Amanda Serrano has leapfrogged Claressa Shields in ESPN’s women’s boxing pound-for-pound rankings –– moving up to second, behind rival Katie Taylor.
Serrano comfortably defeated lightweight star Miriam Gutierrez on the undercard of Jake Paul’s fight against Tyron Woodley last week to register her 42nd professional win.
The Puerto Rican is the current unified featherweight world champion and holds the WBO, WBC and IBO titles.
She has the Guinness World Record for the most boxing world championships won across different weight classes, having held nine major world titles across seven weights.
And her latest win has seen her move above undisputed light middleweight champion Shields in ESPN’s pound-for-pound list.
The American is undefeated so far in 11 professional fights and is the only boxer in history to hold all four major world titles in boxing simultaneously across two weight classes.
Shields’ last win came in March against Marie-Eve Dicaire but since then she has also fought in MMA –– winning her first bout, before losing the second.
The number one spot on the list goes to Irish star, Taylor, who is also undefeated and has 20 wins to her name.
Taylor is the undisputed lightweight champion and won gold at the Olympic Games back in 2012.
Earlier this month, the 35-year-old beat Firuza Sharipova to retain her titles.
While ESPN voted Taylor first in their latest rankings, writer Michael Rothstein admitted that any one of Taylor, Serrano and Shields could’ve ranked in top spot.
“The top three in the pound-for-pound are getting tougher and tougher to judge," Rothstein said.
"At this point, you could make a credible case for any of Katie Taylor, Claressa Shields or Amanda Serrano to be the best in the world -- and a year from now this entire list could be shaken up. That's the potential of depth women's boxing is finally starting to show."
A fight to determine who is the best female boxer on the planet could well be on the cards, with Serrano set to face Taylor for her lightweight titles next year.
This ‘super-fight’ has been teased by a number of people, including Jake Paul. Serrano is part of Paul’s promotional company ‘Most Valuable Promotions’ and the YouTuber turned fighter stressed a meeting between the two would definitely happen.
“Katie Taylor vs Amanda Serrano. Eddie Hearn and Matchroom Boxing and then Most Valuable Promotions. It’s going to be the biggest women’s fight in history, so I’m super excited about that,” he said.
Another ‘super fight’ featuring Shields could also take place in 2021. The American’s only ever amateur defeat came against Britain’s Savannah Marshall, who has held the WBO middleweight title since October 2020.
Marshall is ranked ninth in ESPN’s pound-for-pound rankings and has recently signed with new boxing promotion BOXXER.
Shields is also signed with the same promotion, and CEO Ben Shalom says a fight between the pair will take place in “May or June next year.”