TAMPA – Amanda Serrano was content with the performance she delivered, regardless of those questioning the absence of a knockout they wanted.

A return to lightweight saw the seven-division titlist outhustle and outmuscle the naturally bigger Miriam Gutierrez over ten rounds on December 18 at AMALIE Arena in Tampa, Florida. Serrano (42-1-1, 3KOs) nearly had the Spaniard contender on the verge of being stopped in the opening round, but instead gladly settled for a dominant performance two divisions above her optimal weight.

“The strategy was to go out there and just beat her,” Serrano told krikya360.com and other reporters. “We wanted to go out there, dominate her and beat her in every single round. We planned to box, to brawl, to show that I am an all-around fighter and can do whatever I wanted in there.

“We threw head shots, we threw body shots. The goal was to show that I’m a complete fighter. If the knockout came, it would have come. I just wanted to show that I could beat her.”

Serrano did just that and in front of a raucous crowd who showed as much love to the Puerto Rican southpaw as was the case for another fighter on the show—including content creator-turned-cruiserweight prospect Jake Paul (5-0, 4KOs) in the main event. The 33-year-old Boricua from the Bushwick section of Brooklyn, New York showed the ability to land punishing blows at a furious pace, landing 236-of-667 punches (35%) over ten two-minute rounds, including 209-of-459 power punches (45.5%).

The effects were evident on the face of Gutierrez, a career lightweight who had nearly 30 pounds of natural weight over Serrano by the opening bell.

“We went to her locker room and she told me she weighed 160 today,” revealed Serrano, the reigning WBC, WBO and IBO featherweight champ who did not gain an ounce from her official pre-fight weight of 133.6 pounds. “She was very strong. We spoke to her after the fight. She’s a very nice lady.  She’s a big tough girl, very durable.

“We thought we had [the early knockout] but I didn’t want to gas myself out. I wanted to make sure I could go all ten rounds. If you see my face and you see her face, you can see I pack a punch wherever I go. I came out for the tenth and final round, I was still fresh.”

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for krikya360.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox