Palmera With Split Nod Over Sanchez To Retain WBA Belt

By Hilmar Rojas

With a split decision, Colombian Liliana Palmera successfully defended for the first time her interim-bantamweight title of the World Boxing Association on Friday night at the Coliseum Mario Leon Cereté in Colombia.

She faces challenger Alys "La China" Sánchez in the main event, held as tribute to former champion Miguel "Happy" Lora, and was attended by the Mayor of Cereté, Francisco Padilla, and WBA vice president Gilberto Jesus Mendoza.

Palmera and former champion Sanchez fought for ten give and take rounds. Judges Cesar Ramos (PUR) and Héctor Afú (PAN) score the fight for Palmera, 99-91, 97-93 respectively, while Víctor Simmons score it 96-94 for Sánchez.

When the fight ended, the champion Palmera told the public at the coliseum of Cerete:

“I promised the title would stay at home and from the beginning I wanted to prove that it has to stay here”.

Now, Palmera has a record of 24-11-3, 15 KO’s and Sánchez falls to 13-3-1, 4 KO’s.