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EPISODE: Episode 1
Welcome to Talkin Fight with Holly Donovan, where we bring you the latest news on top boxing fights. On this episode, Holly dives deep into the Fight Preview for Amanda Serrano vs. Erika Cruz, one of the most anticipated fights of the year. Get the inside scoop on both fighters’ strengths and weaknesses, and hear Holly’s predictions for the outcome. Plus, get Holly’s analysis on the fight’s implications for the sport as a whole. Don’t miss this important preview of one of the biggest fights of the year!
Transcribed
[, Music, ] foreign and welcome to talking fight with Holly Donovan.
That is me.
This is your preview show, and today I will be previewing the fight night that will be taking place in New York tomorrow night at Madison Square Garden.
So I normally don’t preview anything! That’S not happening in my hometown, London, but I was never going to ignore this card because I haven’t been able to preview any female fights in 2023 yet, and that is not okay.
So when I saw this card I decided there was no way I was going to ignore it.
So if we’ve got a poster up right now you can see we have Amanda Serrano facing Erica Cruz.
That is for Undisputed for the weight world championship and then we’ve got another Undisputed fight on that card.
Uh Alicia baumgarner she’s back she’s facing Ellen mccullard from France, and then we’ve got two uh they’re better than prospects, now they’re bigger than Prospect, but Skye Nicholson from Australia, a smashing away into the pro ranks and as is early and there are and then fights on This card as well that I’ve decided to shine a light on the women today for you in this preview show so without further Ado.
Let’S begin with the headliner, we have Amanda Serrano facing Erica Cruz for the Undisputed featherweight Championship.
So let’s talk about Amanda Serrano.
First um, she has had a lot of fights: um 43 wins only two losses: one draw she’s 34 years old she’s from Puerto Rico, and she is currently the unified uh featherweight Champion.
So she’s got the WBO Bell.
She’S got that in 2019 and she’s got WBC and IBO from 2021.
um and now Amanda Serrano is very impressive uh.
She has won nine major titles across seven weight classes and the only person to beat that record is Manny Pacquiao and she is in the Guinness Book of World Records for this as well, and now she, interestingly, has never been in Undisputed Champion, despite holding so many World titles, so this is a really big deal for her and if she wins tomorrow night she will also become the first Puerto Rican Undisputed world champion um.
So pretty big box to tick, not sure what she would take.
Next Issue wins tomorrow: night um, but yeah she’s Sensational, you probably know her from the fight that she had with Katie Taylor.
I will go over that, but she definitely shot to fame uh in that fight.
So she is from Brooklyn.
That’S where she’s based she actually began um in sport with swimming um, her older sister, though she was a boxer, and she used to train with her husband now uh Amanda Steiner was never that interested.
She went to boxing to lose weight but eventually starts to realize she was pretty good at and she could make money if she boxed not very much, which we’ll talk about later as well um, but when she began boxing her older sister didn’t like it uh.
She wasn’t Keen she didn’t want little sis being her in the ring, so Amanda had to prove herself and she she did.
Apparently it took three Spas when she was 17 years old to show what she was made of, and it was pretty obvious.
Okay, you’ve got to let this girl fight, and so her sister’s husband took her on and uh was and is Amanda’s trainer um.
So she then signed herself up to the Golden Gloves.
She did that via the newspaper at the time the New York daily news um, where she won nine fights, uh lost only one and she decided to go pro in 2011.
and only took us three years to win a world title uh.
It’S pretty well documented, though, that she wasn’t paid very much.
You know she was fighting for a couple of hundred dollars a time she wasn’t paid properly.
Hence why she got so many fights on her record I’d say because she was, she was doing it to earn, earn a living.
And now, let’s talk about that fight with Kate Taylor when she shot to fame so uh what a fight! If you haven’t seen it, I love.
What are you doing? Um? Look it up on YouTube.
It was last year at Madison Square on the same venue and my God is it good um.
Now, if you’ve seen Amanda surrounding fight, you will know her.
Cardio is absolutely incredible.
She is Relentless.
The flurry of constant attack that she put on Katie Taylor was was insane.
It was from the opening bell and it lasted right to the end of every single round and three minute rounds would sue Amanda, Serrano so well.
She she is just unbelievable when it comes to cardio and she’s the only person really apart from one other, that I’ll talk later um that has come even close to meeting Katie Taylor, and there was a time in the fifth round where Katie we all.
We know she’s fantastic vulture, so she is the Undisputed lightweight um, but she was she was.
You know you could see that she was weakening um.
I’Ve never seen her like that in a fight, and it was a really horrible moment where I genuinely thought she was going to lose.
