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There is a hidden gym on a quiet street in Brooklyn. It’s not flashy or crowded, but inside it’s cool and edgy.
It’s a perfect spot for Amanda Serrano, the Puerto Rican boxer who prefers her life off the grid. And yet she has chosen Jake Paul as a most unlikely partner to take her to the next level when it comes to the riches the sport can provide.
The Post spoke with Serrano at the gym, where she has been training for her fight against Miriam Gutierrez on Dec. 18 — the co-main event for the rematch bout between Paul and Tyron Woodley at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida. She is laser focused – and not just for this fight.
“I don’t drink, I don’t smoke, I don’t party. I don’t have friends. I don’t go on dates. I never had a boyfriend,” said Serrano (41-1-1), a seven division boxing champion, who signed with Paul’s management company, Most Valuable Promotions and BAVAFA Sports in September.
“I’ve never had a cell phone — ever. I started boxing at 18, after I graduated high school. You know, I didn’t have time for that, and after high school I was like, ‘I’m not going to do it.’ I started boxing.
“I’ve seen fighters that have have a boyfriend or they have a girlfriend and they’ll get into a fight with their partner, go to the gym and they won’t have the same performance that they had just a day before when their relationship was good… I don’t need it. If I’m going to put myself in the sport. I’m going to give it 100 percent. I’m going to sacrifice whatever is on the outside and distractions.”
Paul was in disbelief while discussing Serrano’s lifestyle.
“It’s unlike any other thing I’ve ever seen,” he told The Post. “She is the most dedicated person I’ve ever met. To not have a phone in todays culture, to solely focus on boxing is such a statement. This is why she will be remembered forever.
“I don’t drink, I don’t smoke, I don’t party. I don’t have friends”
Amanda Serrano
Paul — whose outspoken personality and trash talk earned him the nickname, “The Problem Child” — operates much differently. The 24-year-old millionaire isn’t shy about flaunting his model girlfriend, Julia Rose, a former reality star who appeared on MTV’s dating show, “Are You the One?”
Paul enjoys living his life in the spotlight and documents his pranks and feuds on YouTube, where he has over 20 million subscribers. He is unapologetic about launching lewd insults to his opponents (or anyone, really) through social media and interviews.
Just last week, Paul called Tommy Fury “boxing’s biggest b–ch” when the British fighter announced he backed out of their bout due to a bacterial chest infection and broken ribs.
Serrano, though, prefers to keep quiet and let her fists do the talking. She’s timid and a bit shy in person, but she’s much feistier in fight mode.
The 33-year-old Serrano credits her older sister Cindy — a professional boxer, who held the WBO female featherweight title from 2016 to 2017 — for “inspiring me to get into the sport.” Cindy’s husband Jordan is Serrano’s trainer, who is also part of her tight inner circle outside of boxing.
Serrano will use Cindy’s cell phone “every now and then” to interact with her fans on social media or shop on Amazon (her guilty pleasure).
Serrano has won 27 consecutive fights since 2012, when she suffered her only defeat to Frida Wallberg via unanimous decision. Her most recent victory came against Yamileth Mercado in August, as the co-main event of Paul’s split-decision win against Woodley.
“I’m doing things these women are afraid to do. They’re afraid to sacrifice,” Serrano said. “They’re afraid to risk their undefeated record, themselves, or their body to be great. I think greatness requires sacrifice, and I think that’s what I’ve done — I sacrificed practically no life. I have no life. Boxing is my life. Fighting is my life.
“I don’t sit and think about, ‘Oh, I could be out partying or I could be out.’ I just continue to look at the future and say, ‘This is what I’ve done. I’m great. I’m a great athlete,’ and that’s what pushes me.”
Serrano has held nine titles from 115 pounds all the way up to 140 pounds, and holds the Guinness record for most boxing world championships held in different weight classes by a woman.
“Signing with MVP promotion has to be one of the best decisions I made so far in my career. I’ve been seven division world champion for I don’t know how many years now and nothing really great has happened to me,” Serrano said. “Everything’s just been boxing, boxing, doing the same thing.
“Meeting Jake Paul, I already got my biggest payday… They’re pushing me. He’s giving me platform in the spotlight where other people who would never know who I am are knowing who I am now.”
