Lourdes Juarez won a majority decision over Yesica Nery Plata on Saturday at the Convention Center in South Padre Island, Texas. The bout was Juarez’s second defense of her WBC junior flyweight title, which she won by scores of 95-95 and 96-94 (twice).
The first round was tentative as both fighters tried to get a read on what the other could do. Nery Plata was returning to the ring after a 22-month layoff, but she got back into the groove quickly, finding her rhythm in the second round with good jabs and a focus on body work. Juarez responded by upping her punch output in the third and fourth rounds. Her momentum continued into the fifth, when she forced Nery Plata to exchange with her in close quarters.
The fighters at that point were inseparable, with both having moments in the middle rounds. Nery Plata was landing clean, straight punches at distance, while Juarez would flurry on the inside. The pace slowed in the ninth, with Nery Plata forcing the action. By the time the final bell rang, no one had clearly pulled away as the victor, and both fighters appeared eager to hear the official scores. In the end, Juarez, the titleholder, edged it out.
Juarez, 38, extended her current win streak to five, improving to 39-4 (5 KOs). The 31-year-old Nery Plata is now 30-3 (3 KOs) after suffering a gut-wrenching loss by a razor-thin margin.
In the co-feature, local favorite Omar Juarez, of Brownsville, Texas, won a 10-round unanimous decision over Omar Rosario, of Caguas, Puerto Rico, in a junior welterweight crossroads bout. Scores were 99-89, 99-89 and 97-91 for Juarez.
Both fighters entered the bout as former prospects with two losses to their ledger. Juarez began to separate from Rosario with body punches after three competitive rounds. In the seventh, Rosario lost a point for holding as Juarez’s relentless attack to the body exhausted him. Juarez kept Rosario on the ropes with a non-stop attack, as Rosario would lose one more point in the 10th round for unsportsmanlike conduct for holding, again.
Juarez, 26, improved to 20-2 (7 KOs), while the 27-year-old Rosario is now 14-3, including just 3-3 in his past six fights.
The IBF and WBO women’s middleweight titleholder, Desley Robinson, of Logan City, Queensland, Australia, earned a second-round technical knockout over Logan Holler, of Columbia, South Carolina. The time of stoppage was 1 minute, eight seconds.
Holler was ruled down in the second round from a left hook, a straight right from Robinson that made Holler fall into the ropes. Despite resuming the fight, Holler never recovered from the previous shot, as an onslaught of blows forced the referee to halt the contest.
Robinson, 37, is now 11-3 (4 KOs), while the 34-year-old Holler, 11-4-1 (4 KOs), was stopped for the first time in her career.
In the opening bout, super middleweight Ronny Alvarez, of Ciego de Avila, Cuba, scored a fifth-round technical knockout over Bruno Pola Ruiz, of San Antonio. The time of stoppage was 2 minutes, 28 seconds.
Alvarez, 21, improved to 5-0 (4 KOs), while the 26-year-old Ruiz dropped to 10-4-1 (9 KOs).
Lucas Ketelle is the author of “Inside the Ropes of Boxing,” a guide for young fighters, a writer for BoxingScene and a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Find him on X at @BigDogLukie.
