Would Serrano have Fallen to the Dutch Destroyer?

Amanda Serrano is one of the flag bearers of where women’s boxing is right now and is regularly featured in recent boxing news.. She’s a fighting champion as she holds five titles as of mid-October 2023 and is putting three of them on the line against Danila Ramos in a featherweight contest at the end of the month. Yet, at her heaviest, she fought in the welterweight division – begging the question of how she would have got on against the Dutch Destroyer, Lucia Rijker. 

Collision of Knockout Queens

In the build-up to Amanda Serrano’s glass ceiling-smashing fight with Katie Taylor, one of the most popular narratives was that Serrano could win by knockout as Taylor would be more likely to win by decision. As it panned out, the latter happened. Such comments were a nod to Serrano’s capacity to stop fights. After all, her 45 career victories are made up of 30 knockouts. That’s a decent 66% knockout-to-win ratio that gets boxing news sites excited.

But guess who had a better KtW? Yep, Lucia Rijker wasn’t paid by the hour either, so she liked to finish fights as soon as possible. Of her 17 fights, she won 14 of them by KO. That’s an awe-inspiring 82% knockout win rate. Granted, she’s fought less than half of the fights that Serrano has, so there has to be taken with a pinch of salt, but it is clear both would want to end the fight.

Serrano’s Ideal Weight Class

The proud Puerto Rican would probably tell you she’s comfortable in any weight division. After all, The Real Deal has fought in multiple classifications and won championships in the majority of them. Featherweight, bantamweight, light-welterweight…she’s been successful across a few. However, the aforementioned fight against Katie Taylor was one of her heaviest in the lightweight division. She didn’t win. Would that play into Rijker’s corner in a potential fight?

‘The Most Dangerous Woman in the World’ was also pretty nifty on the scales, having won championships in multiple weight classes across her boxing and kickboxing careers. However, she was usually a bit heavier than Serrano, while a weight would be agreed by both parties – Rijker might have an advantage in this field.

Both would Fight for Equality in Boxing

Amanda Serrano has long talked about her journey to the top of the boxing world. Whether it’s the rise to fighting at Madison Square Garden with Katie Taylor in the first card to be headlined by women or promoting women’s rights in general, she’s vocal. The marketing campaign for her fight against Danila Ramos focuses on how boxing is boxing, no matter what gender is participating in the ring. As such, the phrase Women’s Champions Boxing has the Women’s bit crossed out, symbolizing this belief.

Rijker commented on at various points during her career and coaching ventures the problems she faced. Whether it was being called ‘baby’ by her male counterparts, who were overly familiar and generally demeaning, this was incredibly frustrating for her. Rijker even criticized various promotions and boxing boards for making it difficult for Diana Brazak when she was challenging for championships, as one of them allegedly decided to un-sanction their title just moments before the bell rang in the match against Wallberg.

Given this shared goal and objective, it would be a fair assumption that both fighters would be amicable in the build-up to one another. While both would want to succeed, they’d appreciate the overarching objective as well.

Potential for Multi-Discipline Rivalry

Should Lucia Rijker and Amanda Serrano have shared the same generation, the pair could have fought in numerous different contests. Both fighters practiced multiple other combat sports, which would lead to not just an intriguing boxing contest but potential fights in MMA, kickboxing, and even submission grappling, given how well-versed the fighters are. Serrano is so confident in her mixed martial arts abilities that she’s recently joined the Professional Fighters League and will compete in that shortly. The style of cross-over contest is all the rage and makes the online boxing news as well as MMA latest updates.

Rijker Retired Undefeated, but Does it Mean Anything?

Boxers often talk about the appeal of retiring undefeated to boxing news sites and outlets, but this intangible quality is becoming more and more difficult in the contemporary fight game. Why so? Well, women’s boxing is growing at such a rate that fighters can now be easily defeated by their emerging contemporaries. Rijker retired undefeated in 2004 with 17 wins and zero losses, but in 2004, the competition wasn’t nearly as fierce, and she stood out as one of the best. On paper, however, the Dutch Destroyer has this accolade that Serrano can never achieve, having already picked up two Ls on her resume.

Serrano’s Loss to Wallberg Could Illuminate Potential Result

While not always brought up, Amanda Serrano’s undefeated status went a long time ago. She lost a fight back in April 2012 to Swedish fighter Frida Wallberg, putting her record to 14-1-1 at the time. While many have consigned the fight to ancient history, there are some interesting parallels.

Wallberg went from strength to strength as she was the hottest prospect, having defeated Serrano. However, she only fought one more fight in her career, and that was against Diana Prazak. At the time, Prazak was coached and mentored by none other than Lucia Rijker. The Dutch woman celebrated with the Aussie in the ring after the match as her pupil emulated her intense strike power to gain a KO victory. Unfortunately, Wallberg never boxed again due to a major injury; she suffered a cerebral hemorrhage. However, the pathway is clear: Serrano lost to Wallberg, who lost to one of Rijker’s students, Prazak, suggesting that Rijker and/or Prazak would have stood a good chance against Serrano too.

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