Female Fight News Oct. 15, 2018 Yesica Bopp and More
By David A. Avila
Several title fights took place over the weekend and a major confrontation between wielding world titlists takes place this Saturday in Boston.
Recapping the weekend, in South America, the Argentine superstar Yesica Bopp retained the WBA light flyweight world title by technical knockout over Mexico’s Sandra Robles in the 10th and final round.
Bopp has expressed a desire to fight in America and now just might be the time to coordinate a matchup with “La Tuti.” Several outstanding American light flyweights exist that could provide extremely competitive match ups such as Seniesa Estrada, Amaris Quintana and Marlen Esparza.
If you cross the border into Mexico there are several others who would eagerly battle Bopp in the U.S. including Kenia Enriquez who just defended the interim WBC light flyweight title last weekend.
Two others eager to fight in the U.S. are Costa Rica’s Yokasta Valle and Japan’s Naoko Fujioka who battled each other a year ago, but would relish a challenge against Argentina’s Bopp.
Several years ago there were very few prizefighters in the 108-pound light flyweight class. But today there are many more already at the contender level. The talented Bopp defeated a solid fighter in Robles, but there are many others standing in line that would eagerly face her for the right price or audience.
More Mexico
Lourdes Juarez defeated Gabriela Sanchez by unanimous decision after eight rounds in a flyweight battle in Mexico City. The younger sister of Mariana “Barby” Juarez has placed herself among the top female fighters in the flyweight division. Can a world title fight be next?
Juarez, 31, started late in boxing at age 26 and has bloomed into a solid fighter and seems to know the ingredients necessary to win. She has a good teacher in her older sister.
This weekend an all-female fight card takes place in Mexico City with eight or more female bouts planned in the capital city. Mexican fans have shown to favor female boxing in that country. On most major Mexican fight cards the female bout is the main event. The Juarez sisters are probably the most popular fighters next to Saul “Canelo” Alvarez.
Mikaela
Another title fight saw Mikaela Mayer dominate Canada’s Vanessa Bradford and win the NABF super featherweight title in an eight round clash in Omaha.
Mayer, 28, used her vast array of fighting tools to take the lead quickly behind a solid jab then work her way behind combinations. She floored Bradford in the seventh round and won every round to win the title. It’s her first title as a professional.
The former US Olympian plans to challenge for a super featherweight world title by the end of next year if all goes well. After that, Mayer plans to move up to the lightweight division and says she will fight anyone with a world title including Ireland’s Katie Taylor.
Katie and Cindy
WBA and IBF lightweight titleholder Katie Taylor meets WBO featherweight titlist Cindy Serrano who is moving up in weight to accept the challenge of the former Olympic gold medalist from Ireland.
The undefeated Taylor will meet Serrano in a 10 round lightweight clash at TD Garden in Boston, Mass. on Saturday Oct. 20. It will be streamed live on DAZN USA.
Taylor, 32, has been busy this year and defeated Argentina’s Victoria Bustos by decision last April and stopped American fighter Kimberly Connor this past July in three rounds at Greenwich, England.
Serrano, 36, is the older sister of six division world champ Amanda Serrano and won the WBO featherweight world title in May 2017. She has only fought once since and beat Edina Kiss a year ago. Moving up in weight has not been a problem for either Serrano sister.
It will be interesting to see how Taylor does against Cindy Serrano who primarily spars with her sister. That’s pretty good sparring on a daily basis.
More Female Fight News
Argentina
Yesica Bopp (35-1) floored Mexico’s Sandra Robles (21-3) in the 10th and final round to win by technical knockout and retain the WBA light flyweight world title on Saturday Oct. 13. The match took place in Villa Domenico, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
On Friday Oct. 19, super bantamweights Marcela Acuna (47-7-1) and Venezuela’s Mayerlin Rivas (15-3-2) meet in a 10-round match for the IBF world title at Salta. Also, super featherweights Brenda Carabajal (14-4-1) and Paola Ibarra (5-6) meet in a six round bout.