Um Katie did manage to get that second win bring herself back and only just won that fight.
There are many people that say that Amanda Serrano should have taken that win um, I’m a Katie Taylor fan, and I do think that she, just she just about picked it, but my goal was I worried for her.
I thought that was it so Amana Serrano.
I highly rate Amanda Serrano and now in her last fight, that was in September.
She won by unanimous decision and, however I’d say you didn’t see that same amount of serrano that we saw against Katie Taylor um a little bit more laid back, but I actually think it was because her opponent wasn’t as good.
I think Amanda switches it on, for whatever opponent is in front of her, which is, interestingly, what I think Katie does as well um, which is why it was such a good fight, um, so uh.
She also found Jake Paul.
We all know Jake Paul, loving Peyton.
If he’s done a great job for Amanda Serrano, and so he signed her for most valuable Productions and and has really done a great job, putting her into the spotlight, it’s quite interesting: Amanda Serrano doesn’t even own a phone um.
Everything she’s done is through hard work and dedication, but now she’s got Jake Paul doing that social media doing the plug-in for her I mean she’s shot um, you know into Fame, but also in into respect.
People know her now and respect her as a fighter, and she also works as a manager herself, so obviously securing that future career and she’s also gone into MMA, showing power and aggression there and she lets her hands go early.
She is aggressive, she is come forward.
She is entertaining, and I hope that on a Saturday night, she is going to show that aggression and entertainment and just share Relentless terrifying everything um against Erica Cruz, who has had far fewer fights.
Um 15 wins one loss.
Three Kos, I mean 3kos opposed to Amanda’s 30 Ko’s um, Erica Cruz is 32 years old.
She has been the WBA featherweight Champion since 2021.
.
She has made two successful defenses since then.
She is also a southpaw, so Amanda is a South poor as well.
So, interestingly, you hardly ever see yourself poor versus Southport, so I think that’s going to be an interesting part as well um she’s known as Diana miter from Mexico um.
Now she won her title in her only fight which wasn’t in Mexico.
So all of her first 13 fights were in Mexico, then she traveled to the US and she beat uh Jalen mertonovic.
I hope I said her name right um to win that WBA title.
It lasts quite a good fight as well.
If you want to have a look at it and there was a head clash in the seventh, which is why it got stopped, however, the judges decided that Erica had done enough uh to get the win anyway um, so she I mean she’s a good fighter.
She’S.
Quite unconventional in her style there’s a lot of heavy hooks going on comes forward.
She flurries from quite strange combinations, and so I think she might be tricky for Amanda actually, but also, I feel like oh this, and this is good.
You know it’s going to be one of those action-packed fights which I definitely want and now Erica had a good amateur career and she won silver in the Pan-American games and she was actually the first uh female to get a medal uh for uh pan-america um.
She is also a member of the National Guard which she says uh.
You know that’s because well her discipline in boxing a lot of that mirrors uh what she has the National Guard and she was also a law student, so again lots of things on her plate and she went pro in 2016, so five years later than Amanda Serrano.
So if you’re talking about experience and she’s won some awards, though she’s signed by Eddie Hearn um, so uh in 2021, she became Revelation boxer, so WBA wrote about her there and now she’s a good fighter.
I do think that this is going to be a tough fight.
I think it’ll be an entertaining fight.
If I’m honest, I think this will be a good one to change in with, and, however, I don’t think there’s an awful lot of doubt that Amanda Serrano is going to take that win um.
We want her to.
I think a lot of boxing fans want her to because then it opens the door and paves the way for that rematch from cage Taylor, which I think everybody would want and love.
I want it.
I want it um.
I hope that does happen.
Um, let’s move on to the second Undisputed uh world champion fight tomorrow night, so that is Alicia Baumgardner against Ellen mccullard.
Now this is uh for uh, So currently Alicia Baumgardner.
She has the Super featherweight titles, okay, so she is Undisputed Champion um.
So she got the WBC and IBO belt in 2021 and you saw her still the others in October against Michaela Mayer.
Last year, um I was there we’ll talk about that.
A bit um she’s known as the bomb uh she comes from quite a small town.
She’S got a great work ethic she’s, one of those things she’s a hustler she’s one of those people.
She just gets stuff done um.
She began boxing at eight years old, um and she said very openly.
She absolutely adored being a young woman um.
She wants to be.
She wants that kind of like okay, I’ve got to beat you.
I’Ve got to show you that I’m better than all of you and and she flourished because of that and really wanted to prove herself.
She did so in the amateurs she won.
Silver at the national Golden Gloves uh.
