Amanda Serrano defended her WBA and WBO featherweight world titles on home turf at Coliseo Robero Clemente in Puerto Rico, but she was made to work hard before taking a points win against late-notice replacement Reina Tellez.
Serrano outpointed Tellez live on DAZN.
Serrano (48-4-1, KO31) had fought her last two contests at super lightweight, unable to take Katie Taylor’s undisputed title on both occasions, and she dropped back down to defend her gold here against Tellez (13-1-1, KO5), who was unbeaten but had never been past eight rounds.
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Serrano let her hands go from the off in this one, but Tellez worked well on the counter in the opening round.
Serrano’s jab was put to good use in the second, but was made to work by the challenger, who was putting in wild bursts of shots to stifle the home fighter.
After sticking to the jab in the fourth, Serrano opened up with punishing body shots in the fifth, but Tellez had good success in round six, especially with her left hand over the top.
There was damage to the right eye of Serrano, but she kept Tellez at bay, and she was now frustrating her opponent with her timing and accuracy as the contest went into the closing stages.
Tellez was still willing to exchange, and Serrano went for the knockout in the final round, but to no avail as the fight went to the scorecards.
Two scores of 97-93 and a third at 98-92 saw Serrano keep her unified belts.
Stephanie Han vs Holly Holm
In the second world title fight on the bill, Stephanie Han (12-0, KO3) retained her WBA lightweight title, winning a technical decision against veteran Holly Holm (34-3-3, KO9).
Han was ruled out of action in round seven due to a cut caused by an accidental headbutt, and the bout went to the cards.
Scores of 69-64, 69-65 and 68-65 ensured Han remained the champion.
Remaining undercard
Yankiel Rivera (7-1-1, KO3) suffered an upset loss on the card, as Jonathan Gonzalez (29-4-1, KO14) deservedly took the interim WBA flyweight title with a unanimous decision win in their clash.
Gonzalez took the belt by scores of 117-110, 116-111 and 114-113.
In eight-round contests, Henry Lebron (21-0, KO11) stayed unbeaten, taking a seventh-round stoppage win against Juan Tapia (14-5, KO5) in their super featherweight contest, and Jan Paul Rivera-Pizarro (14-0, KO7) was a majority decision winner at featherweight against Alfredo Cruz (10-4-1, KO5).
The comeback fight for former world champion Ebanie Bridges (9-3, KO4) ended in disaster, as she was widely defeated over eight rounds by Alexia Araiza Mones (4-2-1, KO1).
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The Texan took the win in their bantamweight meeting by to scores of 78-74 and a third at 80-72.
In six-rounders, Abner Figueroa (8-0, KO1) remained unbeaten, with the bantamweight taking a points win against Edwin Rodriguez (12-10-3, KO5), and middleweight prospect Alexis Chaparro (7-0, KO6) was also a points winner against Augusto Leal Salazar (3-1, KO1).
At super bantamweight, Chris Echevarria (10-1, KO4) won on the cards against Gabriel Bernard Cruz (7-4, KO3), and Krystal Rosado-Ortiz (8-1, KO2) did the same at bantamweight against Tania Walters (7-4, KO2).
Super featherweight novice Yandiel Lozano (3-0, KO0) won on points against Johniel Ramos Cotto (3-3, KO1), and Elise Soto (10-0, KO9) was a second-round stoppage winner against Liliana Martinez (25-24, KO16), also at super featherweight.
The sole four-rounder came at bantamweight, where Caleb Tirado (1-0, KO1) won the battle of debutants against Justin Hill (0-1).
