Marcela Acuña, who tipped the scales in the
Casino de Mendoza yesterday at 55 kg to her opponent's 55.3 kg,
faces a dangerous challenger for her WBA super bantamweight
title tonight in the Estadio Andres Talleres, writes Ovación's
Jorge Luciano Bertolotti: "the Mexican, Jazmín Rivas: young,
powerful, ambitious, on the way up, and – above all –
experienced at world level."
Still only 19, Rivas, who made her
professional debut at the age of 13, has fought 24 times since,
as she and her coach, José Rojas, were at pains to point out
yesterday, "not 15, as it says on the Boxrec site", and has
stopped her opponent already on 12 occasions. No one – not even
world champions Jackie Nava or Kwang Ok Kim – has stopped her.
She left her last opponent writhing on the canvas in round one
from a body shot, but Acuña's ready for that: "I know these
Mexicans: it's a jab to the face followed by a hook to the
liver," she told Sports Yahoo. But how to defend?
"Beautiful,
with well-defined Aztec features, a sweet, soft voice
('curvaceous', too, he notes elsewhere), the Mexican boxer has
been steadily turning up the heat since her arrival," writes
Jorge Marquez: "Marcela would do well to enjoy her last hours as
a champion," she told journalists. "I feel very strong and have
absolute confidence in my fight plan."
According to
Acuña, she went further than that: "She said she had youth on
her side and chose to describe me as 'old'. I'm going to show
her that nobody calls me 'old' and that experience counts for a
great deal more in life than youth… Poor Rivas! She's going to
have to eat those words."
[Acuña
repeated after yesterday's weigh-in her promise to KO Rivas
inside the first four rounds.]
"But how do
you prepare mentally? How do you bring yourself to thump a
beauty like the Mexican?" Marquez asked her. "
(Laughter) I'm used to it. It isn't necessary for me to persuade
myself first that I hate her."
"But haven't
you ever felt bad about inflicting excessive punishment on an
opponent?"
"Certainly
not. The day I feel bad about hitting an opponent, it will be
time to retire. In this sport, there's no room for pity. Look at
her. If she can kill me with her fists, she'll do it. This is
all or nothing. And it's always the strongest that wins. (Pause)
– Or the one with most experience."
Rivas struck a lighter note in an interview with the same
correspondent earlier in the day.
"Marcela says
the title is like one of her children and that she'll defend it
by whatever means are necessary. How do you see it?"
"As a child
I'd like to adopt."
First she has
to establish that the Argentinian is an unfit mother, which
she'll be aiming to do somewhere around 10 o'clock tonight.
* * *
[Sources:
Ciudadano Diario, Los Andes, Box Noticias, Sports Yahoo]
[Photos: (Acuña
on the scales) Andes on Line, (Rivas l. and Acuña) Ciudadano
Diario, (Rivas l. and Acuña in white) Notifight]
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