This past Saturday night live on DAZN from the convention center in South Padre Island, Texas, Mexican Lourdes “Pequeña Lulu” Juarez (39-4, 5KO) defended her WBC light flyweight world title with a hotly contested majority decision over the tough Yesica Nery Plata (30-3, 3KO), also from Mexico City.
Juarez, the 38-year-old younger sister of Mexican legend Mariana “Barbie” Juarez, captured the 108lb green and gold title with a unanimous world title over former champion Yesenia Gomez about a year ago. Juarez defended the title back in March over the inexperienced Mirna Sanchez with a ninth round TKO.
Nery Plata, 31, had not seen action in nearly two years but at one time not only held the WBC title she fought Juarez for but also the WBA version. Nery Plata is considered a world warrior beating Argentina’s Yesica “Tutti” Bopp in Panama, Kim Clavel in Canada and Sarah Bormann in Germany.
Before Saturday night, Nery Plata had only been bested twice, once by International Hall of Fame nominee Esmeralda “Joya” Moreno and three-time world champion Kenia Enriquez.
The fight was presented by Most Valuable Promotions in hopes of securing their charge, Nery Plata, a slice of the light flyweight pie and in short time secure a fight against the absolute queen of the division, IBF, WBA and WBO world champion Evelyn Bermudez of Argentina.
Nery Plata, the most technical and accurate of the two, looked like she was going to have an easy night early in the fight as she used her precise punching and control of distance to land an educated jab and hard right hands. By the third, Juarez was able to do what Nery Plata wasn’t and that was adjust.
Juarez began to get past Nery Plata’s jab and once on the inside put together fast combinations to the body and the head of her Mexican opponent. Nery Plata was able to score her own assault also at the short distance but Juarez was quicker.
Midway through the fight Nery Plata was able to regain some of the control of the fight but Juarez closed the fight with a more controlled effort and earned the victory.
With the majority decision of 96-94 twice and an even 95-95, Juarez defended her title for the second time. After the win, Juarez stated she would like to unify the division against Bermudez or go up to flyweight and challenge Gabriela Fundora for all the belts at 112 pounds.
Other Musings
-In a super featherweight fight in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, former world champion Mauricio “Bronco” Juarez knocked out veteran Miguel “Mickey” Roman in the first round. With the win Lara hopes for a world title while Roman announced his retirement honoring a pre-fight bet he placed with Lara.
-Also, on Saturday night but in Brooklyn, New York, former multi-divisional world champion Danny “Swift” Garcia said goodbye to the Barclays Center by stopping David Gonzalez in the fourth with his signature punch, a left hook to the chin. No word if he will continue his career.
-The back and forth between the UFC’s Dana White and Matchroom Boxing’s Eddie Hearn continues social media with each throwing barbs in different interviews regarding White’s excursion into boxing, his push for revisions for revisions to the Muhammad Ali Act and a number of other topics.
