NEW YORK — Amanda Serrano is preparing for the biggest fight of her life and at the same time she has also begun to take steps for the next part of her career.
Serrano is putting the finishing touches on signing her first client as a boxing manager, Nicole Ocasio, in conjunction with her current manager, Jordan Maldonado.
The signing comes as Serrano and Maldonado are in the midst of their training camp for her fight against Katie Taylor for the undisputed lightweight title at Madison Square Garden on April 30.
“We said you had to start thinking about what you’re going to do afterwards,” Serrano told ESPN. “Boxing is such a big part of my life and helped me out tremendously, given me all I have. Never had to work a 9-to-5. I was lucky and blessed to have boxing.
“So [Maldonado and I] started thinking and started talking and I told him, ‘You’ve done such a good job with me, I would love to do something like that for other women in this sport.’ We’ve been through so much, ups and downs, good and bad, we’ve seen it all. From promoters to managers, we’ve been all over, so we know the ins and outs. So I told him, I want to be able to help girls and Latinas.”
Serrano, 33, said she believes Latina fighters haven’t always received the push they need to become some of the best in the sport. As a Puerto Rican, she wanted to work with fighters from Puerto Rico. Eventually, Serrano said she could see herself branching out to other fighters, but like Jake Paul and Most Valuable Promotions did with her over the past six months, making her their only non-Paul client, she wanted to take a similar approach to her fledgling management.
In Ocasio, a 21-year-old who will make her professional debut at 130 pounds on April 1, Serrano said she saw similar traits to what made her one of the top fighters in the world. She and Maldonado saw clips of Ocasio fighting and heard her story. Serrano spoke with Ocasio’s father, Henry, who described boxing as the entirety of his daughter’s life. It was similar to how Serrano has approached her career.
Combined, that made Serrano and Maldonado want to work with Ocasio.
Serrano made clear, though, that she is not going down the path of becoming a promoter. She views her future as being more of a manager/advisor to guide women down the correct path and learn from the decisions Serrano made in her career.
“I’m excited,” Serrano said. “I’m excited for this second chapter of my life, this new chapter.”
Serrano, who has told ESPN multiple times she sees herself fighting, at most, around two more years, said she believes Ocasio can be the next great champion with Puerto Rican heritage. Ocasio, who lives in the United States, has won five national championships.
“I think this girl can go far,” Serrano said. “I want to be able to, when I retire, pass this torch to her. So hopefully by the time I retire, she’ll have a couple of fights in already and going for her world title.
“I get goosebumps thinking about it. I can just pass the torch to her and she can go win that world title and keep Puerto Rico on the map.”
