(JUNE 24) After stopping Diana Garcia in front of her own people in Barranquilla on Friday evening, Venezuelan super bantamweight Mayerlin Rivas treated herself to two days of repose - no more, because she'll be fighting again before the fortnight's out. ("We may allow ourselves a brief period of rejoicing," said Winston Churchill on a similar occasion, "but let us not forget for a moment the toil and efforts that lie ahead...") 

"My aim is to get as many fights in as I can," explained Rivas,  "as I'm new to boxing but highly committed and I believe that with a bit of luck (and the wise counsel of Señor Memin, my representative) I can go a long way in this hard profession."

Boxrec attributes Mayerlin’s victory to a TKO, but this may simply mean that referee Mario Cuellar saw no point in counting, as Lo Mejor del Boxeo says she knocked the girl out. Same difference. The end came 34 seconds into the second round;  and, according to El Universal, it was Garcia’s second defeat not her first (as stated by Boxrec),  though the Venezuelan journal doesn’t elaborate on this point.

"I'm very satisfied with this latest triumph," commented the 5´5" Venezuelan (she stopped Anys Cedillo, too, on her debut), dedicating it to “all the people of Venezuela” but with a special thought for the denizens of her home town, Maracaibo. The dedication was accompanied by greetings to the Minister of Sport, Victoria Mata, and a request that she get a move on with the legalization of women's professional boxing in Venezuela – a process that seems to be taking forever, forcing a talented crop of young women that includes Carolina Álvarez, Ambar Fajardo, Ogleydis Suárez and Alys Sánchez to concede home advantage every time they climb into the ring.