Yokasta Valle Retains IBF Title and More Results from MarvNation Card
By David A. Avila
Costa Rica’s Yokasta Valle once again defeated Japan’s Sana Hazuki to retain the IBF minimumweight world title in a clinch fest that was more frustrating than entertaining on Friday in her home country.
Valle (24-2, 9 Kos) won by even more convincing scores this time over Sana Hazuki (8-6-1) at the Camara Ganadera de San Carlos. This time all three judges scored every round for the champion.
Immediately in the opening round the two 105-pounders exchanged in a flurry of blows and it looked like this fight would be better than their first encounter a year ago. That was the first round.
Valle had the speed advantage and was quicker to get in and out of danger in the first two rounds. Then Hazuki switched to southpaw and began using footwork to give angles instead of advancing straight forward. The champion seemed confused.
Hazuki’s movements caused Valle to fire her rapid combinations inaccurately and the Japanese southpaw stance also presented problems. Valle began to hold and hit and that became the theme of the fight. Punch and hold.
Every time Valle advanced forward, she would immediately grab and hold after throwing a punch or two. The referee Robert Ramirez Jr. never gave a warning for the excessive grappling. Suddenly, the fight was stuck in a muddy crawl. It was difficult to watch the title fight.
All three judges scored it 100-90 for Valle.
“She was very hard to fight,” said Valle after the fight. “It was like round 11.”
Valle retains the IBF title for the fourth time. She had previously sought a match against Seniesa Estrada the WBA minimumweight titlist who also has the WBO light flyweight title. We shall see.
Other results
Maricela Cornejo (15-5, 5 Kos) was the winner by unanimous decision after eight rounds versus Brazil’s Simone Aparecida (17-20, 6 Kos) in a middleweight bout.
Cornejo used a ramrod jab to keep distance from Aparecida who was tentative at first and was giving up four inches in height. But the Brazilian fighter was able to tag Cornejo a few times throughout the fight. Cornejo was in strong control and in the last three rounds increased the tempo with rapid combinations. All three judges score it 80-70 for Cornejo.
In a bantamweight bout, Los Angeles fighter Adelaida Ruiz (11-0-1, 6 Kos) won by technical knockout over Edith Flores (7-19) in the third round. It was all Ruiz whose flashing fists caused problems for the shorter Flores. Several times the referee stopped the fight to give standing eight counts to Flores. The end came at 33 seconds of round three.
Naomy Valle (1-0), the younger sister of Yokasta Valle, soundly defeated Nicaragua’s Heidi Fernandez (0-1) by technical knockout 54 seconds into the third round. Valle showed an aggressive style with combination punching in the minimumweight fight.
In another female bout Linn Sandstrom (4-2-1) scored a knockout win over Cristel Ruiz (0-1) in a non-streamed event. No other details were available in the super bantamweight match.