How much can you guys tell me about Serrano, as he has slipped under my radar? He won the WBA SFW belt in 76 and held it till he lost to Uehara in the upset of the year 1980, won it back the following year untill Roger Mayweather stopped him in 83. Recognized as ring champion 6 out of 7 years rated in their top 10 for 9 consecutive years at SFW. Yet he never seemed to meet any of the other top flight SFW's of the day. he missed: Arguello, Everett, Escalera, Limon, Chacon, Baltazar, Navarrete, Boza Edwards, Rosario, Camacho and more. Why did he not ever get a fight with any of those guys....for those who know him how do you think he would fare against them? How would he compare to say a Brian Mitchell or john John Molina type? I have watched and was rewatching his fight with Roger, and really don't know much about him outside of this...since he was 31 and on the tail end of his career i don't want to misjudge him based upon this fight alone. Thanks in advance for any info and/or opinions!
At the time my son Frankie Baltazar was rated # 1 by both the WBC and Ring mag. we could never get his people to sign for a fight. They kept saying that, yes we could make the fight, but they would never sign on the dotted line....How good was Serrano? hard to say since he didn't fight out of P.R. much where he was protected
He wasn't truly willing to prove his greatness. I have to presume that he would lose to most of them. In his day he didn't get much respect. His record is impressive still. Any man who can defend the title as many times as he did has to have been fairly good. Mario Martinez was an awful challenger though. The Uehara fight shows that anybody can be caught by a chance once they fight enough times. It was an awkward looking knockout from an odd angle. Apparently gave a competitive fight to Ernesto Marcel but I find no information on the fight.
Samuel Serrano WBA Super-Featherweight Champion Was a 'pain-in-the-ass' to fight. A 5' 8 1/2" tall, boxer-puncher. Though he couldn't punch, he was just 'pesky' enough to bother you. He had quick hands, and a 'sneaky' right hand (his power-punch). Samuel was a very good defensive fighter, and was an elusive target. And whenever you got close to him, he tied you up. He also pulled every 'legal dirty trick' in the book. Notorious for hitting on the 'break'. Early in his career, fought on many fight cards with Wilfred Benitez. Another one of the 'protected' WBA fighters. But overall, he was a very good fighter. This content is protected
Travelled to Honolulu, Hawaii (April 1976) Took on 'The Great' Ben Villaflor (WBA Super-Feathwerweight Champion). Out-boxed and out-smarted Villaflor, only to get 'jobbed' out of the 15-Round Decision, when the bout was declared a Split-Decision Draw 15. In a 'rematch' in October 1976 (this time in Puerto Rico), Samuel crusied to an easy 15-Round Unanimous Decision, to win the WBA Super-Featherweight Championship. Those '2' bouts were 'unquestionably' Samuel Serrano's best fights.
