Reina Tellez: From Underdog to Rising Star in Boxing

Reina Tellez knows what it means to jump without a safety net.

In January, the 23-year-old agreed to fight seven-division world champion Amanda Serrano on just 15 days’ notice. No tune-up, no easing in, no gentle introduction to the elite level. She went the distance with one of the greatest of her era and walked away with more than a points defeat. She walked away with a reputation.

Serrano called her a “warrior”. The label stuck.

Now Tellez steps out again, this time with a full camp and a different kind of pressure, as she faces Jessica Barry on the undercard of Mikaela Mayer vs Chantelle Cameron at MVPW-06 in Birmingham on Saturday. It’s a landmark night for MVP as they celebrate their fifth anniversary. For Tellez, it feels like the next chapter of a story that truly began when she said yes to Serrano.

“I believe in myself and I have a lot of heart. This is something I've always wanted to do, ever since I was a child,” she told Sky Sports. There’s no sense of regret about that night in January. Only gratitude. Only fuel.

The Serrano turning point

Most fighters spend years angling for a shot at a name like Serrano. Tellez got 15 days.

She took it anyway.

“Having somebody that I watched growing up (Serrano) and then having the opportunity to fight her, it meant so much to me,” she said. “And to make my family proud and to prove something to myself. So I took it considering the short time.”

She lost on points, but in her mind, the outcome was bigger than the scorecards.

“I had a great outcome, even though it wasn't a win. I got a lot of things from that fight. Like I said, I'm grateful.”

Her record reads 13-1-1 (5 KOs), but that one defeat has become the launchpad. The Serrano bout put her in front of a global audience and, in her eyes, forced her to reassess everything about who she was as a fighter and who she wanted to be.

“The Serrano fight got me on a platform like I am today. For that, I'm extremely grateful,” she said. “I feel like without that fight, I wouldn't be able to see the things that I need in my life and in my career to keep being successful and keep being Reina. It taught me a lot as a boxer and as a person.”

Since then, the evolution has been personal as much as tactical.

“I'm not the same fighter that I was when I fought Amanda Serrano, and even my fights before that, I feel like I've really evolved,” she said. “So to see how much better I've got over the past couple of months and the changes that I've made that I can showcase in the ring, it means a lot to me. This fight means so much to me, my family and my team. So I'm grateful for it.”

Serrano, meanwhile, has continued to build her own legacy, recently clinching the 50th win of her professional career with a majority decision over Lucrecia Manzur to retain her WBA and WBO featherweight titles. The fight streamed live on TikTok and drew 3.4 million views across the night, another reminder of Serrano’s pull and of the stage Tellez has already shared.

“You look at everything she (Serrano) has done, she's done a lot for the sport,” Tellez said. “She's a world champion for a reason. So you have to always give respect to her too.”

From Vero Beach to Texas heat

Tellez’s path to that stage started in Vero Beach, Florida. It wasn’t some carefully laid-out plan. It was a kid glued to boxing on television, watching her uncle train at the local gym, then deciding she wanted in.

“I told them I wanted to box, and at first they didn't want to because I'm the only girl in the family,” she said.

The resistance didn’t last.

“And then they took their chance on it, they took me to the gym and since then I've just been boxing.”

That decision eventually pulled her west, away from Florida and into one of the sport’s true hotbeds. She now trains out of San Antonio, Texas, a state that has produced champions, cult heroes and some of the loudest fight nights in American boxing.

“Texas is big, boxing is huge in Texas, that's one of the main reasons I actually moved to Texas,” she said.

This weekend she will be one of two Texas-based fighters on the card, alongside Miranda Reyes, representing a state that has never been shy about its boxing identity.

“It's just crazy to see people that I've known since even as a kid be here. And I'm happy for everybody who comes from where I come from to be able to get the opportunity. So best of luck to Miranda and to me.”

Her momentum has not been straightforward. She had been scheduled to face Juliana Vanesa Basualdo on the Stephanie Han vs Holly Holm 2 card in May, only for the fight to fall through. No rounds, no payday, no chance to show the work she insists she’s been putting in since the Serrano bout.

Now the platform returns, bigger and brighter, on a milestone night for MVP. She sees the line clearly: say yes on 15 days’ notice, go the distance with a legend, land on another major card.

Texas takeover incoming?

“For sure.”