By Erick Reyes, Spring Intern for 600 ESPN El Paso<\/p>\n
May 30th\u00a0is a huge day for El Paso, especially for current WBA Lightweight Champion Stephanie Han. The champ is not only defending her title in her hometown,\u00a0but she’s also fighting the legendary Holly Holm in a rematch from their January\u00a0fight. The two will be headlining a huge MVP card featuring an all-women\u2019s card at the El Paso County Coliseum. In this article, I will break down\u00a0the fights throughout the night.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
The main event of the night will be a rematch for the WBA lightweight championship between current champion Han and \u201cThe Preachers Daughter\u201d Holm. Back on Jan. 3\u00a0in Puerto Rico, Han\u00a0retained\u00a0her WBA belt after a seventh\u00a0round head clash stopped their first fight, a fight lots of people think Han was winning. Fast forward almost five months later, they are back for another fight, this time in Han\u2019s hometown of El Paso.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Coming off her biggest win to date, Han is a pressure fighter who loves to stay on the front foot. On the other hand, Holm is a very conservative fighter, using her jabs as a go-to and is calculated with her timing. Both had good success in the first fight, but if Han wants to keep her title, she needs to keep the pressure\u00a0up and make Holm uncomfortable. For Holly, she will need to establish the jab and take control of the center of the ring, and box smartly.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Prediction:\u00a0I believe Han\u2019s aggressiveness will play a huge role in this\u00a0fight. She was countering Holm with overhand rights\u00a0throughout the first fight and\u00a0those punches will be\u00a0the ultimate factor in the end. Han by close, unanimous decision.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In the co-main event, undisputed featherweight champion \u201cThe Real Deal\u201d Amanda Serrano\u00a0will be\u00a0taking on Germany\u2019s Cheyenne Hanson\u00a0for Serrano\u2019s WBO and WBA Featherweight titles.\u00a0Serrano,\u00a0one of the greatest women\u2019s fighters of all time, is\u00a0a very aggressive\u00a0fighter by nature, and also has excellent boxing skills, packing a big\u00a0punch. She comes into this fight with a whopping 64%\u00a0knockout percentage, has 53 fights under her belt and tons of experience.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Cheyenne Hanson will be making her United States debut in this fight.\u00a0Not only is she bringing a nine-fight\u00a0win streak to El Paso, but seven of those nine fights ended in\u00a0knockouts.\u00a0A very technical\u00a0boxer, Hanson comes forward, throws punches in bunches and has dynamite in her fists.\u00a0<\/p>\n
If Hanson wants to shock the world and pull off the upset, she will need to make it a rough fight, smother Serrano and not let her find her rhythm. For Serrano, she will need to use her experience, her IQ and attack the body to slow Hanson down.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Prediction:\u00a0Hanson is going to come to fight, and she will not go down easily. I see her\u00a0winning some rounds early, but in the end, Serrano\u2019s experience\u00a0and ring IQ will be\u00a0to\u00a0much for Hanson. I wouldn\u2019t\u00a0be surprised if we\u00a0see\u00a0a couple of knockdowns in this fight, especially in the later rounds. Serrano by unanimous decision.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Keeping with the theme\u00a0of title fights, current WBC flyweight champion Lourdes Juarez will be\u00a0facing Costa Rica\u2019s Yokasta Valle.\u00a0Winner of five straight, including two successful title defenses, Juarez comes to El Paso at an\u00a0all-time\u00a0high. She is the very definition of a Mexican style fighter with a heart of a lion that\u00a0can brawl with\u00a0just about\u00a0anyone and can box when she needs to.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This will be Valle\u2019s first fight at 108 pounds, coming up from 105.\u00a0Valle, much like Juarez, is a brawler who\u00a0loves to come\u00a0forward, and throw big shots. This has the potential\u00a0to be\u00a0fight of\u00a0the night. <\/p>\n
If Juarez wants to keep her titles, she will need to revert from her brawling style and box Valle,\u00a0use the whole ring, and keep switching stances to confuse her. For Valle, she will need to\u00a0make it a little bit of a dirty fight. Valle loves to throw her overhand right and clinch right after, something she should do to throw Juarez\u2019s timing off.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Prediction:\u00a0As I said earlier, this has all the makings to be\u00a0fight\u00a0of the night. Both women have tons of experience, throw bombs with each shot, and are each aggressive. Since\u00a0this will be Valle\u2019s first fight at the new weight while challenging for\u00a0a title fight immediately, the nerves could play a factor. Overall, I think Juarez\u2019s\u00a0experience and natural weight advantage will be the key\u00a0in\u00a0this fight. Expect lots of punches being thrown and, possibly, lots of blood. Juarez by\u00a0split decision.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In the first of four title fights tonight, Australian Desley Robinson will defend her IBF and WBO Middleweight belts versus Canada\u2019s Mary Spencer. She is coming to El Paso with an impressive six fight win streak, including two defenses\u00a0of her current belts.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Only her second fight in the United States, Robinson is a technical fighter with good\u00a0skills.\u00a0Spencer, coming off a loss to current WBC and WBO\u00a0154-pound\u00a0Champion Mikaela Mayer, will be moving up to 160 pounds for the first time, as well as making her United States debut.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Much like Robinson, Spencer is very technically sound but throws with intent on every shot. Reminds me a little bit of\u00a0Caleb\u00a0Plant. For Robinson to keep her titles, she must stick to the\u00a0game-plan\u00a0of sticking and moving. She will have the natural weight advantage, make Spencer come to\u00a0you\u00a0and see how her legs adjust to the new weight. For Spencer, the goal is to be aggressive, make it a rough fight, try to get Robinson frustrated and throw her off her gameplan.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Prediction:\u00a0Mary Spencer coming off a loss and moving up in weight, which will play a huge factor in this fight. Her\u00a0challenging\u00a0for a world title in her first fight is a risky move. Robinson, coming off a knockout victory her last time out, is riding high and has all the confidence in the world.\u00a0Having the natural weight advantage as well, Robinson\u00a0won\u2019t\u00a0have to worry about her belts going anywhere else.\u00a0Robinson by\u00a0unanimous decision.<\/p>\n
Below are some fighters I believe fans should watch out for in the future.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Jocelyn Camarillo (6-0 1KO):\u00a021-Year-old California Prospect\u00a0Alexander Gueche (11-0 7KO):\u00a020-Year-old California Prospect\u00a0Alexis \u201cChop\u00a0Chop\u201d Chaparro (7-0 6KO):\u00a0Upcoming Puerto Rican Prospect\u00a0Yesica Nery Plata (30-3 3KO):\u00a0Former WBC 105-pound title holder\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Erick Reyes, Spring Intern for 600 ESPN El Paso May 30th\u00a0is a huge day for El Paso,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":294770,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[6913,138,140,139,141,142,36154,154,36155,4533],"class_list":["post-294769","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-el-paso","tag-boxing","tag-el-paso","tag-el-paso-headlines","tag-el-paso-news","tag-featured-carousel","tag-include-in-newsletter","tag-local-el-paso-texas","tag-sports","tag-sportstalk","tag-utep"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294769","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=294769"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294769\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/294770"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=294769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=294769"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=294769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}