2 at 126 pounds.

Taylor retained her lightweight championship on Saturday with a unanimous-decision over Karen Elizabeth Carbajal and called for a rematch with Serrano next year in Taylor’s native Ireland.