Female Fight News for week of May 8 Cindy Serrano and More
By David A. Avila
Puerto Rico and Mexico continue to bring forth female boxing at its highest level.
Cindy Serrano defends the WBO featherweight title against Mexico’s Paola Torres on Saturday in Puerto Rico. It’s yet another Puerto Rico versus Mexico war.
Serrano and her sister currently hold WBO world titles in boxing simultaneously and continue to emulate the tennis world queens Serena and Venus Williams. This entire week younger sister Amanda was making the rounds on various television and radio stations.
She’s making quite a stir in the island country.
On Saturday it’s older sister Cindy’s turn and even in the female fight world any time Puerto Rico faces Mexico it tends to be a war. There’s no better rivalry in the world of boxing.
“I’ll fight anyone anywhere,” says Cindy Serrano who has indeed faced many of the best female boxers in the world such as Layla McCarter, Rhonda Luna and Anne Sophie Mathis. That’s quite an impressive list of opponents.
Now she’s facing a young but relatively unknown Mexican fighter. You never know what you get when they come from Mexico, but you know they come to fight. Not run.
Speaking of Mexico, the second part of the WBC flyweight tournament takes place on Saturday in Zapopan, Jalisco. Current WBC titleholder Jessica “Kika” Chavez meets Ana Arrazola to see who faces Esmeralda “La Joya” Moreno in the final.
On the same day WBC super flyweight titlist Zulina “La Loba” Munoz makes her 11th title defense and this time against Lupe Guzman in Cancun, Mexico. After a couple of years not accepting a challenge from Mariana “Barbie” Juarez, she finally sought a fight with the new WBC bantamweight titlist but was ignored. Turnabout’s fair play.
Juarez is seeking bigger game and has told thePrizefighters.com and other news organizations she would prefer a bantamweight showdown with WBO titlist Amanda Serrano or former WBC super bantamweight titlist Jackie Nava at a catch weight.
We’ll see what transpires.
Finland chronicles
Something smells rotten in Denmark. Well, in this case. It’s Finland, where a title fight was allowed to take place despite numerous alarms going off.
A world title fight for the WBC super featherweight version held by Eva Wahlstrom was allowed after alleged pleas by Mauricio Sulaiman. A month ago it was stated that WBC Silver belt holder Melissa St. Vil was supposed to be the opponent. Next thing you know she was scrapped by the promoters who stated St. Vil pulled out. She knew nothing of the offer and was never notified.
Calls to WBC office were made but never returned by Sulaiman.
Instead of St. Vil an offer was made to Argentina’s Mayra Gomez who was under suspension. Somehow the WBC stepped in to urge the Finnish commission to allow the fight to proceed which it did.
Not history
A mega fight card by Golden Boy Promotions erroneously stated Marlen Esparza was making history by participating in the first three-minute round fight ever. I approached the Golden Boy staff and informed them again that this is incorrect. I had informed them a week ago of the mistake and they still insisted on making the statement to the crowd at T-Mobile Arena.
I was told that they asked media around them if it was ever done before in Nevada. They were informed by those media members sitting nearby that it had never been done before in Nevada according to their limited knowledge.
I informed Golden Boy that all of those media members were incorrect and that I had been present at four instances alone where Layla McCarter had fought three-minute rounds including a world title fight set for 12 rounds in Las Vegas.
Golden Boy never made an announcement publicly to the crowd about the error but sent a correction to a few media members.
Female Fight News for week of May 8
Argentina
Makarena Gallastegui (3-1) defeated Maria Elizabeth Sanchez (0-2) by decision after six rounds on Saturday May 6. The super bantamweight fight was held in Olavarria, Buenos Aires.
Cintia Castillo (6-0) defeated Vanessa del Valle Calderon (6-12) by decision after six three-minute rounds on Friday May 5. The featherweight fight took place in Juarez Celman, Cordoba.
Australia
Sarah Dwyer (2-2) was victorious over Jay Freedome (0-1) by decision after four rounds on Friday May 5. The welterweight fight took place in Northbridge.
Belgium
On Saturday May 13, super featherweights Djemilla Gontaruk (13-3-1) and Lela Terashvili (8-7-1) meet in a six round bout at Brabant Wallon, Belgium.
Chile
On Saturday May 13, super flyweights Daniela Asenjo (4-1-2) Virginia Carcamo (4-3-2) meet in a four round fight at Valdivia, Chile.
On Saturday May 13, flyweights Isis Mascarena (1-0) and Ruth Pastemostti (0-0-1) meet in four three-minute rounds in La Granja, Chile.
China
On Saturday May 13, super bantamweights Ayumi Goto (6-0) and Sumanthar Baenkham (1-2) in a six round clash in Hong Kong, China.
Finland
Eva Wahlstrom (20-0-1) kept the WBC super featherweight title by decision after 10 rounds versus Mayra Gomez (18-6) on Saturday May 6. The super featherweight fight took place in Turku, Finland.
France
On Friday May 12, featherweights Ericka Rousseau (11-1) and Angelique Duchemin (13-0) meet in a 10 round bout for the WBF featherweight title. It takes place in Royan.
