Juarez Decisions Nery Plata, Successfully Defends WBC Title

By: Sean Crose

The WBC light flyweight championship of the world went down in Texas Saturday night in the main event of a DAZN broadcast card. Defending champion Lourdes Juarez was squaring off against challenger Yesica Neri Plata in a scheduled ten round affair.

Plata tried to open up late in the 1st. She had some success, but Juarez stayed in front of her and fired on her own. Plata continued to fight aggressively in the second. Juarez on the other hand, maneuvered herself around the ring in a defensive format. She was also able to land well on her own. Juarez continue to be aggressive in the third. Plata however seemed to have the cleaner and more powerful punches of the two women. She also would throw a great deal through combinations. The final moments of the round saw both women trading leather.

Juarez threw strategically in the first part of the 4th. Plata however was still quite game. It was a solid fight between two game opponents with a world title on the line, making it all the more intriguing. By the midpoint of the fight, it was starting to become clear that Juarez was starting to edge her opponent regularly. She simply was proving to be able to turn up the temperature. For her own part, however, Plata continued to fire away at the defending champion, remaining focused and calm, confident in her ability to succeed with her strategy.

By the 6th that was obvious that Juarez had better foot movement which allowed her to step away and move about the ring in a way that Plata couldn’t. Still Plata plowed through through with some strong combinations and clearly didn’t want the defending champion to get the last blow in on her when they were going to toe to toe. Juarez was shoved to the mat in the 7th though it rightfully was not ruled a knockdown. Both women had used up and exerted an enormous amount of energy for some time. Neither however, seemed gassed.

Juarez boldly pushed forward in the first half of the 8th. Make no mistake about it, Plata was having some kind of fight. It just seemed that Juarez was having an even stronger one. The fighters were starting to slow down in the ninth, which made perfect sense considering how much energy they had burned through in the previous eight rounds. With that being said, Plata closed out the chapter very effectively with sharp, accurate punching.The 10th and final round saw Plata try to land early then attempt to maintain the pressure throughout the round.

Suffice to say the judge is ruled in favor of Juarez via majority decision.

* Images: DAZN