It may have been (as Roberto Santos claims) the
women’s fight that was the subject of most interest in
Juriquilla on Friday, but Julio Cesar Chávez Jr. stole back the
show for the men on fight night with his 25th minute knockout
of Giuseppe Loriga of Italy. For all we know, another ten
minutes would have given Ana María Torres time to find the
knockout she was looking for on the same bill against Myung Ok
Ryu of North Korea, but ten two-minute rounds are all the women
are allotted and the fight ended in an anticlimactic majority
draw.
With the result, Myung Ok Ryu of North Korea
retained the WBC super flyweight title she won under
controversial circumstances in Gaeseong City last October.
Neither fight, it appears, was much of an advertisement for the
sport – still less for the system: after the first eight
minutes, one judge had Torres two rounds up, another judge had
her two rounds down, whilst the third made it a draw. (Why not
just toss a coin?) At the end, Robert Hecko scored it 93-97 for
Torres, whilst the other two (Rubén Carrión and Glen Rick
Crocker) arrived by different routes at the same result: 95-95.
If the Mexican reports are to be believed, the
change of venue didn’t at all force Ryu to adopt a cleaner style
of fighting, as Torres had fondly supposed it would; exactly as
in the first fight, (it is claimed) she resorted to clinching or
attacked with the head whenever she felt threatened, despite
warnings from the referee. Torres, whose nose was bleeding as
early as the third round, seemed more preoccupied with how to
avoid being hit by her opponent’s head than with hitting it.
In the two final rounds, which one judge had her
winning and the others judged even, the challenger went all out
for the knockout, allowing Ryu to respond with combinations to
the head, but time ran out before either woman could press home
an advantage.
*
Date: 2008-04-26
Venue: Plaza
de Toros, Juriquilla (Querétaro)
Over 10 two-minute rounds for the WBC super
flyweight title
Myung Ok Ryu
(North Korea) v Ana María Torres (Mexico)
Result: Majority draw (93-97
in favour of Torres, 95-95, 95-95)
(Referee:
Rocky Burcke)
Reports:
Roberto Santos,
Rafael Soto,
Jose
Manuel,Sergio
Abarca Levetty
