Yamileth Mercado Digs Deep to Claim Victory Over Ramla Ali
In an aggressive and competitive scrap, Mexico’s Yamileth Mercado (24-5-3, 5 KOs) retained the WBC women’s junior featherweight title with a unanimous decision victory (98-92, 98-93, 97-93) over Ramla Ali (9-2, 2 KOs) at the Footprint Center in Phoenix, Arizona.
Ali got off to a good start as she used her height and jab to land with left hooks to the head in the opening rounds. But then the experience and aggression of Mercado started to come into play. In the fourth, the defending champion began to apply relentless pressure, pounding the challenger with shots to the head and body.
Over the second half of the contest, Mercado was more energetic and landed the harder punches. It was the sheer will of Mercado that proved the difference. Ali, to her credit, fought hard until the final bell and even landed with her share of punches.
In truth, this reporter felt the defending champion deserved the win, but the fight was much closer than the scorecards indicated. Next up for Mercado could be a unification showdown with countrywoman and WBA champion Erika Cruz Hernandez.
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