10 Things Boxing Champion Amanda Serrano Can't Live Without

As you can see, these are all my babies.

It's like asking a parent

who's your favorite child?

There is none. [laughs]

Hey, GQ, I'm Amanda Serrano, and these are my essentials.

[smooth jazz music]

[text beeps]

Well, this is one of many,

but this one is my Ring magazine belt.

This one signifies that I am the top dog

in my weight class, which is featherweight.

Becoming undisputed champion was a goal of mine

because I am the first Puerto Rican

to do so, to become undisputed champion.

But my biggest accomplishment is becoming

a seven-division world champion, which is extremely hard.

There is about maybe eight female undisputed champion,

but there is only one seven-division world champion,

and that is me, [text beeps]

Amanda Serrano. [laughs] [crowd cheers]

So that's really a great accomplishment for me.

To this day, I still get goosebumps

when I think about that arena that night,

it just was so surreal.

We sold out the Garden, two girls

who never spoke bad about each other,

and we left it all in that ring.

And it was an amazing night for female boxing.

An amazing night for me, as well as for Katie Taylor.

[text beeps] I worked super hard

for each and every one of these

and they mean a lot to me.

And I'm gonna continue to work hard

so I can keep them and they stay home with me. [laughs]

Careful with my children, please.

[crew member laughs] [Amanda laughs]

[smooth jazz music] [text beeps]

So for those who know me,

know that I've been fighting in Js for about four years,

and know they're not custom Jordans.

They're Jordans that I go to the store

and buy them, and purchase them and then fight with them.

But these in particular,

these are the ones that I made history with,

becoming a seven-division world champion.

I wore these, these are my first pair of Jordans

I ever fought in, ever bought, in general.

Now, can't stop me from buying sneakers.

Can't stop me [laughs] from buying Jordans.

But these are special to me because I made history

in these, in 35 seconds, to be exact.

I would actually love a Jordan brand deal.

Like, I have hundreds.

I cannot go to a sneaker store

and not buy a pair of sneakers,

and particularly Jordan's, I just love him.

He needs to stop coming out with them [laughs]

because then I wanna buy.

I'm like, okay, I'm not gonna buy any today,

and I end up buying two.

I'm not gonna buy any, I end up buying three.

So Jordan, if you're watching,

I feel just like you on the court, in the ring.

So let's do something. [laughs]

[upbeat music] [text beeps]

Did I say I am a proud Puerto Rican? [laughs]

Well, I am, and this flag means everything to me.

This flag motivates me to be the best athlete that I can be

so I can give my island something that they can be proud of.

And I hope that I've done that

with each and every fight that I had.

As you can see, this flag is filled with blood.

This is the flag I had from my last fight,

where I made history for my island,

becoming the first undisputed champion out of Puerto Rico.

That fight was a battle,

that fight was a blood bath, [laughs]

that fight, we also made history.

We had thrown the most punches

in a female fight, in two minutes.

Over 1,900 punches between me and my opponent.

So I mean, I'm not bragging, but I like making history.

[laughs] But this flag means everything to me.

This flag is just,

it's just what pushes me to be great.

I have my other half here, Cindy, my sister.

She started this crazy sport of boxing

and she inspired me to be the best person that I can be,

the best fighter that I can be.

And to this day, I will have to give her all the thanks,

as well as Jordan, for pushing me

and making me the best person that I can be.

And I love you. You're welcome,

you're welcome. [Amanda laughs]

And I'm just gonna hold on to that Serrano name

and just continue to thrive and be the best that I can be.

But it's for us.

[Crew Member] Can I get a little hug?

Oh, okay this is really acting, guys,

you're pushing it guys. [laughs]

I gotta get paid for this. [Amanda laughs]

[upbeat music] [text beeps]

My next essential is my ring.

This ring was gifted to me by my brother-in-law at the time,

which is my brother-in-law and my trainer,

as well as my manager.

And he gave me this for my birthday,

I turned 12 years old.

This is the first thing I put on after a workout.

First thing I put on after my fight.

If I don't have it on, I feel naked. [laughs]

I'm always touching this finger so

to make sure I have it, it means a lot to me.

And funny story about this ring,

my sister told my brother-in-law, which is her husband,

not to get me this ring,

'cause I was too young at the time.

She was like, oh no, she's gonna lose it.

She's young, she doesn't know.

She's never had jewelry like that.

Meanwhile, 23 years later, I still have it,

and she's lost a couple rings in between those times.

