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Welcome to this week’s edition of The Fight With Teddy Atlas Newsletter, your one stop shop for all things combat sports related, brought to you by Teddy and The Fight team.
Every Friday We Bring You:
A combat sports news digest with all the headlines you need to know from Boxing and Mixed Martial Arts.
Highlights from the podcast and across the fight world.
Fight times and information you need to know ahead of time.
How to’s and tips for Boxing from Teddy himself.
Fight News From Around The 🌍
One Step Away
Puerto Rican-born Amanda Serrano will headline the boxing this weekend at the Madison Square Garden Theatre. The WBC, IBF, IBO and WBO featherweight titlist will face Mexico’s 32-year old WBA titlist Erika Cruz Hernandez. Serrano has won titles in every weight class from 115 to 140 pounds but never been undisputed. That will change Saturday night if she gets past Hernandez.
On the undercard, 28-year old Alycia Baumgardner will carry her WBC, IBF, IBO and WBO titles into a defence against France’s Elhem Mekhaled. The vacant WBA strap will be on the line, meaning the winner leave as the first undisputed champion crowd on the night.
Women's boxing is setting the pace for undisputed title clashes in the sport. It's not even that the title of undisputed is what is being valued necessarily - it's quality of the fights that are on display.
Serrano’s valiant but failed challenge of Taylor last year at lightweight last year is a prime example, as it was promoted as a superfight and lived up to the standards.
Before Baumgardner won a highly entertaining unification clash with Mikaela Mayer last year, she won her WBC belt by knocking out Terri Harper. Harper has since won a belt at Jr. middleweight and she and unified champion Natasha Jonas fought a few years ago to a draw at Jr. lightweight.
While the depth in any of the women’s divisions is still behind their male counterparts, their top talents consistently aim to fight each other, and more often than not they succeed, producing great fights and a consistently increasing respect for women's boxing. This is a model for the sort of competition fans of the sweet science want to see.
This weekend could set the stage for possibilities like Serrano vs Taylor II Baumgardner vs Mayer II or even a clash between Serrano and Baumgardner. Whatever the outcome, there are no signs of women's boxing slowing down, and that is brilliant for the sport.
Fellas, take notes.
What to look for in the fights:
Pace. Expect Serrano vs Hernandez to start slow, as it typically does between two southpaws, but the pace will pick up around the midway point. The WBO champion comes on strong in fights and will test the 34 year old Serrano's gas tank.
Power difference. Baumgardner's straight right hand is her best asset, but her opponent took some mean punches from former champion Delfine Persoon and has shown an ability to survive tough moments. Should she be able to take the American's power, watch out for this one to be closer than expected.
Fun fact: 5 of the 15 weight classes in women's boxing have undisputed champions:
Franchon Crews-Dezurn (168)
Claressa Shields (160)
Jessica McCaskill (147)
Chantelle Cameron (140)
Katie Taylor (135)
Last Chance Saloon For Lewis?
Saturday “The Black Beast” will take on “The Polar Bear” at the UFC APEX in Las Vegas in a 5 round heavyweight bout that was rescheduled from late last year.
Derrick Lewis's UFC record has gone 1-3 in his last four bouts and is fresh off a controversial first-round TKO loss at the hands of Serghei Pavlovich in July.
Prior to that defeat, Lewis was viciously knocked out by Tai Tuivasa in February. The 37-year-old is in need of a victory to maintain his place in the top 10 rankings and push himself back into title relevancy.
Serghei Spivac, meanwhile, is a young heavyweight whose stock is on the rise. He looked impressive of late with back-to-back finishes. He's barely put a foot wrong since his defeat to Tom Aspinall 2 years ago. In his most recent outing, the Moldovan dispatched Augusto Sakai with a second-round TKO and will be in the mood to continue his streak of finishes.
Derrick Lewis, with his formidable power and self belief, is impossible to write off as he'll know just how crucial a victory is here. The "script" seems to go in favour of a Spivac victory, but you don't get to the UFC record for most knockouts without tearing up a few scripts.
What to look for in the fight:
Standing room. Spivac is a very raw striker who depends a lot of his takedown threats in order to keep the fight on the feet. Lewis will look to capitalise on these early threats and counter him.
Ground and pound. Lewis has only ever been submitted once (by Daniel Cormier) and has an underrated ground game. Should Spivac succeed at getting him down, look for him to go for ground and pound.
Fight ⏰ for this weekend
Boxing: Serrano vs Hernandez (Saturday 4th/Sunday 5th)
🇺🇸 Full Card: 10pm Eastern/ 7pm Pacific | Main Event: 11pm Eastern/ 8pm Pacific
🇬🇧 Full Card: 3am | Main Event: 4am
🇦🇺 Full Card: 2pm Eastern/ 12pm Western | Main event: 3pm Eastern/ 1pm Western
MMA: Lewis vs Spivac (Saturday 4th/Sunday 5th)
🇺🇸 Full Card: 1am Eastern/ 10pm Pacific | Main Event: 3am Eastern/ 12am Pacific
🇬🇧 Full Card: 6am | Main Event: 8am
🇦🇺 Full Card: 5pm Eastern/ 3pm Western | Main event: 7pm Eastern/ 5pm Western