Samuel Serrano

Template:Short description Template:Infobox boxer Samuel Serrano (born November 17, 1952) is a Puerto Rican former professional boxer who competed from 1969 to 1984 and made a two-fight comeback from 1996 to 1997. He was a two-time super featherweight world champion, having held the WBA title twice between 1976 and 1983.

According to Serrano during a 2017 interview with El Nuevo Dia newspaper, he learned to box starting at age 5 when he lived at Palmarejos barrio in Corozal.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Professional boxing career

Template:External media Serrano, owner of long arms, began his career on October 29, 1969, with a third-round knockout win over Ramon Laureano. He built a fan base in Puerto Rico, campaigning there for his first 23 bouts, including winning and losing the Puerto Rican Featherweight title v.s Francisco Villegas. For his 24th bout, he traveled to Panama City, where he met future world Featherweight champion Ernesto Marcel, who beat him on points in 10 rounds. That would be his last defeat in a long time.

He then continued his winning ways, including a 10-round decision win over tough veteran Cocoa Perez and one win over future title challenger Diego Alcala of Panama, also by decision in 10. Serrano then travelled in 1976 to Honolulu, Hawaii, to meet reigning Lineal and WBA world jr. Lightweight champion, the Filipino Ben Villaflor. By most writer's accounts, Serrano beat Villaflor, but he had to return home only with a 15-round draw (tie).

The WBA ordered an immediate rematch, and so on October 16 of the same year, Villaflor went to San Juan to defend his title for the second time vs. Serrano. Serrano beat Villaflor by using his ring technique to win 12 of the 15 rounds on each judges' scorecards. As life had it, Samuel Serrano was destined to become a world champion in front of his fans.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Serrano became a traveling champion, defending his title in places like Venezuela, Ecuador, South Africa, Japan (twice) and, of course, Puerto Rico. One of his defenses, against Julio "Diablito" Valdez, resulted in an after-fight brawl when Serrano was announced as winner by a unanimous decision and went to greet his rival but was received with a punch to the face.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Serrano retaliated, and police intervention was needed. Both fighters were escorted to their dressing rooms by the police. But disaster struck for Serrano in Detroit on August 2 of 1980, when, after leading on all scorecards, he was struck by a Yasutsune Uehara right hand to the chin in round six, and lost his title by knockout to the Japanese. After that loss, he set his eyes on recovering his world title from the Japanese world champion, and so on April 9, 1981, they met again, this time in Wakayama, Japan. Serrano was more cautious this time, and didn't try to go for the knockout after building a points lead. Even though Uehara was fighting in his homeland, all judges agreed and gave Serrano more rounds than they gave Uehara, and Serrano the world title back by a fifteen-round unanimous decision.

Serrano made two defenses and then went to Chile to give challenger Benedicto Villablanca a chance at the title on June 3, 1982. It proved to be a highly controversial fight. After 5 rounds, Serrano was ahead on the scorecards. However, a cut appeared over his eye during the 6th, and the referee ruled it to be from a punch. Serrano kept fighting, but during the 11th round, the cut was so deep, the fight had to be stopped by the doctor and Serrano had to be taken to a Santiago hospital. Since the referee ruled the cut came from a punch, initially the fight and the world title were given to Villablanca.

Serrano and his corner filed a complaint, however, claiming the cut had been caused by a headbutt instead, and upon review at the WBA's Panama City offices, WBA officials announced they had effectively seen the headbutt that Serrano claimed opened his cut happen. So the WBA decided the cut had come from a headbutt, and the judges' scorecards were reviewed. They had Serrano ahead on points after 10 rounds, so the fight, and the crown, were given back to Serrano by a technical decision.

In his next defense he met the younger and physically stronger Roger Mayweather. Serrano and Mayweather gave it a good fight for most of 7 rounds, but Serrano was weakened by a barrage of punches towards the end of the 7th, and downed with a right hand in the 8th, this time, losing the title definitively.

Retirement

Serrano retired from the ring for one year and came back in 1984, winning by first round knockout. Then, he retired again.

In 1996, Serrano won the Puerto Rican Lightweight title vs Sammy Mejias on a 12-round decision, and he also won a 10-round decision vs Anthony Ivory in 1997. Serrano retired after the Ivory fight with a final record of 50 wins, 5 defeats and 17 knockouts.

He made a television commercial for Budweiser in Puerto Rico in 1982.

As of 2017, Serrano was living in a beach house at Islote, ciudad de Arecibo. He dedicated himself to fixing beachfront apartments and renting them, as well as to creating mosaic art, some of which he sold.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Professional boxing record

Template:Abbr	Result	Record	Opponent	Type	Round	Date	Location	Notes
57	Template:Yes2Win	50–6–1	Anthony Ivory	PTS	10	Nov 6, 1997	Template:Small
56	Template:Yes2Win	49–6–1	Sammy Mejias	UD	10	Jul 14, 1996	Template:Small
55	Template:Yes2Win	48–6–1	Candido Santamaria	KO	1 (?)	May 26, 1984	Template:Small
54	Template:No2Loss	47–6–1	Roger Mayweather	TKO	8 (15)	Jan 19, 1983	Template:Small	Template:Small
53	Template:Yes2Win	47–5–1	Benedicto Villablanca	TD	11 (15)	Jul 5, 1982	Template:Small	Template:Small
52	Template:Yes2Win	46–5–1	Hikaru Tomonari	TKO	12 (15)	Dec 10, 1981	Template:Small	Template:Small
51	Template:Yes2Win	45–5–1	Leonel Hernandez	UD	15	July 29, 1981	Template:Small	Template:Small
50	Template:Yes2Win	44–5–1	Yasutsune Uehara	UD	15	Apr 9, 1981	Template:Small	Template:Small
49	Template:Yes2Win	43–5–1	Jesus Delgado	KO	2 (?)	Sep 20, 1980	Template:Small
48	Template:No2Loss	42–5–1	Yasutsune Uehara	KO	6 (15)	Aug 2, 1980	Template:Small	Template:Small
47	Template:Yes2Win	42–4–1	Battlehawk Kazama	TKO	13 (15)	Apr 3, 1980	Template:Small	Template:Small
46	Template:Yes2Win	41–4–1	Nkosana Mgxaji	TKO	8 (15)	Dec 9, 1979	Template:Small	Template:Small
45	Template:Yes2Win	40–4–1	Julio Valdez	UD	15	Feb 18, 1979	Template:Small	Template:Small
44	Template:Yes2Win	39–4–1	Takao Maruki	UD	15	Nov 29, 1978	Template:Small	Template:Small
43	Template:Yes2Win	38–4–1	Young Ho Oh	RTD	9 (15)	Jul 8, 1978	Template:Small	Template:Small
42	Template:Yes2Win	37–4–1	Mario Martínez	UD	15	Feb 18, 1978	Template:Small	Template:Small
41	Template:Yes2Win	36–4–1	Tae-Ho Kim	TKO	10 (15)	Nov 19, 1977	Template:Small	Template:Small
40	Template:Yes2Win	35–4–1	Apollo Yoshio	UD	15	Aug 27, 1977	Template:Small	Template:Small
39	Template:Yes2Win	34–4–1	Leonel Hernandez	UD	15	Jul 26, 1977	Template:Small	Template:Small
38	Template:Yes2Win	33–4–1	Alberto Herrera	KO	11 (15)	Jan 15, 1977	Template:Small	Template:Small
37	Template:Yes2Win	32–4–1	Ben Villaflor	UD	15	Oct 16, 1976	Template:Small	Template:Small
36	Template:Yes2Win	31–4–1	Adrian Villanueva	KO	2 (?)	Sep 10, 1976	Template:Small
35	Template:Yes2Win	30–4–1	Mar Basa	TKO	9 (10)	May 8, 1976	Template:Small
34	Template:DrawDraw	29–4–1	Ben Villaflor	SD	15	Apr 13, 1976	Template:Small	Template:Small