She also won the U.
S national gold as well um and in 2017 she decided to go pro and now she reached out to Eddie Huron via Instagram.
So it’s pretty interesting saying she.
She literally sent me a message saying I am a really great fighter, but no one’s seen me and I don’t get any decent opportunity.
Please give me some opportunities now Eddie Hearn.
It must have been in a good mood that day and he decided he would – and he put her name forward for the fight against then Champion Terry Harper and who we’ve seen do a massive comeback really recently um, but anyway, Alicia got that fight.
She faced Harry Harper and my goodness did she manage to impress Eddie Hearn she completely dominated the second round, I’d, say um, but then there was this epic devastating stoppage.
Um take her out in the fourth again watch it.
If you haven’t, it was brilliant.
I think it was like knockout of the year or something then um.
She really proved herself and so therefore, Eddie Hearn signed her um.
That was in 2021, it was November and since then she has just made strides forward.
So obviously she was on that all female card back in October, with Savannah Marshall, Clarissa Shields she faced Michaela Mayer.
Now I was there and from where I was saying.
I don’t think she won.
There are many people who agree with me, including one judge.
I would like to say, and but there are lots of people who didn’t agree with me, also and fought with me on YouTube um, but it’s fine.
She got the win.
She managed to outpoint Michaela, Mayer, apparently um, but she’s still a really good fighter.
So she likes to visualize.
She puts lots of videos at the moment pregnant for this fight.
She’S got like sticky notes, like everywhere um and it’s all like knockout and force round, or make sure you take over this or Undisputed Champ here and there and um.
She wants a Katie Taylor fight as well.
She would love to face her.
That would be a good fire if I’ve seen that and also Eddie Hearn thinks should be a great match for Chantal Cameron.
So, again, yeah brilliant I’d be up thanks for those so Alicia.
She is going to be taking on LM the colored of France.
Who’S had two more wins than Alicia.
Actually so she’s had 15 wins one loss, um and uh three knockouts.
She is the French European uh super featherweight champion, and she got that in 2018.
.
She was also the WBC interim super featherweight Champion.
I think it was 2019.
and she was a big deal.
So I remember reading a lot about her when she went pro that was in 2016.
and everyone was saying: oh she’s, amazing she’s.
You know this girl from Brian she’s gon na take over.
She can be brilliant, she’s gon na be just a good Escape Taylor, blah blah um, and she has done that.
Uh, however, she’s been a little bit inactive, so she only had one fight in 2022 and it was actually a loss, so she’s coming off a loss right now.
Now her loss is to Delphine for soon who is a former world champion and is The Other Woman? The only other woman I think to come well to come close to being K, Taylor um there had to be a rematch.
In fact where Katie Taylor did dominate uh the second fight, but in the first one Delphine came very close and it was controversial.
Some people have said that she did.
You know she did take the win um.
Now when LM plays Delphine, she did land clean, punches.
She she’s got like simple, really good movement, but she was forced onto the back foot a lot and eventually what happened? Is she just tired out I’d, say she’s just got knappered um.
So if someone said to me who’s a tougher opponent, Alicia Baumgardner or uh Delphine bassoon, I would say Alicia bomb gun like hand.
You know straight off, you know um.
So the fact that Ellen McCullough has decided you know not to take an easy fight about to jump in straight away with an Undisputed world champion, I think, shows great determination, balls and confidence um, so I think you’re going to see an action-packed awesome fight.
I hope um between these two on Saturday.
Sorry guys, let’s move on to the third fight that we’re going to talk about with Skye Nicholson.
Sorry, I just got a frog in my throat.
I apologize for that.
So Skye Nicholson.
Let’S talk about her.
She is the prospect from Australia, but pretty much is based in the UK, so lots of UK towns going on right now.
Um.
She is 5-0 she’s won all of her fights via decision, so no Knockouts, just yet she’s a featherweight, so Amanda Serrano’s uh weight category and that’s definitely a dream of hers.
Now this fight is for the WBC silver otherweight title um.
She has already got the Commonwealth featherweight title and now her last fight was in Australia, um and that was against Christina Jacobs.
It was in a 10 round fight, so she’s already had a 10 round fight, as opposed to her opponent, which I’ll talk about in a minute um and she’s, a South poorer as well.
So always a little bit tricky um.
Now she began boxing at 12 and she has come from a boxing family.
Um.
Tell you a little bit about that.
So basically she has a had a brother called Jamie Nicholson.
You might have heard of him, so he was a famous Australian boxer, one of the best Australian boxers that there’s been um.
He won bronze in.
I think it was the 1992 Olympics.
