Alma Ibarra Expecting to Bring the Best Out of Jessica McCaskill
At the Tech Port Arena in San Antonio, Texas, WBA welterweight mandatory challenger Alma Ibarra (10-1,5 KOs) will get her coveted world title shot as she faces undisputed women’s world 147-pound champ Jessica McCaskill (11-2,4 KOs) live on DAZN.
The challenger became the mandatory with a dominant eight-round decision win over multiple-time world title challenger Kani Wyatt in August 2021. That night Ibarra displayed her talent and boxing skills. The 34-year-old from Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico, showed a focus and determination that’s been her calling card throughout her professional career. Those attributes also helped pull her through some dark and dangerous times.
A FIGHTER’S SPIRIT THROUGH AND THROUGH
While competing at the Mexican Olympic boxing qualifying tournament in March 2020 in Veracruz, Mexico, she received a phone call that her life was in peril. Ibarra was told to meet with what she believed were local authorities, thinking she was on the way to the police station. But what she thought was a safety measure turned out to be a kidnapping. She was physically assaulted and held against her will for nearly twenty-four hours before she was rescued by actual authorities.
Determined to overcome and succeed, the 34-year-old from Monterrey, Nuevo León, bounced back from that harrowing experience and is now just days away from fighting for the world title. Her upcoming bout with McCaskill has a backdrop of tension.
The champ is managed and trained by her boyfriend, Rick Ramos, who has a reputation of not being one to hold back his tongue and being a bit of a trash-talker. Following her win against Wyatt, Ibarra claimed that Ramos said some not-so-nice things about her and that she plans to see him in the ring. Ramos has since made this prediction regarding his fighter on social media.
STAYING ABOVE THE FRAY
During an interview with Marie-Eve on the 120 Secondes podcast, Ibarra had this to say about McCaskill and her manager/trainer:
(translated from Spanish) “I have never said nothing about him or her. On the contrary, I respect her for what she is, obviously because she is a world champion and undisputed. I also know he had to work this hard to be able to get that place. I completely respect him.
[…] He says that Jessica is going to have her best fight with me. Well, it’s good that he says it because I’m training for the same thing […] I’m not a rookie. I’m not 12 years old. Nobody has given me anything. The truth is that I have had to achieve everything with a lot of work […] If he says that will be her best fight and I also say that it will be the best, then wait for a great fight. The truth is the only thing I can say is we are both going to fight with everything for the same thing.”
Ibarra is a woman who has overcome the scariest of circumstances and believes she is more than ready to deal with whatever McCaskill offers up on fight night. If skills and motivation carry any weight, at the very least she will give the champ all she can handle in San Antonio.
Reading Time: 3 minutes
By: Michael Wilson Jr.
Be the first to comment