(JULY 14) This coming Saturday, in Le Cannet on the French Riviera, Myriam Lamare of Marseille [13-0-0 (7 KOs)] will be giving Belinda Laracuente of Puerto Rico [22-12-2 (9 KOs)] a second shot at her WBA light welterweight belt; the two previously met in Lavallois in March, when Lamare won a unanimous decision, with Laracuente nonetheless giving an excellent account of herself. The supervisor this time will be Gualtiero Becchetti, director of Boxering, the official FPI (Italian Boxing Federation) magazine.

Although the level of skill displayed by both women last time round drew praise from the commentary team and other fighters in the hall, the outcome was anti-climactic: Lamare seemed to be fading towards the end but Laracuente – who has skills in abundance – lacked the power to put her away and reverse the outcome. Lamare says she was hampered on that occasion by the calf injury that had plagued her throughout 2005 and the first three months of 2006. "It's cleared up, finally," she says, "and you'll see a quite different performance from me this time against Belinda."

The bill, which also features the WBC men's flyweight championship, is being screened live on French television beginning at 20:00 on Canal+ Sport and continuing on Canal+ itself from 21:00 onwards.  Elsewhere this weekend, Friday Night Fights IV from the Blue Box in Potsdam (Germany) will feature two women's bouts: in addition to the showdown at super welterweight between 22-year-old Jasmin Oflas and 25-year-old Malina Perplies (both of Berlin), the unbeaten Ramona Kühne of Großziethen will be taking on the rangy Miroslava Durinova of Slowakei, who spoiled Oflas’s debut last month by holding her to a draw. “Durinova is slightly taller than me and knows how to use her reach,” says Kühne, “but I take it for granted I’m going to win.”

Journalists in Mexico are taking it for granted, too, that Zulina Muńoz, who at 19 is already being touted as a challenger for Kwang Ok Kim’s CMB bantamweight title, will win on Saturday evening in Toluca when she defends her NABF bantamweight belt against Leticia Arévalo of Jalisco, and are even predicting a knockout; but it took the even younger, and similarly talented, Jazmďn Rivas three attempts to break Arëvalo’s spirit, so however predictable the victory itself, the manner of Muńoz’s victory will say much about the relative strength of the two teenagers. On the same bill, Gabriela Ramírez will be fighting Isabel Ruiz over four rounds at flyweight and Ana Fabiola Arrasola, Claudia Hernández over the same distance at junior flyweight.
 

Also on Saturday, Carolina ‘Fiera China’ Odalis Álvarez of Venezuela is scheduled to appear on the TOUR DE LOS CAMPEONES bill promoted by Boxing Entertainment Corporation in the Gimnasio Municipal of Antön, on the Pacific coast of Panama.

This will be the first time Álvarez, whose boyfriend, Charlie Navarro, will be fighting Luis ‘Pájaro Loco’ Samudio on the same card, has fought professionally on her own side of the Atlantic, having earned her record of 3-0-0 the hard way: in Germany. Her opponent has not yet been named.