Despite that illustrious resume, she said she had not received the recognition she deserves until she met Paul and his advisor, Nakisa Biderian, who founded MVP earlier this year. Bidarian, the former CFO of the UFC, has been a guiding force in Paul’s transition from the YouTube world to professional boxing.
Paul sees the value in Serrano and believes she’s the perfect addition to the MVP roster.
“We didn’t evaluate Amanda as a female athlete. We evaluated her as one of the best athletes of the last two decades in combat sports,” Bidarian said. “She has accomplished as much if not more in combat sports than any male or female since turning pro 13 years ago. — On that basis alone, it was an easy decision to ask her to join MVP.”
Serrano named athletes, including Portland Trail Blazers point guard Damian Lillard, who’ve been supportive of her since the move to Paul’s team.
“So being under Jake Paul has opened eyes to different people to know that women’s boxing is here, and I’m super happy and super proud to be his first fighter, and that’s why I have to continue to prove to that I deserve this spot and I’m going to,” Serrano said.
Serrano said she believes the Internet personality is misunderstood. The pair met when she fought on his card with Woodley,. They then trained together at his brother Logan’s home in Los Angeles, where she was pleasantly surprised by Paul’s skills and demeanor in the ring.
“After I trained with him in L.A., it was like a connection,” Serrano said. “He’s not an average YouTuber going to boxing just to do it for views. I saw the intensity. He wanted to prove that he belongs in the sport of boxing and that really opened me up to just continue to see him do great in boxing.”
Paul knows he and Serrano have vastly different lifestyles, but sees the similarities they share.
“We are both easygoing and like to make jokes, but at the same time we take what we do very seriously and we both have killer mentality,” he said.
Serrano, who’s moving up in weight (135 pounds) to fight Gutierrez on Dec. 18, completely changed her diet and training for the bout — which she hopes leads to a fight with Katie Taylor in 2022. Taylor and Serrano, along with Claressa Shields, are considered the top female pound-for-pound boxers in the world.
“He doesn’t need to box. He’s going out there and he’s breaking records and doing great things for the sport of boxing,” Serrano said of Paul. “And I’m honored to be on his team because he’s he’s the truth. He’s putting in the work, he’s training hard. There were no games [during training]. He was joking around, but there was no laughing. We did exercises together and I couldn’t keep up with him. I was like, I’m dying and he kept going, and I was like this kid is the truth.”
Paul added, “We both go all out, nonstop and it’s almost like we have something to prove in every training session.”
Serrano believes critics “only want to see the negative” when it comes to Paul. “He’s in his twenties, he’s living his life. But now he’s doing something great, and you just have to acknowledge it.
“I feel like at 33, I’m at my prime, I’m smarter, I’m stronger than I was last year. I hired a nutritionist. It is funny how you open your mind and your body works.”
Taylor’s promoter Eddie Hearn has been pushing for a meeting between the two female fighters since Taylor beat Kazakhstan’s Firuza Sharipova on Saturday in Liverpool to retain her title as undisputed lightweight champion. Bidarian also said he believes that will be Serrano’s next fight if she beats Gutierrez.
“She’s one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world,” Serrano said about the 20-0 Taylor, noting that there’s talks of a seven-figure payday if both sides can agree to a contract.
“I’m super excited and pumped. It would be the biggest female fight ever. To have two great powerful women… I got Miriam in front of me, but that’s what motivates me because I want the Katie Taylor fight. So I’m going to go out there and make sure that I deserve that.”
Serrano is hoping to use her newfound fame under Paul and Co. to cast attention on women in boxing, especially Latinas.
“And I want people to know that, I am a woman. I’m a Latina, but I’m a powerful woman and a powerful Latina,” Serrano said. “And I just want them to know that we’re in the sport. We’re trying to make a change. I’m trying to encourage more women is coming to the sport. And I just want to show them that great things can happen to you and for you if you surround yourself with positive people,” she said.
Serrano got up and walked over to a nearby ring, where she prepared for a workout inside the neon green ropes.
“I say, I have two and a half years left in the sport and then I get to enjoy my life,” Serrano said. “But once I do that, I want to be able to look back and say it was for a reason and that sacrifice was worth it.”
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