DAZN has announced a new event for the upcoming year mostly featuring female boxers. Amanda Serrano will be headlining the boxing event, along with Erika Cruz, as they attempt to unify against each other in order to become undisputed. The event will be held on February 4th at the Madison Square Garden Theater.
Following her 2022 loss to Katie Taylor (22-0, 6 KO’s) where Serrano (43-2-1, 30 KO’s) first received the opportunity to become undisputed, the Puerto Rican unified Featherweight champion will gain a second chance to make history and cement her status as one of the best female boxers in the sport against Erika Cruz (15-1, 3 KO’s). A win for her would not only mean becoming undisputed – which as the name implies means she will be considered the best in her division, but she would also become the first Puerto Rican to become undisputed in the sport of boxing.
Erika Cruz will be participating in her first unification and undisputed bout since becoming a world champion in 2021. Despite suffering a (majority decision) loss in the second fight of her career, Cruz has managed to carve out her own path as a Featherweight and is mostly lauded for beating veteran and former world champion Jelena Mrdjenovich (41-12-2, 19 KO’s) twice.
The co-main event will feature unified Super Featherweight champion Alycia Baumgardner who will also gain the chance to become undisputed for the first time in her career. She will be facing French contender Elhem Mekhaled (15-1, 3 KO’s) whose last fight was a UD loss against former WBC world champion Delfine Persoon (47-3, 19 KO’s). Though she never won a world title, she briefly became the WBC Super Featherweight interim champion in 2019 before it was forcibly vacated by the WBC to be made available for Katharina Thanderz’ (15-1, 2 KO’s) fight with Danila Ramos (10-2, 1 KO’s) – only to be vacated again not long after Thanderz captured the interim title.
Baumgardner’s last fight saw her unify her titles for the second time of her career in 2022 against Mikaela Mayer (17-1, 5 KO’s) – who held the WBO belt at the time. Though the results of the fight was controversial, Baumgardner has clearly moved on from the bout to grab the opportunity to cement her own legacy.
The event will also feature the recently crowned ‘Female Revelation of the Year’ in Skye Nicolson (5-0, 0 KO’s). She will be facing a fellow prospect and undefeated fighter in Spanish boxer Tania Alvarez (7-0, 1 KO’s).
The two will be battling for the vacant WBC Silver Featherweight title. More than just a mid-tier title and bragging rights are on the line for both fighters; their bout is more significant as it will determine who is most likely to take over the women’s Featherweight division in the near future. With both fighters sporting similar records and having debuted around the same time (Alvarez in 2021 while Skye in 2022), it is expected that whoever loses will take a painful blow to their career, while the winner will likely be catapulted in the rankings and become ever closer to gain a world title opportunity.
