Joseph Serrano

Joseph Serrano (born April 18, 1984 in Caguas, Puerto Rico) is a Puerto Rican who was an amateur boxing star.

Serrano had an award winning career as an amateur. A member of the Bairoa Gym boxing team, he met, among others, Miguel Cotto during his career as an amateur boxer. Cotto and Serrano forged a friendship as they belonged to the same team.

Serrano joined the Puerto Rican Olympic boxing team that participated in Athens. He was widely expected to, at least, compete for a spot in the final rounds of his division, but he lost in the first round of the competition. As a matter of a fact, Alex de Jesús was the only boxer from Puerto Rico to win an Olympic fight from 1996 to 2012. He qualified for the Olympic Games by ending up in second place at the 1st AIBA American 2004 Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Tijuana, Mexico.

Serrano then awaited a relatively long time to make a decision as far as to which promoter he would sign with as a professional fighter, but he finally decided to sign with Bob Arum and Arum's Top Rank company. By the time he signed his contract, he had become the last 2004 Olympic boxer from Puerto Rico to turn professional.