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.

Professional boxing career

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.

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. 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.

Professional boxing record

ResultRecordOpponentTypeRoundDateLocationNotes57Win50–6–1Anthony IvoryPTS10Nov 6, 199756Win49–6–1Sammy MejiasUD10Jul 14, 199655Win48–6–1Candido SantamariaKO1 (?)May 26, 198454Loss47–6–1Roger MayweatherTKO8 (15)Jan 19, 198353Win47–5–1Benedicto VillablancaTD11 (15)Jul 5, 198252Win46–5–1Hikaru TomonariTKO12 (15)Dec 10, 198151Win45–5–1Leonel HernandezUD15Jul 29, 198150Win44–5–1Yasutsune UeharaUD15Apr 9, 198149Win43–5–1Jesus DelgadoKO2 (?)Sep 20, 198048Loss42–5–1Yasutsune UeharaKO6 (15)Aug 2, 198047Win42–4–1Battlehawk KazamaTKO13 (15)Apr 3, 198046Win41–4–1Nkosana MgxajiTKO8 (15)Dec 9, 197945Win40–4–1Julio ValdezUD15Feb 18, 197944Win39–4–1Takao MarukiUD15Nov 29, 197843Win38–4–1Young Ho OhRTD9 (15)Jul 8, 197842Win37–4–1Mario MartínezUD15Feb 18, 197841Win36–4–1Tae-Ho KimTKO10 (15)Nov 19, 197740Win35–4–1Apollo YoshioUD15Aug 27, 197739Win34–4–1Leonel HernandezUD15Jul 26, 197738Win33–4–1Alberto HerreraKO11 (15)Jan 15, 1977 37Win32–4–1Ben VillaflorUD15Oct 16, 197636Win31–4–1Adrian VillanuevaKO2 (?)Sep 10, 197635Win30–4–1Mar BasaTKO9 (10)May 8, 197634Draw29–4–1Ben VillaflorSD15Apr 13, 197633Win29–4Maneul RodriguezTKO6 (?)Dec 13, 197532Win28–4Diego AlcalaPTS10Oct 11, 197531Win27–4Ahmet TosciKO2 (10)Sep 1, 197530Win26–4Victor EchegarayPTS10Jul 28, 197529Win25–4Jose PenaPTS10Apr 12, 197528Win24–4Memo CruzPTS10Nov 15, 197427Win23–4Ezequiel Cocoa SanchezPTS10Jul 29, 197426Win22–4Gustavo BricenoKO10 (12)Jul 15, 197425Win21–4Lorenzo TrujilloPTS10Apr 15, 197424Loss20–4Ernesto MarcelSD10Dec 5, 197323Win20–3Jose Issac MartinPTS10Jul 21, 197322Win19–3Freddie MajorKO1 (10)Jun 10, 197321Win18–3Terry RondeauKO2 (?)Apr 14, 197320Win17–3John HowardPTS10Mar 24, 197319Win16–3Nestor RojasPTS10Feb 16, 197318Win15–3Angel RiveraPTS12Dec 9, 197217Loss14–3Francisco VillegasPTS12Apr 8, 197216Win14–2Angel RiveraPTS10Dec 4, 197115Win13–2Francisco VillegasPTS12Oct 25, 197114Win12–2Braulio RodriguezPTS10July 3, 197113Win11–2Gustavo BricenoPTS10May 15, 197112Loss10–2Fremio JimenezPTS10Mar 24, 197111Win10–1Wilson YamboPTS10Feb 4, 197110Win9–1Modesto ConcepcionPTS8Oct 31, 19709Win8–1Ramon DominguezPTS6Jun 6, 19708Win7–1Modesto ConcepcionPTS6May 9, 19707Win6–1Robert GuerreroPTS6Apr 11, 19706Win5–1Ramon MontesPTS6Mar 14, 19705Win4–1Modesto EscaleraPTS6Feb 14, 19704Win3–1Sammy Correa3 (?)Jan 17, 19703Loss2–1Enrique RoquePTS4Dec 12, 19692Win2–0Radames PizzarroPTS4Nov 13, 19691Win1–0Ramon Laureano3 (?)Nov 1, 1969

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

References

External links

Samuel Serrano biography Samuel Serrano - CBZ Profile