Chavez Beats Moreno, Martinez Keeps Belt and Mucino Survives Tsunami
By Felipe Leon
A new Mexican queen of female boxing was crowned when current WBC female flyweight champion Jessica “Kika” Chavez easily dominated former arch nemesis Esmeralda “Joya” Moreno on Saturday in Ecatepec, Mexico City.
Chavez (30-4-3, 4 Kos) proved over 10 rounds against Moreno (35-10-1, 11 Kos) that she was the owner of the WBC flyweight world title and also captured the WBC Diamond belt to win the finale of the flyweight tournament organized by the boxing sanctioning body. The championship bout was broadcast in Mexico
All three ringside judges saw Chavez control the action with scores of 99-91 two times while the third had it 99-90.
This was the rubber match of a trilogy that began back in early 2011 with Moreno taking a unanimous decision over 10 rounds. Last year, in what was considered the female fight of the year, Chavez exacted revenge with a hotly contested majority decision that Moreno protested until securing the rematch.
It all came together with the WBC Diamond Female flyweight title and both women, the tourney’s favorites, making it to the final. Chavez beat Naoko Fujioka late last year and then Ana Arrazola to get to the big dance while Moreno took care of former two-time flyweight champion Melissa McMorrow and Ibeth “Roca” Zamora to get her wish to face Chavez a third time.
From the opening bell Moreno tried to establish her jab on the mobile Chavez but the defending champion was not biting on the bait as she stayed on the outside darting in and attacking the body effectively in the early rounds. Moreno’s frustration began to show, as she was not able to catch up to Chavez’s elusive style as she kept taking punches while not able to reciprocate.
Moreno began to take some chances in the middle rounds but it only helped Chavez to score with hard rights over hand rights before getting out of harm’s way. It was difficult for Moreno to keep her composure as she nearly begged Chavez to stay put and exchange but Chavez followed her game plan to a T, not to give Moreno a standing target for too long.
In the seventh Chavez stood her ground long enough to catch Moreno with a hard left hook right to the chin that sent the challenger sprawling to the canvas, more embarrassed than hurt.
That is all Chavez needed to seal the win but instead of staying away, she exchanged more in the last couple of rounds than in the rest of the fight as she tried to give her hometown fans a show. In the last round with only a knockout as her only chance of winning, Moreno went after Chavez but it was too little too late as Chavez scored the better punches in the last two minutes of the fight.
An emotional Chavez addressed the crowd in the post fight interview with local Mexican network Televisa where she mentioned how hard she worked for the win mentioning her next goal is to fight in the United States while stating she now felt she was the best fighter in Mexico.
She is right.
Martinez Defends WBC Super Flyweight Title in Cancun
Guadalupe “Lupita” Martinez (16-9, 6KO) consolidated her WBC super flyweight title with a ninth round TKO stoppage over Panamanian Carlota “Liebre” Santos (7-5-5, 5KO) also on Saturday night from the Oasis Arena in Cancun, Mexico, on the competing channel Azteca in Mexico.
Martinez shockingly captured the title with a surprise unanimous decision back in May over the solid Zulina “Loba” Muñoz in the same ring and on the same channel. A rematch was discussed for August but no agreement was reached so Martinez faced Santos.
Martinez established her jab early but it was her constant power punch attack that made the difference. As the fight got older, Martinez found a home for her over hand right as she just simply over-powered the over matched Santos throughout the fight coupling hard hooks to the body along with that right hand.
The end came swiftly in the second to last round as Martinez kept pounding Santos to the body with a relentless attack. Martinez scored a left hook to the chin of Santos that pushed her towards a neutral corner. Once there Martinez kept pummeling the Central American until the third man in the ring had seen enough and stopped the action. Official time was 1:15 of the ninth.
Mucino Beats Tsunami
Former three-time flyweight champion Arely Mucino (25-3-2, 10KO) might have punched her ticket for another world title shot with a unanimous decision over Japanese Tenkai Tsunami (23-12, 12KO) over 10 rounds in the main event in Cancun on the Azteca channel.
The fight was a rematch of a 2014 bout that Mucino won with a controversial majority decision in her hometown of Monterrey. This time it was a clearer win for the Mexican fighter with scores of 97-95 and 97-93 two times.
Other Results:
In a shocker, Cancun, Mexico, flyweight Yesenia “Niña” Gomez (13-5-2, 6KO) dropped an eight round majority decision in her hometown to journeywoman Guadalupe “Licenciada” Bautista (10-10-2, 1KO) with scores of 78-74, 77-75 and an even 76-76.
In another upset, Nayeli Verde (3-3-2) was too much for Monserrat “Magnifica” Vazquez (2-5) in a six rounder handing Israel Vazquez’s niece her fifth straight loss. Verde was the more active and accurate with her punches to take the unanimous decision in the light flyweight division on the undercard in Ecatepec, Mexico.
Also in Ecatepec, Mexico, former wrestler and now boxer Dulce “Sexy Star” Garcia (2-0) stayed undefeated with a points win over Guadalupe Coral (0-2) in the super flyweight division. Garcia is the wife of multi-time champion Jhonny Gonzalez.
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(photo by the Sweet Science)
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