Yesica Nery Plata is fighting fit in her bid to reclaim one of her old belts.
The former unified junior flyweight titlist arrived under the divisional limit, at 107.4lbs, as did her opponent and defending WBC titleholder Lourdes Juarez. Their all-Mexico 10-round title fight will headline a four-fight DAZN show on Saturday from the Convention Center in South Padre Island, Texas.
Mexico City’s Juarez, 38-4 (5 KOs), will attempt the second defense of the title she claimed in a 10-round unanimous decision last November 29 in Chetumal, Mexico. She then retained the belt in a ninth-round stoppage of Mirna Sanchez on March 5 in Tequisquiapan, Mexico.
Saturday will mark Juarez’s first fight outside of Mexico.
“My plan is simple,” Juarez told DAZN’s Sibley Scoles. “Just throw and land a lot of punches. That’s the job, and we’re going to make it happen. I’m coming to win and defend what’s mine.”
The change in title status came about when Nery Plata (30-2, 3 KOs) learned she was pregnant and was forced to end her unified WBC and WBA reign.
Nery Plata, who also hails from Mexico City, waited nearly three years for her shot at the full WBA title, which she captured in a March 2022 split decision win over Yesica Bopp in Panama City, Panama. It marked the first of three straight road trips, which ended with grounds for her ranking among the world’s best pound-for-pound fighters.
Nery Plata’s 2023 campaign was Fighter of the Year worthy, as she became the first to defeat both Kim Clavel – for the WBC title – and Sarah Bormann. The win over Clavel came in Laval, Canada, 11 months before Nery Plata edged Bormann via split decision in Karlsruhe, Germany.
Nery Plata’s challenge of Juarez will mark her first fight since December 2023 and also her Most Valuable Promotions (MVP) debut.
“I’m very proud to be MVP’s first Mexican signee,” Nery Plata said. “Anyone who has seen me fight knows that I am all action; tomorrow won’t be any different.”
The evening’s other title fight will see Australia’s Desley Robinson risk her IBF and WBO middleweight titles against Logan Holler.
Robinson, 10-3 (3 KOs), weighed 158.8 lbs ahead of her second overall title defense, in what will double as her US debut. Holler, 11-3-1 (4 KOs) – a Florida native now based in Columbia, South Carolina – weighed 158.4lbs for her first major title fight.
Full weigh-in results are as follows:
Junior flyweights – 10 rounds
Lourdes Juarez (107.4lbs) vs Yesica Nery Plata (107.4lbs)
Junior welterweight – 10 rounds
Omar Juarez (139.8lbs) vs Omar Rosario (138.4lbs)
Middleweights – 10 rounds (two minutes each)
Desley Robinson (158.8lbs) vs Logan Holler (158.4lbs)
Super middleweight – six rounds
Ronny Alvarez (167.0lbs) vs Bruno Pola (167.8lbs)
Bantamweights – eight rounds (two minutes each)
Shurretta Metcalf (117.6lbs) vs Krystal Rosado-Ortiz (117.6lbs)
Middleweights – six rounds
Alexis Chaparro (162.4lbs) vs David Gutierrez (162.6lbs)
Lightweights – eight rounds (two minutes each)
Yolanda Guadalupe Vega (137.8lbs) vs Miranda Reyes (136.8lbs)
Junior middleweight – six rounds
Sebastian Juarez (155.6lbs) vs Demarcus Layton (155.6lbs)
Junior middleweight – six rounds
Pedro Veitia (153.2lbs) vs Xavier Lehi Zuniga (153.0lbs)
Lightweights – four rounds
Reggie Ray Martinez (135.2lbs) vs Edgar Rosales (132.2lbs)
