Sabrina Perez beats Alondra García, takes the vacant WBO bantamweight title
By Diego Morilla
ISIDRO CASANOVA, Argentina – In a terrific back-and-forth affair between two talented and tough young female fighters, Sabrina Perez captured the vacant WBO bantamweight title with a gutsy unanimous decision win against determined and upset-minded Mexican contender Alondra Garcia on Saturday night at the local Polideportivo del Seoca.
Perez (14-0-1, 2 KO) found herself in the midst of a two-fisted attack from Garcia (16-3-1, 1 KO) from the very beginning. Garcia pressed the action in close quarters from the opening bell, forcing Perez to fight off the ropes in the early going. After trading some heavy leather on the ropes, Garcia finally landed the most meaningful punch of the night up to that point when she found Perez with a demolishing right cross.
Perez responded with a brilliant 4th round, fending off Garcia’s attack with hooks and uppercuts while Garcia tried to pile up points working the body. Perez worked harder on her counter hooks and uppers in the 5th round, and Garcia realized she needed to do something dramatic to come back into the fight.
They both traded heavily in a toe-to-toe slugfest in the 6th round, with Perez taking the lion’s share of the action with her ripping hooks from all angles. Sensing a growing lead in the scorecards, Perez settled for the counter-punching approach that had paid her such great dividends so far, and put on a master class in the ninth even though she ended up being caught with a few terrific counters towards the end.
The second half of the tenth round was nothing less than an all-out war, with both fighters trading furiously on the ropes, with Perez taking the round by the slimmest of margins with her more effective output.
The verdict was unanimous for Perez by scores of 96-94, 97-93 and 98-92.
“She was super tough. I acknowledge that I lost a few rounds, of course,” said Perez to Boxeadoras Argentinas, the country’s top female boxing website, in a post-fight locker room interview. “Some of the things we practiced in the gym just didn’t work, but in spite of all this the fight went well.”
The roughness of the match was clearly visible in the face of the winner.
“There were a few headbutts, but that’s normal,” said Perez, whose only setback was a draw against her well-regarded compatriot Carolina Duer. “Mexican fighters impose respect in the ring, they are hard to deal with and you have to be alert at all times.”
In the undercard, Cintia Gonzalez defeated Alejandra Soledad Morales by unanimous decision in a four-round affair.