On Friday May 12, featherweights Stephanie Ducastel (7-3-1) and Sarah Pucek (8-2-1) meet in a 10 round clash in Bas-Rhin, France.
Germany
Tina Rupprecht (6-0) beat Luisana Bolivar (4-4) by majority decision after 10 rounds on Saturday May 6. The minimum weight clash took place in Bayern, Germany.
On Saturday May 13, super featherweights Kallia Kourouni (7-1) and Grecia Nova (15-25-4) meet in a 10 round contest for the WIBF title. The title match takes place in Karlsruhe, Germany.
Hungary
Alexandra Lakatos (4-0-1) remained undefeated by decision over Alexandra Lazar (9-5) after eight rounds on Saturday May 6. The super flyweight fight took place in Kistarcsa, Hungary. Also, Karina Kopinska (9-16-3) beat Beata Salgo (0-12) by decision after a four round lightweight fight.
Japan
Yuki Kira (1-0) won her pro debut by decision over Yuri Kobayashi (4-4-4) after four rounds on Sunday May 7. The minimum weight fight took place in Osaka, Japan. Also, Kaori Nagai (1-2-1) won her first fight as a pro after four tries by second round technical knockout of Shizuka Nakamura (0-5) in a light flyweight match.
On Sunday May 14, light flyweights Su Yun Hong (14-1-1) and Tamao Ozawa (12-3) engage in a 10 round fight for the vacant WBO light flyweight title in Kyoto, Japan.
Mexico
Maria De Lourdes (5-0) beat Maricela Ortega (0-1) by decision after six rounds on Friday May 5. The minimum weight fight was held in San Juan De Los Lagos, Jalisco.
On Saturday May 13, flyweights Jessica Chavez (28-4-3) and Ana Arrazola (26-11-3) meet for the WBC flyweight title in Zapopan, Jalisco. The 10 round bout is the semi-final of the WBC flyweight tournament. The winner will meet Esmeralda Moreno.
On Saturday May 13, super bantamweights Jessica Arreguin (12-1-1) and Maria Elena Villalobos (14-14-1) meet in a 10 round contest in Agua Prieta,, Sonora.
On Saturday May 13, super flyweights Zulina Munoz (48-1-2) and Guadalupe Martinez (14-9) meet in a 10 round clash in Cancun. They will be fighting for the WBC super flyweight title.
Philippines
Gretel De Paz (3-0) beat Renz Dacquel (0-1) by unanimous decision after four rounds on Thursday May 4. The bantamweight fight took place in Santa Cruz, Llocos Sur.
Poland
Oleksandra Sidorenko (6-0) won by technical knockout over Mirjana Vujic (4-7) in the first round of the affair on Saturday May 6. The super lightweight fight was held in Baranki, Poland. Also, Lucy Wildheart (1-0) won her pro debut by knockout of Kotryna Geleznikaite (0-1) in the second round of their super lightweight clash.
On Saturday May 13, super featherweights Ewa Brodnicka (12-0) and Irma Adler (16-7) meet in a 10 round bout in Czestochowa, Poland. They will be fighting for the vacant WBO interim title.
Puerto Rico
On Saturday May 13, featherweights Cindy Serrano (25-5-3) and Paola Torres (10-1-1) meet in Aguas Buenas, Puerto Rico. Serrano, 35, is defending the WBO featherweight title for the first time since winning it last December in Puerto Rico. Torres fights out of Monterrey, Mexico and has never fought outside of her country.
Spain
Joana Pastrana (9-1) defeated Sandy Coget (8-6-1) by decision after 10 rounds on Friday May 5. Pastrana won the vacant EBU minimum weight title. The fight was held in Madrid.
United Kingdom
On Friday May 12, lightweights Lucy Wildheart (1-0) and Vanessa Caballero (0-1-1) meet in a four round bout in Southampton, Hampshire, England.
USA
Marlen Esparza (2-0) won by unanimous decision over Samantha Salazar (2-4-1) after four rounds on Saturday May 6. The flyweight bout was held at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Esparza fought a three-minute round and it seemed to make a difference in her fighting style. She seemed much more composed.
On Thursday, May 11, junior middleweights Kali Reis (10-6-1) and Ashleigh Curry (7-10-4) meet in eight three-minute rounds. The fight takes place Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, Conn. Reis is a former WBC middleweight titlist.
On Saturday May 13, lightweights Althea Saunders (3-3-2) and Ikram Kerwat (7-1) meet in a six round bout in Bristol, Penn.
On Saturday May 13, super bantamweights Jazmin Ortega (2-5-1) and Mistery Neal (0-3) meet in a four round fight in Meridian, Miss. Also, lightweights Ebony Jones (1-1) and Lucretia Meacham (3-17-1) meet in a four round bout.
Venezuela
Leiryn Flores (8-0-1) beat Yusbely Torrealba (0-2-1) by unanimous decision after six rounds on Saturday May 6. The light flyweight fight took place in Petare, Venezuela.
(Photo by JP Yim)