Layla McCarter and Female Fight News for week of Dec. 18, 2017
By David A. Avila
Many of the top female prizefighters fought last week and perhaps the best “Amazing” Layla McCarter travels to Mexico to end 2018 with a bang.
A possible clash of top welterweights and pound for pound best in McCarter and Cecilia Braekhus are in negotiations, but the Las Vegas fighter wants one fight before the year ends.
Because negotiations are stalled McCarter (39-13-5) will be facing Erika Hernandez (6-1-1) on Friday Dec. 22 at Central Social in Mexico City. The welterweight fight is set for 10 three-minute rounds. It will not be televised in the U.S.
Representatives of Team McCarter were in negotiations with representatives of Cecilia Braekhus for a possible welterweight matchup in 2018 for the IBF title. Las Vegas’s McCarter is the mandatory number one ranked fighter by the IBF.
“No date planned yet,” said Tom Loeffler of K-2 Promotions that represent Braekhus. “Just waiting on a TV date.”
Last week Braekhus arrived in Las Vegas and revealed a fight with McCarter is one of three options on her wish list. The other two possibilities are a match against MMA star Cyborg and the winner between Claressa Shields and Christina Hammer that should take place by mid-2018.
McCarter, 38, has not lost a fight in more than 10 years despite many of her bouts taking place in other countries. In the past decade of action the skillful fighter has emerged victorious in New Zealand, Canada, South Africa and Mexico.
“What other fighter has done that,” says Luis Tapia who manages and trains McCarter. “She has fought all over the world.”
The fight against Mexico’s Hernandez on Saturday was planned before negotiations with Braekhus commenced. Since no date has been nailed down McCarter’s team decided to go forward with the fight in Mexico to stay busy. It will be McCarter’s second fight of the year. Her previous fight took place in April when she stopped Hungary’s Szilvia Szabados in the seventh round in Las Vegas.
“I hope to end it early as I don’t like the idea of going 10 rounds in this altitude,” said McCarter on Monday who is currently in Mexico City which is more than 7,000 feet elevation. “I want a knockout.”
Little is known about Mexico’s Hernandez who is 21 years old and fights out of Michoacan, Mexico. Three-minute rounds are the preference of McCarter who was the first female to fight a WBA world title match in three-minute rounds back in 2007. It’s the first time she is allowed to fight three-minute rounds in 10 years.
If Braekhus and McCarter do meet in 2018 it has been stated by the Las Vegas fighter that she prefers three-minute rounds.
Lightweight spotlight
Well, for months Chicago’s Jessica McCaskill chased Ireland’s highly-decorated Katie Taylor and showed why as she pursued the WBA lightweight titlist round after round looking for the knockout. She nearly got it in the sixth round when a left hook that nearly turned Taylor around. If not for the ropes she would have been delivered to the ground.
McCaskill proved to be nearly too much for Taylor to handle who held on tightly throughout the 10 rounds. The referee was forced to deduct a point for excessive holding by Taylor.
Once again fans were able to see the difference between amateur boxing and pro fighting. McCaskill was looking to knock out Taylor and the Irish boxer was simply looking to out-score her foe. Taylor won but not by the wide scores reflected by the three judge’s tabulations. Each round was hotly contested.
Taylor shows good fighting skills but would be hard-pressed to hang with the likes of Layla McCarter (who is actually a lightweight but fights as high as super welterweight), Amanda Serrano, or Delfine Persoon. Matching Taylor with any of those fighters any time soon would probably result in a defeat. But she has time to learn the pro ropes.
The British media has proclaimed Taylor the best female ever. That’s simply not the case right now. Maybe later, maybe not.
Many expected McCaskill to be overrun by Taylor but the Chicago fighter proved even more powerful than envisioned and nearly toppled Taylor in her first title defense. But that’s good for women’s boxing. Nobody likes mismatches.
McCaskill let the world know that despite only 7 pro fights she can bang and is never out of a fight. She put the rest of the female fight world on notice. She also put Chicago back on the map as a fight town.
Three-minute rounds
If female boxing is allowed to fight three-minute rounds the sport will see an increase in knockouts. In pro boxing that’s what fans want to see whether its men or women. Knockouts sell.
Women are slowly getting the hang of winning by knockout. Fighters like Serrano, McCaskill, McCarter all know how to set up an opponent and time them before they deliver the decisive blow. Seldom are the amateur boxers capable of setting up opponents for knockouts. One exception has been Mikaela Mayer who has the technique to time opponents walking into punches.
Claressa
Speaking of punchers Claressa Shields will be fighting soon early next month against Tori Nelson on Jan. 12. Showtime will televise and it was recently announced that Germany’s Christina Hammer signed with Salita Promotions that also has Shields. Hammer will be defending her WBC and WBO middleweight titles on the same card as Shields in Verona, New York.
No opponent has been named for Hammer at the moment.
Female Fight News
Argentina
Anyelen Espinosa (5-0) defeated Maria Cano (1-3) by decision after six rounds on Saturday Dec. 16. The light flyweight match was held in Buenos Aires.
Nicola Adams (3-0) won by technical knockout in the third round versus Soledad Macedo (15-14-1) on Saturday Dec. 16. The super flyweight match was held in Quebec. Adams is a former UK Olympian. Also, Kim Clavel (1-0) beat Yoseline Martinez (3-3) by decision in a light flyweight bout.
Maria Roman (11-4-1) won by disqualification over Ana Maria Lozano (14-7-1) in the second round on Friday Dec. 15. The bantamweight fight was stopped because of a head butt opened a cut on Roman who was unable to continue.
