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.