33	Template:Yes2Win	29–4	Maneul Rodriguez	TKO	6 (?)	Dec 13, 1975	Template:Small
32	Template:Yes2Win	28–4	Diego Alcala	PTS	10	Oct 11, 1975	Template:Small
31	Template:Yes2Win	27–4	Ahmet Tosci	KO	2 (10)	Sep 1, 1975	Template:Small
30	Template:Yes2Win	26–4	Victor Echegaray	PTS	10	Jul 28, 1975	Template:Small
29	Template:Yes2Win	25–4	Jose Pena	PTS	10	Apr 12, 1975	Template:Small
28	Template:Yes2Win	24–4	Memo Cruz	PTS	10	Nov 15, 1974	Template:Small
27	Template:Yes2Win	23–4	Ezequiel Cocoa Sanchez	PTS	10	Jul 29, 1974	Template:Small
26	Template:Yes2Win	22–4	Gustavo Briceno	KO	10 (12)	Jul 15, 1974	Template:Small	Template:Small
25	Template:Yes2Win	21–4	Lorenzo Trujillo	PTS	10	Apr 15, 1974	Template:Small
24	Template:No2Loss	20–4	Ernesto Marcel	SD	10	Dec 5, 1973	Template:Small
23	Template:Yes2Win	20–3	Jose Issac Martin	PTS	10	Jul 21, 1973	Template:Small
22	Template:Yes2Win	19–3	Freddie Major	KO	1 (10)	Jun 10, 1973	Template:Small
21	Template:Yes2Win	18–3	Terry Rondeau	KO	2 (?)	Apr 14, 1973	Template:Small
20	Template:Yes2Win	17–3	John Howard	PTS	10	Mar 24, 1973	Template:Small
19	Template:Yes2Win	16–3	Nestor Rojas	PTS	10	Feb 16, 1973	Template:Small
18	Template:Yes2Win	15–3	Angel Rivera	PTS	12	Dec 9, 1972	Template:Small
17	Template:No2Loss	14–3	Francisco Villegas	PTS	12	Apr 8, 1972	Template:Small	Template:Small
16	Template:Yes2Win	14–2	Angel Rivera	PTS	10	Dec 4, 1971	Template:Small
15	Template:Yes2Win	13–2	Francisco Villegas	PTS	12	Oct 25, 1971	Template:Small	Template:Small
14	Template:Yes2Win	12–2	Braulio Rodriguez	PTS	10	July 3, 1971	Template:Small
13	Template:Yes2Win	11–2	Gustavo Briceno	PTS	10	May 15, 1971	Template:Small
12	Template:No2Loss	10–2	Fremio Jimenez	PTS	10	Mar 24, 1971	Template:Small
11	Template:Yes2Win	10–1	Wilson Yambo	PTS	10	Feb 4, 1971	Template:Small
10	Template:Yes2Win	9–1	Modesto Concepcion	PTS	8	Oct 31, 1970	Template:Small
9	Template:Yes2Win	8–1	Ramon Dominguez	PTS	6	Jun 6, 1970	Template:Small
8	Template:Yes2Win	7–1	Modesto Concepcion	PTS	6	May 9, 1970	Template:Small
7	Template:Yes2Win	6–1	Robert Guerrero	PTS	6	Apr 11, 1970	Template:Small
6	Template:Yes2Win	5–1	Ramon Montes	PTS	6	Mar 14, 1970	Template:Small
5	Template:Yes2Win	4–1	Modesto Escalera	PTS	6	Feb 14, 1970	Template:Small
4	Template:Yes2Win	3–1	Sammy Correa	Template:Abbr	3 (?)	Jan 17, 1970	Template:Small
3	Template:No2Loss	2–1	Enrique Roque	PTS	4	Dec 12, 1969	Template:Small
2	Template:Yes2Win	2–0	Radames Pizzarro	PTS	4	Nov 13, 1969	Template:Small
1	Template:Yes2Win	1–0	Ramon Laureano	Template:Abbr	3 (?)	Nov 1, 1969	Template:Small

See also

• List of world super-featherweight boxing champions
• List of Puerto Rican boxing world champions
• Sports in Puerto Rico
• Afro–Puerto Ricans

External links

• Template:Boxrec
• Samuel Serrano biography
• Samuel Serrano - CBZ Profile