Estrada Bests Yudica, Cortes Takes Debatable Win, Nova Scores KO
In what was the most competitive fight of her career, Seniesa “Super Bad” Estrada (25-0, 9 KOs) retained the unified women’s minimumweight titles with a unanimous decision win (97-93 x 3) over former IBF flyweight champion Leonela Yudica (19-2-3, 1 KOs) at the Palms Resort Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.
After an opening round where Estrada scored with punches to the head and body, Yudica began to make adjustments starting in round two. The former flyweight champion landed with right hands and left hooks to the head as Estrada attempted to switch from southpaw to orthodox.
In her prior bouts, Super Bad would bedazzle her foes with her awkward and unique style. But that was not the case in this fight. Yudica kept her poise all night as she connected with counter right hands and left hooks to the face of the defending champion during the middle rounds.
However, Estrada turned it up in the championship rounds. Fighting with a greater sense of urgency, she picked up her pace and landed more effective punches to ensure the win. Following the victory, Estrada called for a match with the other unified champion at 105, Yokasta Valle.
ANDRES CORTES GAINS CONTROVERSIAL WIN OVER XAVIER MARTINEZ
On the undercard of Senisa Estrada – Leonela Yudica, Andres Cortes (20-0, 10 KOs) remained unbeaten with a seventh-round stoppage over Xavier Martinez (18-2, 12 KOs) at the Palms Resort Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. But the final result doesn’t nearly tell what happened in this junior lightweight contest.
Cortes did a decent job of using the jab to dictate the tempo in the first three rounds. But round four saw a seachange in the fight as Martinez began to pick up the pace and fight on the front foot. In the last half of the fourth, Martinez got Cortes’s attention with a short left hook and a right hand to the chin. Martinez continued to apply pressure in rounds five and sixth.
In the early half of round seven, a straight right hand by Cortez opened up a cut underneath the left eye of Martinez. What happened at the end of the seventh will leave many boxing observers shaking their heads.
As the ringside doctor inspected Martinez’s cut, trainer Robert Garcia surprisingly said that was enough and would not allow his fighter to come out for round eight. This was after the doctor said that Martinez was okay to continue fighting! In the opinion of this reporter, Garcia’s move was a head-scratching decision. Martinez was coming on strong and had a legit chance to win the fight.
ABRAHAM NOVA MAKES EASY WORK OF JONATHAN ROMERO
At the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada, Abraham “El Super” Nova (23-1, 16 KOs) turned on the power as he dropped former IBF junior featherweight champion Jonathan Romero (35-2, 19 KOs) twice on the way to a third-round knockout in a scheduled ten-round contest.
Nova began the fight by pumping the left jab early and often. In the closing seconds of round two, Nova put Romero on the deck with a beautiful left jab-right uppercut combination. Romero began the third with fire in his eyes and charged forward. But you could tell that Nova was just biding his time. With twenty-five seconds left in the round, Nova connected with a right hand that put Romero down and out!
It was an impressive victory by Nova, who wants to fight the winner of the August 12 match between WBO junior lightweight champion Emanuel Navarrete and former 126-pound champion Oscar Valdez.
