Boxer Amanda Serrano has described her upcoming fight against Miriam Gutiérrez as a "great test".

The 33-year-old Serrano is fighting Gutiérrez on the undercard of Jake Paul’s clash with Tyron Woodley.

She is the unified featherweight world champion, having held the WBO title since 2019, the WBC title since February, and the IBO title since March.

The Puerto Rican is expected to dominate against Gutiérrez, who was undefeated until she lost by unanimous decision to Katie Taylor in November.

But the fight has an added significance – if Serrano wins, it paves the way for a blockbuster clash against Taylor next year.

"That’s why Saturday night is a big night for me," Serrano said, according to TMZ. "I’m not overlooking Miriam because she’s a tough girl, she’s a great test for me, but this fight definitely means a lot."

Despite this, Serrano told BoxingScene.com that she was focused on the task at hand.

"I never overlook who is in front of me," she said. "My entire career, I’ve always trained like I’m the underdog, like. I'm a challenger who is fighting the champion.

"A lot of times that has been the case, but every opponent I face is a world champion I have to beat to get to the next one.

"Once you start looking around, looking past your opponent in the present, the future you’re looking for will never be there.

"I know everyone wants to talk about Katie Taylor, and it’s a big, big fight. But for this camp, all of my focus has been on Miriam Gutierrez.

"This girl is the only name that’s mattered to me. She’s in my way right now."

Taylor, the current undisputed lightweight champion, previously fought Gutiérrez in November, beating her by unanimous decision.

She revealed on The MMA Hour that she expected Serrano to get past the Spaniard on Saturday.

"I definitely will be very, very surprised if she didn’t come through with that," Taylor admitted.

"Gutiérrez is a tough opponent. She’s big and she’s tough, but skill-wise I wouldn’t say she’s on Amanda Serrano’s level, so I definitely would expect her to get through that fight."

Serrano signed to Paul’s promotion company in September, and the YouTuber has been talking up a matchup between his talent and Taylor since.

Unlike Claressa Shields, who is currently exchanging a war of words with Paul, Taylor did not seem fazed by his involvement.

"Obviously just there’s been so much controversy and criticism over Jake Paul being involved in boxing and getting these fights going," Taylor said.

"If he’s the person to make the fight happen between me and Amanda Serrano, I’m not complaining at all about him being involved in boxing.

"He’s obviously pretty much promoting Amanda Serrano now, and so he’s obviously going to play a big part in getting this fight over the line as well.

"So yeah, like I said, I have no problems with him being involved in boxing if it means that he’s going to make the biggest fight in women’s boxing history happen."