On the 18th May, Claudia “La Chica 10” López of Trelew (full name: Claudia Andrea López) will be fighting María del Carmen Potenza  of Rosario for the vacant UBC super bantamweight title in the Estadio Socios Fundadores in Comodoro Rivadavia (Patagonia), a venue belonging to the local gymnastics and fencing club.

In her last outing, López [9-6-2], a 27-year-old southpaw trained by Raúl Montesino, outpointed Sonia Paladino over 6 rounds in Río Gallegos, whilst the 38-year-old Potenza, making her professional debut on the 10th May 2005, got the nod from the judges against Silvia Gervasi in Santa Fe only to suffer subsequent reverses at the hands of Alejandra Oliveras (twice), Carolina "Chapita" Gutiérrez, López herself, and, most recently, Marcela Acuña, though this last encounter was little more than an exhibition match to raise money for the campaign "KO a las Drogas" (Let's KO drugs) in Uruguay. Potenza's record currently stands at 3 wins, 5 losses and 1 draw.

The former holder, 40-year-old Patricia "La Leona" (The Lioness) Quirico of Buenos Aires, was stripped of the title after suffering a humiliating sixth round TKO at the hands of Simone Da Silva Duarte, a 23-year-old Brazilian fighting for only the fourth time as a professional.  Simply losing that (non-title) fight would not have cost Quirico her world title, but the UBC has a rule, apparently, that if any of their fighters loses a non-title fight inside the distance, they will be stripped; which is how the title comes to be vacant.

If her opponent on that occasion is to be believed, Quirico has only herself to blame for the somewhat ignominious end to her reign and, perhaps, also her career: with the South American super bantamweight title of the WIBA,  which the two were disputing, slipping away, the Argentinian – according to Da Silva – resorted to constant clinching before deliberately butting her in the face; at which point the young Brazilian, who had been content in her previous outings to coast to easy points wins, went ballistic and took her apart, though the fight was stopped – early in the sixth – before she could impose the ultimate sanction of knocking the Argentinian woman out.