In a night of female championship fights, Alycia Baumgardner challenged the ferocious IBF lightweight world titlist Elif Nur Turhan and figured out how to declaw the tigress of Turkey and take the world title by unanimous decision on Saturday.
It was one of several eye-opening female fights.
Before a large crowd, Baumgardner (19-1, 7 KOs) withstood big blows from Nur Turhan (14-1, 9 KOs) at College Park in Arlington, Texas and discovered the formula to slowly but surely neutralize and control the lightweight title fight.
Most of the female boxing world was aware of the knockout power Nur Turhan possessed. For those who doubted her power, they only had to look at the tape of her vicious knockout over former champion Beatriz Ferreira a year ago.
Fans were not disappointed in the first round as the Turkish bomber let loose with her wild and fast blows. A few connected, and one seemed to stun Baumgardner. But it was not enough to hurt the super featherweight champion who was moving up a weight division to challenge for the title.
From the second round on, Baumgardner reached into her deep bag of tricks and emerged with stiff left jabs that seemed to stun Nur Turhan on contact. And when that was not enough, a right cross ripped across like a missile. Nur Turhan stuck her tongue out after feeling the blow, but it was a reminder that Baumgardner is not called the “Da Bomb” for nothing.
A sneaky right uppercut from Nur Turhan snapped the head of Baumgardner in the fifth round. It was the Turkish fighter’s best punch. Baumgardner was still standing.
Maybe that blow woke up Baumgardner because suddenly she decided to stand right in front and block and counter. Blow after blow came and Baumgardner blocked and slipped the blows with ease.
Nur Turhan never gave up, but the blows were not coming at the same frequency. It reminded me of Muhammad Ali’s rope-a-dope strategy against big George Foreman in 1974. Baumgardner kept control of the fight until the 10th round when she made a move to slug it out with Nur Turhan. Both women slugged it out. It was sloppy but entertaining until the final bell.
After 10 rounds, all three judges scored it 100-90 for Baumgardner. I felt the Turkish fighter had notched two or three rounds but there was no question that Baumgardner was the winner and new IBF lightweight champion.
“I knew she was going to hit hard,” said Baumgardner. “And baby, I’m a two-time world champ.”
Immediately, in a tacky move, a microphone was handed to Caroline Dubois who will be challenging Stephanie Han in a battle for the unified lightweight titles. I guess MVP is certain DuBois will beat Han. It was a classless move, but in this era of MAGA moves, it fits their identity.
Super Flies Title Battle
Mexico’s Irma Garcia (27-5-1) floored Nataly Delgado (21-8-2) in the sixth round and out-fought the Panamanian fighter with a display of technical boxing from a southpaw stance that led to a clear win by unanimous decision.
Garcia, 45, was defending the IBF super flyweight title and Delgado, the WBA title. It was clear after the second round that the Mexican fighter, who is also a police officer in her country, was the more technically proficient fighter.
Using a sharp jab and perfect balance, Garcia fired strong lefts that let Delgado know there was a price to pay to charge inside. Throughout the 10 round fight Garcia, snapped Delgado’s head with lefts. And when she avoided the left , a right hook was waiting too.
Delgado never could solve the distance, and when she put extra effort in the final round, she was nearly knocked out. She barely survived. All three judges scored in favor of Garcia (97-92 3x). Garcia is now the unified WBA and IBF super flyweight champion.
Super Bantamweight Title
Australia’s Skye Nicolson (17-1) out-scored Japan’s Miyo Yoshida (19-6) to retain the WBC super bantam title by unanimous decision after 10 rounds. As usual, the southpaw Nicolson used her speed and movement to keep the fight at a distance and score behind a right jab and sometimes a left cross. Yoshida tried her best to close the distance, but her style is made more for close quarters. Nicolson is a long-range fighter who prefers to stay clean than provide an entertaining fight by knockout. In this fight, she did stand and fight during the final two rounds, allowing Yoshida to score, but not enough to win the fight. She fought gamely, but after 10 rounds, one judge had it 99-91, another 98-92 and a third 100-90. Nicolson keeps the title.
In another super bantamweight battle, Ramla Ali (12-2) knocked down Mikiah Kreps (11-1) in the third round with a right to the chin and out-hustled her way to victory in a messy split-decision win. Kreps was the busier fighter but relied on pitty-pat combinations while Ali concentrated on strong blows. One judge saw Kreps the winner 98-91, but two others saw Ali 97-92 and 98-92 and with the victory, she wins the vacant IBF and WBO super bantamweight titles.
Bantamweight Battle
A sizzling battle between bantamweights for an interim title saw Shera Mae Patricio (10-0-1) and Brittany Sims (10-3-1) battle 10 back and forth rounds to a split draw. Patricio unloaded faster combinations while Sims effectively countered with body shots in between the blows.
Patricio had problems of coming in with her head and accidentally butting Sims. She could have been deducted a point but was lucky not to be penalized. Patricio did have the faster hands and feet, but Sims picked her moments well. After 10 rounds one judge favored Sims, another favored Patricio and still another judge scored it a draw.
Flyweights
A flyweight rematch saw Texas fighter Nayeli Rodriguez rally from behind and defeat Nat Dove by split decision after eight rounds. Both fighters fought to a draw when they first met a year ago in Florida.
Dove started quicker and easily won the first two rounds as Rodriguez seemed stuck in neutral. In the third round, the Texas native made her move and began scoring with combinations to the body and head.
Knockout Queen
Albina Moldahanova (6-0, 6 KOs) proved why she is quickly becoming the most popular female fighter to watch. She scored her sixth knockout win in six fights, destroying England’s resilient Kirstie Bavington (10-7-2) in four rounds.
It was brutal.
The southpaw super lightweight Moldazhanova used her left like a sledge-hammer on Bavington’s body and head, and if not for a poor referee, it might have ended in the first round. The referee stopped the fight at the 10-second bell, mistaking it for the end of the round. It was not.
Moldazhanova, who is trained by Manny Robles, continued to batter Bavington like a heavy bag, but the tough British fighter survived for three rounds. She almost made the final round, but the Russian fighter used both hands in the fourth and created an opening for a roundhouse left and down went Bavington for a knockout at 44 seconds of the fourth round.
Minimumweights
Jocelyn Camarillo (8-0) left hooked her way to victory over Argentina’s Nazarena Serra (6-3) by unanimous decision after six rounds in a minimumweight fight. Coachella’s Camarillo continually connected with left hooks against Serra who telegraphed every right hand she threw.