He also took away um a medal and I think it was a commonwealth games.
Um, however, he died in a car accident before Skye was born now.
What’S interesting about this, is that Sky then took on boxing kind of for fun, but just got better and better at it, and and didn’t realize that she was boxing in exactly the same style as her brother that she’d never met and never even seen footage of Um and so people kept saying so – I was really similarly really similar to Jamie and she said what eventually she so many years on, found some footage of him fighting and she said it was like watching herself.
So I think that’s incredible that she’s, you know, become her brother as this wonderful thing that she’s now taking it forwards and she had a great amateur career um.
So she got bronze at the world championships and she was very very close to doing incredibly at the 2020 uh Olympics.
Now she was beaten to it by Karis Arden storm uh, who I think she took away Bronze in the end, and but it was a really controversial, Incredibly Close fight that totally broke Skye.
She thought that she won it.
She was absolutely gutted like winning gold.
Was this dream of hers and and she was stopped by Karis now recently the rules have changed that if you are a pro boxer, you can now go back into the amateurs into the Olympics and compete and she says she still wants to do that.
She’S, like got honest, unfinished business uh at the Olympics.
She wants to go back.
She wants that goal, she’s going to win and there’s a very, very high chance that she would actually go back into the Olympics for Paris.
2024.
.
Interestingly, Charis Karis artisto has also said the same thing.
She wants to go back too, so I think that’s quite interesting.
Are they gon na be back again, but it’s very different careers.
Scott herself has said now she’s in the Pro game.
It would take a lot to come back out, dedicate herself to that and then go back in, because obviously the minute rounds are different as well.
You get three minute rounds if you’re in the amateurs, as opposed to two when you become a female Pro um so uh when she was at the Olympics.
So she was the first Australian female to get to the quarterfinals, but that’s just absolutely good.
Now uh watching her was Eddie Hearn and he had got in contact and he said GoPro I’ll sign you please GoPro I’ll sign you and uh Skye said no.
I don’t really want to prepare actually um.
She was gon na train to be a journalist.
She was gon na go to university and she had absolutely no intention at all whatsoever in turning boxing into a career.
However, we’ve all seen Eddie Hearn and he is a very good salesman and eventually convinced her that it was the best thing and actually Skye has since said that she now has this new dream that she didn’t know she ever had um now in her first year.
As a pro she’s only been a pro for a year and she’s traveled the world, she has had five fights and she is thoroughly enjoying herself now style, wise, she’s, quite Laid Back Fighter.
I’D say she look.
She makes it look really really easy, really good counter.
Punisher fast reflexes, um, lovely timing, less aggressive, you know, but just kind of chill watch footage and you’ll see she’s kind of chilled out and wins quite easily um, so quite a natural fighter.
Now she is against Tanya Alvarez from Spain, who is an orthodox fighter, so hopefully the the um South poor will be tricky for her.
However, she’s had seven or no so she’s had two more fights than her um she’s.
Only 21 years old, so she’ll be younger.
As well, um and she’s had a knockout.
This isn’t going to be an easy fight for Skye um, I mean.
Obviously, this is for a belt.
So it’s not not going to be easy, but this is definitely going to be one of the toughest challenges she’s had Tanya.
If you look at footage of her she’s aggressive, she is a comfort fighter.
I think this is a massive Step Up in opponent um.
Her last fight she got TKO in.
I think it was around five out of six.
The only thing actually is that sky has had a 10 round fight already.
Obviously, this fight on Saturday nights, maybe 10 Rounds.
Tony Alvarez hasn’t ever had um a 10 round fight.
So if it goes the distance, then this is going to be different for her um.
Also she’s never had a fight outside of Spain, so this is the first time she has traveled to a country to fight and whether that’ll make her feel better or worse.
I don’t know um so great fight again, and I I really like this guy I’ve watched her career.
I’Ve said this before I love watching a book, so I kind of get better and better and just have the skills grow and I think, with Skye she’s a really good example of that.
But every time you watch her she’s, better um, so yeah tune in uh.
Now, let’s go on to the last fight that I am going to preview today.
She she’s just incredible in so many ways and – and I will tell you – and this is an ibf Continental, InterContinental um, uh fight and that is against Avril Matty, um from Australia and now ramla is a 7-0 she’s featherweight, it’s all very similified.
I could well not find yourself and she’s 33 years old.
Now she is the first ever Somali to compete at the Olympics and – and she is the first um female full stop to fight in Saudi Arabia.
That was her last fight.
Was she won with the first round TKO um against Crystal Garcia Nova, so I mean I say: go and watch the fight.
