Kenia Enriquez and Female Fight News for week of Nov. 20, 2017
By David A. Avila
Mexico’s two fastest-rising fighters Kenia Enriquez and Jessica Nery Plata tangled over the weekend in the city of Obregon, Mexico. It was a sizzling affair that saw the next generation of elite prizefighters from that country battle with extra hot zeal.
After 10 rounds of furious action Enriquez emerged with a unanimous decision win that included a knockdown in the 10th and final round. The brunette from Tijuana retains the interim WBC light flyweight title.
It was an intense battle that featured the next wave of Mexican prizefighters to come to the forefront. Enriquez, 24, has always been anxious in facing the best in her weight class. Nery Plata was equally anxious to face the best in this televised title fight.
In the clash Enriquez showed enough to convince the judges she was the superior fighter but Nery Plata had her moments.
“It was a fight that started very hard as I worked the body and moved up,” said Enriquez who was making her first title defense. “She was able to hold energy for the second half of the fight. That showed she is an experienced fighter.”
All 10 rounds were fought competitively with Enriquez finally bursting through with a knockdown in the final frame.
“The knockdown came when I moved laterally a step and punched through her guard with a right between the ear and the jaw,” described Enriquez. “Truthfully it surprised me because I tried to connect with that combination the whole night and I did not succeed.”
Despite the win Enriquez felt the fight against a talented fighter such as Nery Plata revealed a few problems in her own game.
“The fight showed that I made many mistakes,” Enriquez said. “I still have a lot to improve and it was a lesson learned having faced an elite level fighter.”
Enriquez was ruled the victor by unanimous decision with the judges giving her the win on all three cards.
According to the Tijuana fighter, talks about fighting for the actual WBC light flyweight title that Esmeralda Moreno holds are being discussed. That fighter recently moved up to flyweight to face the WBC flyweight champion Jessica Chavez and lost. It remains to be seen if Moreno will continue to compete in that weight class or return to light flyweight and face Enriquez.
“My only goal is to be ready for anything that comes and this fight left me with a lot of work to do,” said Enriquez.
Tuti.
Argentine super star Yesica “Tuti” Bopp thoroughly dominated Venezuela’s Debora Rengifo in beating her by knockout and perhaps proving no opposition remains in South America for her in the light flyweight division and lower. The extremely athletically gifted Argentine boxer only has one loss in her career and that happened in Mexico.
Maybe it’s time to return to the land of the pyramids. Bopp’s only loss was to Mexico’s Jessica Chavez in Ecatepec, Mexico in 2013. Four years earlier, in Argentina, Bopp defeated Chavez. Maybe it’s time for the final stage of a trilogy. At age 33, the pixie is still in her prime and the world needs to see her talent.
CasKilla Gets Katie Taylor
After only three years as a pro Chicago’s Jessica McCaskill (5-1, 3 Kos) was chosen by Ireland’s Katie Taylor (7-0, 4 Kos) to fight next on December 13 in Great Britain for the WBA lightweight world title.
“Finally,” exclaimed McCaskill whose team had been chasing a match with the former Olympic gold medalist for months. “There’s just so much talk about it and then it finally hits.”
McCaskill is a true lightweight who walks around at 145 when not fighting and has about 30 amateur fights. McCaskill is 33 and Taylor is 31. Look for more on McCaskill this week on this web site.
BWAA
The Boxing Writers Association of America announced that the new Female Fighter of the Year award will be named after legendary female pugilist Christy Martin. It will be the first time a Female Fighter of the Year will be chosen by the BWAA at the next award ceremony next spring.
A three-person committee will select the Woman Fighter of the Year. Those on the committee are Tom Gerbasi of Ring Magazine, Sue Fox of WBAN and myself. This is the first year women fighters are considered for annual awards. It’s another great step.
Female Fight News
Argentina
Anyelen Espinosa (4-0) defeated Jenifer Mendoza (0-1-1) by unanimous decision after six rounds on Saturday Nov. 18. The flyweight fight took place in Buenos Aires.
Silvana Juarez (4-0) was the winner by technical knockout in round two over Paola Farfan (0-2) on Saturday Nov. 18. The super featherweight fight took place in San Miguel.
Yesica Bopp (33-1) won by knockout in the seventh round versus Debora Rengifo (9-4-1) on Friday Nov. 17. Bopp retains the WBA light flyweight world title. The fight was held in Villa Dominico. (For more on the fight read Diego Morilla’s story on this web site.)
Australia
Natalie Jenkinsen (1-0) won by second round technical knockout versus Siriwan Thongmanit (6-11-1) on Saturday Nov. 18. The lightweight match was held in Tweed Heads, New South Wales.
Canada
On Saturday Nov. 25, super featherweights Christina Barry (0-4) and Shawna Anderson (0-1) meet in a four round bout in Saskatoon.
China
Chunyan Xu (7-4) beat Lijun Guo (0-1) by stoppage in the fourth round on Saturday Nov. 18. The bantamweight fight took place in Da Lian.
Die Hu (4-1) defeated Yueqi Li (0-2) by unanimous decision after four rounds on Saturday Nov. 18. The featherweight match was held in Xu Zhou.
On Tuesday Nov. 21, super flyweights Casey Morton (5-0-3) and Daorueng Pakkhetanang (1-7) meet in an eight round bout in Suzhou, China.
El Salvador
Colombia’s Liliana Palmera (28-12-3) avenged an earlier loss to defeat Venezuela’s Alys Sanchez (15-4-1) by decision and win the WBA world title on Saturday Nov. 18. The super bantamweight clash took place in San Salvador.