So there you go, Cindy. I still got it. [laughs]

[upbeat music] [image beeps]

If you guys don't know me,

I am a 34-year-old woman that never owned a phone.

[laughs] I've never owned a cell phone

and in this day and age, people think I'm crazy.

They look at me like, are you insane?

But I'm living the perfect life.

I am successful in what I do.

And I think that's the number reason

why I am a seven-division world champion

and undisputed champion,

and one of the most accomplished female boxers out there.

That's because I have no phone.

You can get caught up in your phone

and social media, with the comments.

So to me, I just, I feel like,

it's just a sigh of relief that I don't have that.

This is very important.

I mean, you might not know,

the new kids nowadays may not know what this is

but this is called an iPod. [laughs]

And this is very, very important for me in running.

Like, if I don't have this, I will not run.

If you see me training and shadow boxing,

I also have my iPod.

I have my headphones on and I just,

I will shadow box for like, 20 minutes straight if I had to,

as long as I have my music on.

Not just my iPod, it's important,

but my Switch has my YouTube in it. [laughs]

I have to keep up to date with what's happening on YouTube.

I have, you know, certain people that I like to watch,

the news, so I sometimes watch here. [laughs]

If I wanna know the weather for the next couple days,

if I have to run in the morning or not,

which I hope it rains all the time

so I don't have to run. [laughs]

[smooth jazz music] [text beeps]

So my next essential is arnica.

In my field of work, I get punched in the face for a living.

And this is very important

so I don't have to look like this,

even though this was a history-making fight.

Don't wanna look like this, with the bruising,

with the swelling.

I think this is a must-have for every athlete.

In combat sports you're always getting bruising,

swelling, and this cuts the time down in like,

I think, more than half.

I've had fights where both my eyes was swelled up

and I use it three times a day,

follow the instructions how to use it, and it works amazing.

I will say, oh, two, three days,

can't even tell that I had a fight.

Can't even tell that I had a bruise or a swelling.

But it's a must-have.

It's in my room, it's in my bathroom

and it's in all my gym bags.

So it's a must-have, first thing I put on after a fight

and then I put some makeup on and you can't tell. [laughs]

[upbeat music] [text beeps]

With the arnica, it helps with the bruising

and the swelling, but after that I definitely use my makeup.

Not too many people know what I do.

So if I'm walking in the street or if I'm in the mall,

I'm buying a pair of sneakers, [laughs]

they're gonna be like, why's this girl

have a big bruise on her face?

And I feel like wearing a shirt that says,

yes, I won the fight, [laughs]

but I need to cover it up with some makeup.

And I've been playing with makeup for about maybe two years.

I've been trying different types of makeup.

But when I found Fenty Beauty, I really, really like it.

'Cause it has amazing coverage, but it's not too much.

So when I wanna do like, a everyday thing

or just gonna maybe go to the gym to do some weights,

it covers up really, really well.

And it also, it doesn't hide my freckles.

I have little freckles, so I like that as well.

And the lip gloss, you gotta, you know, have to have

your lips popping. [text beeps]

[Amanda laughs] [smooth jazz music]

[text beeps]

It's so funny, my sister, when she started fighting,

I don't know how she got into it

but she started doing her toes red.

She was winning.

And then when I started fighting, I said,

I have to have my toes painted red.

I have to have a pedicure,

and it has to be red before I fight.

This is like, I would not fight

if I don't have my toes painted red.

[text beeps] What gets me going

in the morning is my coffee, particularly an espresso.

I just started drinking espresso,

and this flavor, the Double Espresso Dolce,

[box taps] oh, so good.

And like, honestly, I look forward to waking up

in the mornings just like, so I can have my cup of coffee.

And especially when I'm on a diet

and when I'm getting ready for a fight,

I look forward to drinking my coffee.

Like, no one bother me.

I need to have my cup of coffee,

with a quarter cup of sugar. [laughs]

I like my coffee light and extra, extra sweet, just like me.

Honestly, I just started drinking coffee

maybe like, four or five years ago,

my sister got me into it.

I'm a seven-division world champion

so I'm always going up and down.

And she told me that what helped her, you know,

curb her appetite was coffee.

And I was going down a couple of weight divisions

and she said, you should try it.

I got hooked on it, and I like mine extra sweet.

There was a time where I couldn't even stand

the smell of coffee.

I was just like, ugh, coffee is so disgusting.

Now, I look at me now,

I can't live without my coffee. [laughs]

[smooth jazz music] Thank you for watching GQ.

These are my essentials,

and I hope you guys enjoyed.