Austria
On Saturday Oct. 20, bantamweights Eva Voraberger (23-5) and Argentina’s Luna Torroba (12-8-2) meet in a 10 round clash for the interim WBC title at Vienna.
Belgium
Djemilla Gontaruk (14-5-1) defeated Monica Gentili (6-10) by majority decision after six rounds on Saturday Oct. 13. The welterweight fight was held in Herstal.
Canada
Kim Clavel (4-0) won by decision over Cintia Martinez (4-3-1) after four rounds on Saturday Oct. 13. The light flyweight bout was held in Montreal.
On Saturday Oct. 20, lightweights Kylie Fallis (1-0) and Kamilla Boka (1-0) meet in a four round fight at Hamilton, Ontario.
France
Helene Lascombe (5-0) defeated Elise Bussiere (2-3) by decision after eight rounds on Saturday Oct. 13. The featherweight match was held at Nievre.
Maiva Hamadouche (19-1) knocked out Gabriella Mezei (9-16-4) in the first round on Thursday Oct. 11. The featherweight fight was held in Orleans. Also, Ainara Mota (3-4-2) beat Wendy Vincent (0-7-2) in an eight round featherweight contest.
Germany
Ema Kozin (15-0-1) got the hometown decision over Mexico’s Irais Hernandez (2-2-2) on the rematch that went 10 rounds on Sunday Oct. 14. The super middleweight title fight took place in Munich, Germany. Their first encounter in Croatia ended in a split draw in September.
Italy
Silvia Bartot (5-0-1) beat Aleksandra Vujovic (4-8-1) by decision after eight rounds on Friday Oct. 12. The super lightweight match took place at Lombardia.
India
On Saturday Oct. 20, super bantamweights Kirti (4-1) and Cherneka Johnson (10-0) meet in six three-minute rounds at Gurgaon.
Japan
On Monday Oct. 22, featherweights Hinata Mizumoto (0-1) and Airi Kimoto (0-0) meet in a four round contest at Tokyo.
Mexico
Lourdes Juarez (25-2) won by unanimous decision after eight rounds versus Gabriela Sanchez (3-2) in a flyweight bout on Saturday Oct. 13. The fight took place in Iztacalco, Mexico. The ever improving Juarez, 31, has not lost a fight in four years. Sanchez is 23 and fights out of Pueblo.
On Saturday Oct. 20, an all-female fight card features nine fights including bantamweights Valeria Perez (10-4) and Alondra Nava (1-2-1) in an eight round fight at Mexico City. Flyweights Lizeth Zacarias (6-5) and Clara Alcantara (4-2) meet in a six round contest.
New Zealand
Sarah Long (3-3) defeated Ashley Campbell (0-2) by unanimous decision after eight rounds on Saturday Oct. 13. The heavyweight fight took place in Auckland.
Norway
On Saturday Oct. 20, super featherweights Ingrid Egner (1-0) and Valgerdur Gudstensdottir (3-1) meet in a six round contest at Skien.
United Kingdom
Chantelle Cameron (8-0) was the winner by unanimous decision after 10 rounds versus Jessica Gonzalez (7-5-2) on Saturday Oct. 13. The lightweight title fight took place in London, England.
USA
Mikaela Mayer (8-0, 4 KOs) floored Canada’s Vanessa Bradford (4-1-2) in the seventh round and motored on to win the NABF super featherweight title by unanimous decision on Saturday Oct. 13. The title match took place in Omaha, Nebraska and was Mayer’s first title win.
On Saturday Oct. 20, lightweights Katie Taylor (10-0) and Cindy Serrano (27-5-3) meet in a 10 round fight for the WBA and IBF titles at Boston, Mass.
On Saturday Oct. 20, bantamweights Marcia Agripino (2-1-1) and Stephanie Essensa (3-1-1) meet in a six round fight at Mashantucket, Conn.
(Photo by Ramon Cairo)