France
Sabah Gades (1-0) defeated Marina Djekic (1-2) by unanimous decision after four rounds on Friday Nov. 17. The featherweight fight was held in Rodez.
Germany
Nina Meinke (6-1) was the winner in a 10 round fight versus Grecia Nova (15-27-4) on Saturday Nov. 18. The super featherweight clash took place in Dusseldorf.
Prisca Vicot (8-4) won by technical knockout of Ksenija Medic (0-6-1) in the fourth round on Saturday Nov. 18. The lightweight contest took place in Kaiserslautern.
Steffi Schuenke (12-1) defeated Kitti Kolompar (0-1) by unanimous decision after four rounds on Saturday Nov. 18. The super flyweight bout took place in Grevesmuehlen.
Japan
Natsuki Tarui (2-5-1) defeated Smile Nagisa (0-1) by decision after four rounds on Sunday Nov. 19. The minimum weight fight was held in Yamaguchi.
Sachiko Kondo (1-1) was the winner by majority decision after four rounds versus Konomi Kodama (0-2) on Sunday Nov. 19. The light flyweight bout took place in Gifu, Japan.
Kaori Nagai (1-2-3) and Yumi Narita (2-2-2) fought to a draw after four rounds on Friday Nov. 17. The light flyweight clash took place in Osaka.
Mexico
Kenia Enriquez (20-1, 9 Kos) defeated Jessica Nery Plata (21-2) by unanimous decision after 10 rounds to keep the interim WBC light flyweight world title on Saturday Nov. 18. The title contention took place in Obregon, Sonora. Enriquez fights out of Tijuana and Nery fights out of Mexico City.
Maricela Cornejo (9-2) won by split decision versus Irais Hernandez (2-1) in a six round fight on Thursday Nov. 16. The super middleweight clash took place in Cancun. It was Cornejo’s first fight after signing a contract with Golden Boy Promotions.
On Friday Nov. 24, flyweights Nora Cardoza (12-5-2) and Karla Islas (2-4) meet in a six round contest in Durango. Also, Johana Fernandez (0-0) and Mariel Sanchez (0-2-1) meet in a four round super flyweight bout.
New Zealand
Lani Daniels (2-0) defeated Trish Vaka (0-3) by decision after eight rounds on Saturday Nov. 18. The heavyweight fight was held in Cambridge.
Philippines
On Sunday Nov. 26, super flyweights Kathleen Paptie (0-0) and Renz Dacquel (0-1) meet in a four round match in La Trinidad, Benguet.
Russia
On Monday Nov. 27, super lightweights Svetlana Kulakova (12-0-1) and Judy Waguthii (15-7-4) meet in a 10 round clash in Moscow for the IBO world title.
South Korea
Hyun Mi Choi (15-0-1) was the winner by technical decision in round six versus Jessica Gonzalez (7-4-2) on Saturday Nov. 18 to keep the WBA world title. The super featherweight clash took place in Incheon and was stopped due to a clash of heads. Also, Myung Eun Lee (1-0) defeated Bang Un Kim (0-5) by decision in a super flyweight four round fight.
Spain
Joana Pastrana (12-1) was the winner by unanimous decision over Claudia Ferenczi (16-59-6) after six rounds on Friday Nov. 17. The light flyweight match took place in Torrejon de Ardoz, Madrid.
Sweden
On Saturday Nov. 25, super lightweights Patricia Berghult (8-0) and Aida Halac (7-2) meet in six round fight at Orebro.
Switzerland
On Saturday Nov. 25, featherweights Sandra Atanassow (6-0-1) and Olena Medvedenko (1-2) meet in a six round fight in St. Gallen.
Tanzania
On Saturday Nov. 25, lightweights Feriche Mashauri (4-0) and Happy Daudi (1-4) meet in a six round held at three-minute rounds in Dar-es-Salaam. Also, flyweights Mwanne Haji (5-5) and Lulu Kayage (6-3-3) meet in a six round fight.
United Kingdom
SJ Smith (7-1) beat Monika Antonik (1-7) by decision after four rounds on Saturday Nov. 18. The lightweight fight took place in Manchester.
On Saturday Nov. 25, lightweights Lucy Wildheart (1-0) and Vanessa Caballero (0-1-1) meet in a four round fight at Portsmouth.
On Saturday Nov. 25, welterweights Nina Bradley (2-0) and Kim Jaeckel (1-0) meet in a six round contest at Nottingham.
On Saturday Nov.25, bantamweights Kristen Fraser (2-0) and Claire Ciantar (2-1) meet in a six round contest in Aberdeen, Scotland.
USA
Alicia Napoleon (8-1) defeated Nikolett Papp (4-2) by decision after six rounds on Saturday Nov. 18. The super welterweight match took place in Queens, New York.
Poula Estrada (6-0) defeated Aracely Palacios (8-9) by unanimous decision after six rounds on Saturday Nov. 18. The flyweight clash took place in Lancaster, California.
Tiara Brown (4-0) defeated Natalie King (0-8) by unanimous decision after round on Saturday Nov. 18. The lightweight match was held in Washington D.C.
On Saturday Nov. 25, super welterweights Kali Reis (12-6-1) and Tiffany Woodard (4-8-3) meet in a six round fight in Uncasville, Connecticut.
On Saturday Nov. 25, super bantamweights Adelaida Ruiz (2-0) and Dalia Gomez (1-1) meet in a four round fight in Los Angeles, California.
To comment on this article at The Fight Forum, CLICK HERE.
READ: YESICA BOPP ANNIHILATES RENGIFO IN ARGENTINA; WHO’S NEXT?