On Friday Dec. 22, lightweights Brenda Carabajal (13-3-1) and Rose Volante (11-0) meet in a 10 round bout for the vacant WBO world title in San Salvador de Jujuy.
Australia
Shannon O’Connell (16-6-1) defeated Sumalee Tongpootorn (8-8-1) by first round technical knockout on Wednesday Dec. 13. The super bantamweight match took place in Brisbane.
Belgium
On Monday Dec. 25, bantamweights Jill Serron (3-0) and Amra Okugic (0-6) meet in a six round clash in Izegem.
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Ema Kozin (12-0) won by technical knockout of Dora Tollar (1-1) in the third round on Friday Dec. 15 to win the vacant WIBA middleweight title. The title match took place in Banja Luka.
China
Wen Ju He (2-0) won by split decision after four rounds versus Xianrui Lu (0-1) on Thursday Dec. 14. The bantamweight fight took place in Xi An. Also, Fan Yin (1-0) won her pro debut by technical knockout in round two versus Mayinuer Jieensi (0-1) in a bantamweight clash.
Lan Xiao (1-0) beat Huijiao Chen (0-1) by decision after four rounds in a flyweight fight on Wednesday Dec. 13. Also, Yuan Nie (1-0) beat Li Chen (0-1) by decision after four rounds in a flyweight bout. Both fights took place in Xi An.
Finland
Elena Saveleva (3-0) beat Oksana Romanova (9-21-1) by technical knockout in round six on Tuesday Dec. 12. The flyweight bout took place in Helsinki.
France
Cindy Novelli (2-0) beat Wendy Vincent by decision after six rounds on Saturday Dec. 16. The featherweight fight took place in Montargis.
Marie Meron (4-0) defeated Ana Nikolic (0-2-1) by decision after six rounds on Saturday Dec. 16. The super lightweight clash was held in Compiegne.
Anissa Meksen (2-0) defeated Fatima El Kabouss (2-4) by unanimous decision after eight rounds to win the vacant French super bantamweight title. The match took place in Levallois-Perret.
Germany
Hasna Tukic (10-7) won by technical knockout over Sanja Radin (0-3) in the second round on Friday Dec. 15. The lightweight fight was held in Bayern. Also, Sarah Bormann (1-0) beat Kitti Kolompar (0-2) by first round technical knockout in a flyweight clash.
Japan
On Sunday Dec. 24, minimum weights Sarasa Ichimura (3-6-1) and Akari Arase (5-4) meet in a six round clash in Osaka.
Mexico
Silvia Torres (18-0-1) won the interim WBA light flyweight title by decision after 10 rounds versus Brenda Flores (11-4-1) on Saturday Dec. 16. The world title match took place in Tlalpan, Mexico City.
Nana Yoshikawa (8-2) won the interim WBC flyweight title over Delia Lopez (10-7-2) after 10 rounds on Saturday Dec. 16. The match was held in Tecamac, Mexico City. Also, Estrella Valverde (16-5-2) defeated Leticia Uribe (5-11) to retain the WBC International super flyweight title by decision after 10 rounds.
Victoria Cisneros (13-19-2) won by knockout over Rosa Diaz (7-4) in the second round to win the Fecom Box title on Saturday Dec. 16. The super lightweight fight was held in Agua Prieta, Sonora.
On Friday Dec. 22, super lightweights Layla McCarter (39-13-5) and Erika Hernandez (6-1-1) meet in 10 three-minute rounds in Mexico City.
New Zealand
Geovana Peres (4-1) defeated Tessa Tualevao (0-4) by decision after four rounds on Thursday Dec. 14. The heavyweight fight took place in Auckland.
Panama
On Thursday Dec. 21, minimum weights Maria Milano (8-1-1) and Eva Guzman (10-1-1) meet in a 10 round bout in Panama City.
Spain
Violeta Gonzalez (5-1) defeated Paloma Ramos (1-1) by technical knockout in the fifth round on Friday Dec. 15. The bantamweight clash took place in Bilbao.
Turkey
On Saturday Dec. 23, welterweights Gulsum Tatar (0-0) and Olena Medvedenko (1-3) meet in a four round bout in Istanbul.
United Kingdom
Rachel Ball (1-0) won her pro debut by decision over Claudia Ferenczi (16-60-6) on Sunday Dec. 17. The featherweight bout was held in Walsall, Midlands.
Natasha Jonas (4-0) won by technical knockout in the second round versus Katrina Vistica (1-10) on Saturday Dec. 16. The lightweight fight took place in Oldham, Lancashire.
Ashley Brace (7-0-1) and Melania Sorroche (13-2-2) fought to a draw after 10 rounds on Friday Dec. 15. The match was held in Wales and was for the vacant EBU bantamweight title.
Katie Taylor (8-0) defeated Jessica McCaskill (5-2) by decision after 10 rugged rounds on Wednesday Dec. 13. Taylor retains the WBA world lightweight title but was nearly floored against the hard-charging McCaskill. The lightweight match took place in London, England. (For more read the story on this web site.)
Nina Bradley (3-0) was the winner by decision versus Borislava Goranova (10-52-3) after six rounds on Wednesday Dec. 13. The welterweight fight took place in Sheffield, Yorkshire.
USA
Marlen Esparza (4-0) cruised by Karla Valenzuela (3-17-3) to win by decision after six rounds on Thursday Dec. 14. The flyweight match took place in Indio, California. (For more read the story on this web site.)