Boxeo di Primera: Edith Soledad Matthysse vs. Yelene Mrdjenovich RBR

Top of the hour. :good

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Matthysse is now, in one fell swoop, the unified regular WBA (title vacant heading into last night, previously held by Matthysse in 2013 until she was stripped) and WBC (Mrdjenovich attempting her 2nd defense last night) featherweight champion.

2-time WBA regular champ and unified WBA & WBC champ, by way of defeating the consensus #1 in the division fair & square.

Not bad for a journeywoman who entered the contest 13-7-1.

 

Judges were South African, Panamanian, and Puerto Rican - so no home cooking.

 

I'm kind of annoyed I stuck with the end of Garcia vs. Malignaggi instead of switching over. Who knew TyC Sports would end up with a vastly superior main event to PBC on ESPN?

...with ladies, for that matter? In what ought to have been a mismatch in Mrdjenovich's favor...

 

I was just about to post it. :good

Watching it now.

Now in the 9th, and I'm not seeing what people were talking about with ESM allegedly "running". She boxed, IMO, very intelligently, using lateral movement and not blowing her lead by taking many chances. It would have been the height of folly to go for a KO anyway, since, as noted above, she doesn't have a lick of power with just one stoppage to her name ever, and Mrdjenovich is both tough (a veteran of 46 outings, never stopped) and dangerous.

This was a fight Edith was supposed to lose and she put in a courageous effort on the early side and then used her noggin late. VERY commendable performance.

 

Hustle and heart early, then stamina and smart boxing late.

I really dig this performance. :deal

Might be Heavy Underdog Performance of the Year so far.

(Jelena was favored at -250)

 

Three of the female 126lb division's top 15, and five of the best 20, are countrywomen of Matthysse's. She could easily make all her defenses at home on TyC Sports without being accused of "babysitting" the belt. Even looking beyond the domestic roster there isn't any international competition that poses a threat if she were to invite them over to challenge. Everybody was miles behind Mrdjenovich, whom everyone considered #1 at feather with a bullet and miles ahead of the pack (not to mention a top 15 p4p woman) - and now Matthysse has seized that crown.

I also don't see anything to suggest that Mrdjenovich would avenge the loss in a rematch. It turns out Matthysse just has the styles and intangibles to be all wrong for her, despite seeming outmatched on paper.

Nor can the Canadian blame age (Matthysse is a year older), or ring-rust (she had kept a very regular schedule before last night), or weight drain: even though she fought last October at lightweight, she comfortably made the featherweight limit in March to stop Francia Bravo. Plus, her fatigue in the 2nd half looked more consistent with having been on the wrong end of a death-by-a-thousand-cuts pelting from a much busier (if feather-fist) opponent than from coming in with bad conditioning.

 

:nod

Better movement, straighter & sharper right hand, not even 2% of the power.

 

The overhand right feint, duck, and quick body shot barreling in rolling with arched back like a pill bug is straight from LMM's playbook. :thumbsup

She might even actually execute it more smoothly.