By Ryan Maquiñana
Northern California is enjoying a banner year in 2011, and Chico’s Ava Knight became the fifth reigning world titlist from the region with a stunning second-round knockout of defending IBF women's flyweight boss Arely Muciño in Colima, Mex., Saturday night.
“I thought I actually lost the first round,” Knight (7-1-3, 4 KOs) admitted. “But our plan was always to come in and go for the knockout, so we were able to do what we had to do.”
By round two, Muciño (14-1-1, 8 KOs) was on the defensive after a straight right hand to the chin from the taller Knight dropped her; however, it was ruled a slip by referee Jesus Salcedo.
“I think after I got her down the first time, that I could really start letting my hands go,” Knight said.
Moments later, Knight bombarded Muciño with right hook to the body and a left hook to the head put the Mexican fighter down for good.
Official time was 0:45.
“I didn’t think she was getting up from that,” the new champ felt. “I want to fight the best and either clear out 112 and go to 115, whatever challenges are out there.”
“Knowing that we were going on Mexican soil against a champ like Muciño, we’d be fighting the whole country,” said her San Francisco-based trainer, Ben Bautista, who recently guided Karim Mayfield to the NABO 140-pound strap. “Our plan was to knock her out and leave no doubt.”
After two unsuccessful world title challenges at 115 and 118 pounds (including one in Mexico against Ana Maria Torres), Knight found the flyweight division more suitable to her preferred fighting weight of 108 pounds.
“[Muciño] actually weighed in heavier than me in the ring,” she said. “I just felt stronger at 112 because now the people I fight are the same size as me.”
Now joining a select list of NorCal fighters with world title belts that includes San Leandro’s Nonito Donaire (WBC/WBO bantamweight), Oakland’s Andre Ward (WBA super middleweight), Gilroy’s Robert Guerrero (WBA/WBO interim lightweight), and Daly City’s Ana Julaton (WBO female junior featherweight), Knight put the impact of her victory in perspective.
“It really hasn’t hit me yet what was really going on,” she said. “I know that I’m
champion, but maybe it’ll hit me when I’m back in the SFC Gym with my people. All I can say is that this win proves Ben’s been doing a lot with the neighborhood taking kids and making them achieve things they wouldn’t believe they could do.”
“We’re just happy to get the opportunity from HG Promotions, and now that we got the title, we want to fight the best,” Bautista said. “We want Mariana Juarez, the WBC champion, and [WBA/WBO] Susi Kentikian from Germany.”
Ryan Maquiñana is the boxing correspondent at Comcast SportsNet Bay Area, a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America, and Ring Magazine’s Ratings Advisory Panel. E-mail him at rmaquinana@gmail.com, check out his blog at www.maqdown.com or follow him on Twitter: @RMaq28.