Boca piluso and crying in the ring

Argentina Celeste “Chucky” Alaniz she was able to recover “what they took from her”, as she herself anticipated. The Argentine boxer had her rematch and after the controversial defeat in July of last year, this Saturday he entered the ring at the Save Mart Center de Fresno, en Californiaand won in a split decision against the American Marlen Esparzawho a day earlier had been stripped of the flyweight titles of the AMB, OMB and CMB for not giving weight.

From the start of the fight, Chucky he stood up and showed his strengths despite the fact that the local team had the advantage that the balance gave them. Born in Merlo, in the west of Greater Buenos Aires, she emerged victorious from each attack by her rival, with great ease and good rhythm. On the other hand, the award-winning Esparza showed her power on several occasions.

The fight, which was an even process from start to finish, required the judges’ ruling but the story seemed to get on track in the ninth round after a right uppercut that entered the American woman’s jaw completely.

Alaniz heard the ruling on the cards and burst into tears, wearing the Argentine shirt and wearing a fluffy Boca hat that shows all the passion he feels for the La Ribera club. Those 97-93 and 96-94 in the announcer’s voice (in the other it fell unusually 92-98) were Justice telling him that what happened on July 8 of last year, in San Antonio (United States), in his first contest against Esparza, could be forgotten.

“It was a robbery, without a doubt,” Alaniz had remarked in a conversation with Clarín, shortly before this happy revenge. That time, the boxer from Barrio Rivadavia de Merlo, who was then the WBO 112-pound champion, faced in a unification duel to the American from a Mexican family, who owned the WBA and WBC belts.

With aggressive, fast and intense boxing, the Argentine was, in the eyes of most specialists, superior in the balance of the 10 rounds. However, the three American judges made a different evaluation: two of them, Javier Álvarez (99-91) and Esther López (97-93), awarded the victory to the local team and the remaining one, Lisa Giampa, declared a tie (95 -95). The whistles from the public, as Texan as Esparza, when the result was read were eloquent.

That loss ended his undefeated record of 14 professional fights. “The first few days, I had what had happened in my head all the time. Although I had gone with the idea that it could happen, I wondered why. Afterwards I calmed down, the only thing I wanted was to get my revenge. I am very positive, but at first I thought it was not going to happen because of how these things are handled,” he admitted before traveling to the United States.

Esparza, 34 years old, had 14 wins in her 15 professional fights (she was only defeated in 2019 by the undefeated Seniesa Estrada, today the undisputed champion of the minimum category), and before entering rented boxing she had been the first American boxer in qualify for the Olympic Games, had won a bronze medal in London 2012, had been amateur champion at the Jeju 2014 World Cup and had been the first woman to sign a contract with Golden Boy Promotions (in December 2016, four months before to debut as a rental).

The background of the Houston-born daughter of Mexican parents never intimidated Alaniz, who redoubled her confidence after those 10 rounds with Esparza. “It was an easier fight than I expected from it because of what I had seen, because of what I had been told and because of how it was talked about. It was easy for me to hit him,” she said. And she palpitated before chapter 2: “Now maybe I should look for other things, not just hit him, but take care of myself a little more.” The plan ended up working.

What happened? In the traditional weighing ceremony, Alaniz easily crossed the category limit laid on 112 pounds (50,802 kilos). The scale gave the mark 111.2 pounds (50,440 kilos). Esparza did not have the same nutritional discipline, who on the first attempt registered 114.4 pounds (51,900 kilos) and later, on the second opportunity, he barely lost 0.4 pounds and stayed at 114 (51,710 kilos), two above the limit.

What did this mean? Alaniz maintained her chance of being a triple world champion against Oscar de la Hoya’s pupil. On the other hand, if they tied or lost, the titles were vacant.