Huge upset in the world of women’s boxing this past weekend. Former WBC flyweight champion, Mariana “Barbie” Juarez (36-7-3, 16 KO’s) met Riyo Togo (10-4-1, 9 KO’s) for the vacant WBC International female super flyweight title, a bout clearly staged to allow Juarez to grab a title belt, something she’s been without since losing to Ava Knight last October and dropping her WBC flyweight title in the process.
Togo, of Tokyo, Japan, was coming off an eight round loss to Kimika Miyoshi, costing her the OPBF female bantamweight title which she had just won in her prior bout. She had one previous bid at a world title, dropping a 10 round decision to Janeth Perez in July.
It was a rapid paced bout for as long as it lasted, both fighters throwing non-stop. Though Togo had the former champ backed to the ropes early in the round, Juarez was landing the cleaner punches…until the 1:45 mark. Both fighters threw, and landed left hooks simultaneously, only Togo’s landed harder and cleaner, and sent Juarez to the canvas.
Slow to rise, Juarez beat the count but was still on wobbly legs, causing referee Eddie Hernandez to wave off the bout, awarding Riyo Togo the TKO win and the WBC International super flyweight title.
This is the first time Juarez has been stopped since 2005, when she was victim of a 10th round TKO by Myung Ok Ryu. Other than a bit of embarrassment, it’s doubtful the loss will have any ill effect on her career: as women’s boxing goes, her next bout could be for a world title. For Togo, this is easily her biggest accomplishment to date.
In Argentina, where Martin Murray was looking to score an upset of his own, IBF featherweight champion Dahiana Santana (32-6, 14 KO’s) defended her world title against Claudia Lopez (22-7, 5 KO’s) on the under card. Making her third defense of the title, Santana worked her way to a comfortable, unanimous decision win by scores of 97-93 twice, and 96-94. The loss snaps a four bout-winning streak Lopez had been on through out 2012. This was Santana’s fifth consecutive win.
Two title bouts took place on separate cards in South Korea Saturday. In Jinju City, Su-Yun Hong (8-0, 5 KO’s) defended the WBO minimum weight title against Buangern Onesongchaigym (9-4-1, 1 KO). Hong proved too much for the challenger, who was on an eight fight win streak, and was able to stop Onesongchaigym in the fifth round, keeping the WBO title and her undefeated record in tact.
In Paju City, IFBA featherweight titleholder Ji-Hye Woo (13-2, 1 KO) made her first defense against the lesser-experienced Xu Chun Yan (2-3). Woo is also a former IFBA super featherweight champion, a title she defended six times before losing to Jennifer Barber and dropping down in weight. Chan, who has fought ten rounds in four of her five professional bouts, managed to last the distance and keep things real close with the defending champion, but dropped a majority decision by scores of 93-98, 95-96, and 96-96.
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