Reina Tellez: From 15 Days’ Notice to Major Boxing Stage
Reina Tellez has never been one to wait her turn. She kicks doors down.
Back in January, the 23-year-old took a fight most boxers would have swerved. Seven-division world champion Amanda Serrano. Fifteen days’ notice. No tune-up, no gentle step-up, just straight into the deep end against one of the defining fighters of her era.
She went the distance. She lost on points. And she walked out with something more valuable than an unbeaten record – a reputation.
Serrano called her a “warrior”. The industry took note. Now Tellez is back on a major stage, riding the momentum of that audacious gamble into MVPW-06 in Birmingham on Saturday, where she faces Jessica Barry on the undercard of Mikaela Mayer vs Chantelle Cameron.
This is not a one-off moment for her. It feels like the next chapter.
From 15 days’ notice to a global platform
“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,” Tellez told Sky Sports.
That Serrano fight, thrown together at breakneck speed, has become the hinge point of her career. Tellez had every excuse to say no. Instead, she saw a chance to test herself against a fighter she had grown up watching, and she grabbed it.
“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.
“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.”
The numbers on her record – 13-1-1 (5 KOs) – only tell part of the story. The Serrano performance told the rest. It showed she belonged under the bright lights.
She was supposed to build on that in May against Juliana Vanesa Basualdo on the Stephanie Han vs Holly Holm 2 card. The bout never materialised. Momentum stalled, but it didn’t die. Now she finds herself on MVP’s fifth-anniversary show, a landmark night for the promotion and a fresh showcase for a fighter who understands exactly how she got here.
“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.”
The lessons have hardened into belief.
“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 added. “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.”
Learning from a legend
Serrano continues to set the pace at the top of the sport. The Puerto Rican star recently secured the 50th win of her professional career, edging Lucrecia Manzur by majority decision to retain her WBA and WBO featherweight titles in a fight streamed live on TikTok and drawing 3.4 million views across the night.
Tellez watched, like everyone else, with a mixture of respect and recognition.
“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.”
That respect doesn’t come from distance. It comes from having shared 10 hard rounds with her and walking away with the conviction that she can live at that level.
From Vero Beach to Texas heat
Tellez’s story starts far from the current spotlight. Vero Beach, Florida. Televised fights on at home. An uncle training in the local gym. Curiosity turned into obsession.
“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. “And then they took their chance on it, they took me to the gym and since then I've just been boxing.”
The family hesitated. The sport didn’t. It grabbed her and never let go.
To chase it properly, she moved. These days she trains out of San Antonio, Texas, a state that breathes boxing and has produced generations of fighters who treat the ring like home. She is one of two Texans on the Birmingham card, alongside Miranda Reyes, both carrying the Lone Star state’s fighting identity onto an international stage.
“Texas is big, boxing is huge in Texas, that's one of the main reasons I actually moved to Texas,” she said. “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.”
The question came: Texas takeover incoming?
Her answer didn’t need dressing up.
“For sure.”
On Saturday night in Birmingham, that belief meets reality again. She’s no longer the unknown stepping in on two weeks’ notice. She’s the fighter who took that risk, survived it, and now walks towards the ring with the conviction that she’s changed since then – and that the rest of the world is about to find out how much.