It’Ll, take you like 20 seconds um, but she she’s got a lot of power built up there um.
She has such an amazing story.
So I’ll tell you a bit about it.
She actually came to the UK um as a war, Refugee um, and so she really struggled when she was younger and her.
She actually lost her brother when he was only nine years old um due to a grenade.
So I mean she’s.
Well, I don’t need to say anymore, John and she found it difficult to settle in the UK to adjust um and she she was bullied when she was younger for race, she’s Muslim as well.
She decided to start boxing uh.
It was actually to lose weight again and she said the first time she went into a boxing gym.
She was 13 years old um and it she had to wait 40 minutes just to get into the changing room, because she was the only female.
There was no female changing room.
She had to wait that long, just to just to be able to put her stuff on uh.
She went in she absolutely loved it, but the coaches didn’t really take her seriously, so they take her money.
They were fine with that bit and but they wouldn’t let her Spa um and they wouldn’t let her you know, really really grow and it wasn’t until that gym shut down and she started a kickboxing gym that eventually she was allowed to Spa.
Um and people saw oh she’s, really good um.
Now she had to box in secret because her family did not approve at all whatsoever.
Um.
Now her brother actually saw her on on.
It was on a TV show.
She saw he saw her boxing on TV, so told the family and the family made a stop and said you can’t box absolutely no and she did stop.
She stopped.
She took a couple of years out and she wasn’t allowed to go, but she really wanted to so a couple of years later.
She began boxing in secret again, and this is a cool story.
I really like this one and she told her mum that she was going for a run, but hidden around side of her house was her boxing gear, and so she was like Mom grab a run out.
She goes, she gets her boxing gear, she goes and she wins the Nationals, she doesn’t just go and compete, she wins and then she comes back home.
She puts her boxing hides her box and stuff again comes in my mom’s, like how would you run? Oh, it’s great thanks.
It’S fine um, absolutely nuts.
Now she needed a way to pay for her boxing tournaments uh.
So what should ever she decided to take up modeling and that part of her career is also thriving and she has modeled for Dior Cartier Vogue Nike.
I mean she she’s a full-on big time model and obviously has to juggle that with boxing and hopefully never get in hit in the face.
Um I’d love to ask her about that.
I’M going to find, I want an interview with Grandma.
I think it’s incredible, and so she eventually went pro in 2022 and I would like to say her.
Family are now support, motive, um now she is also a massive campaigner um for many different charities.
She pledged to give 25 of her first year’s earnings as a pro to Charity.
She set up Charities as well so um, somalia’s boxing Federation and then she’s also set up the sisters club which for is for Muslim minorities and victims of domestic violence to Karma box.
There um she’s written a self-help book called not without a fight which is about the first 10 fights of her life, not necessarily in the ring and there’s even a film being made about her um.
And she says that she would love literature right to play her, which is great she’s, the the woman from uh Black Panther, the one that is now like black panther um.
It’S, I think, that’d be great.
That really works actually and there’s so much more.
I could tell you about Ramen Riley, but I’ll be here for days, so I’m not going to, but she is a human rights campaigner of feminist um and just all-round fantastic person.
I really hope uh that she does well on Saturday night um.
Now she is facing Avril Massey who’s.
I see she’s eight, I know and she’s had three Kos she’s 35 years old, she’s gon na be a really good match, and this is gon na be a really tough fight.
Um now she is from Australia, but she’s based out of Miami, and this is her first 10 round fight um, but her last fight was in November uh last year, um against Judith hatch world.
It was a unanimous decision, quite an easy win, um her last three fights in fact of all being unanimous decisions.
She’S only fought once, though, in 2022 um and rammer early fought three times and the year before that turned 21 Avril had fought twice and rumbler had fought three times again, so maybe the inactivity is going to be in ramla’s favor.
On that one I would.
I would say that you know for me Rama’s a favorite not just because I’m a fan, but you know on paper and, however, I do think it’s gon na be a tough fight.
I don’t think any of these fights tomorrow night are going to be walkovers.
I think they’re all gon na be tough, I think they’re all going to be entertaining um and what a card it’s not an all-female car.
By the way, I must stress this – there are male fights on that car, good ones.
I just really wanted to focus on these guys um, so that is your preview show for today and please join me next week, where I’ll be previewing big boxer card, I’m back in London back in Wembley um, it’s Adam azim he’s going to be back I’ll.
Do a feature on him and and Caroline Dubois she’ll be fighting again she’s, so active lately um.
So please join me next week for that preview show, but I enjoy the fight in Madison Square Garden.
Tomorrow, night um and I’ll speak to you very soon.
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