Yudica beats Furukawa, Duer and Roman drum up their rematch in San Juan
By Diego Morilla
SAN JUAN, Argentina.- In a dominating performance in front of her hometown crowd, IBF flyweight champ Leonela Yudica (13-0-3) made the fifth defense of her title against Japan’s Yunoka Furukawa ( 9-2-2, 6 KO) with a wide unanimous decision on Friday, Oct. 13th.
It was a matchup of contrasting styles, as the visiting fighter choose to take control of the center of the ring and throw punches in bunches while the more poised Yudica picked her spots and fought in spurts with greater precision to pile up points relentlessly. Yudica established her speed earlier on and controlled the action from her role as the aggressor in retreat from her southpaw stance, and Furukawa had to chase her all night with very little to show for it at the end.
By the fourth round, Yudica was already dominating the fight with her superb physical condition, moving in and out and scoring at will in spite of her lack of punching power. The increasingly frustrated Furukawa never ceased to try to connect with power instead of boxing and moving, allowing the champ to outscore her with ease.
The 29-year-old Yudica pushed further in the final few rounds to close an almost perfect performance, which was rewarded by two perfect scorecards of 100-90 by Hector Miguel and Manuel Veliz, and another one of 99-91 by Hugo Vainesman, all in favor of the schoolteacher by day and still champion.
Carolina Duer and Cecilia Roman on deck for a high-stakes rematch
Earlier during the TyC Sports broadcast, Cecilia Roman and Carolina Duer had a tense build-up of their much anticipated rematch, which could take place as early as December 15th either in Roman’s home province of San Juan, or in the Greater Buenos Aires, where Duer holds her ground.
“I didn’t see myself losing that fight, but I respect the decision and I want the rematch,” said Duer, who had a hard time acknowledging her defeat in her title fight against Roman back in August 4th, where Duer lost the IBF bantamweight title that she was trying to validate after earning the interim version of the trinket in her previous fight against Aline Scarinello one year earlier. “The fight could be here or in Buenos Aires, we’re still talking,” said Duer.
Roman agreed and hinted at the possibility of the fight being held in her own turf due to the sudden popularity she earned after her gutsy title-winning performance.
“The support I have from my people here is incredible,” said Roman. “The governor told me that we could do the fight here, everyone wants to see me fight at home. Just a minute ago I had fans come up to me to congratulate me, with tears in their eyes. Everyone loves me here and I want to do this fight for them”, said the champ.
(Photo by Diario La Ventana)