(JULY 24) Alicia Ashley,
overcoming a slow start, won an unanimous ten round decision
over a tough Chistina Ruiz and captured the vacant WBC super
bantamweight title. The bout was the co-feature on Joe
DeGurardia's initial "KO Cancer" benefit, staged outdoors at the
Hunt's Point Produce Market in the South Bronx.
Ashley came to the bout at 120.5, three quarters of a pound less
than Ruiz, but the Gleasons Gym based southpaw had a decided
height advantage over her San Antonio based foe. Ruiz was
clearly the aggressor in the first three rounds while Ashely
sought to counterpunch for most of the first six minutes. Among
Ashley's many boxing talents is the ability to land telling
blows, from her southpaw stance, while going in reverse and, as
a result, she prevented the hard charging Ruiz from dominating
much of the first three rounds.
Both fighters displayed good ring movement with Ashley's more
fluid moves distinctly contrasting with Ruiz' come forward,
straight ahead style. Ruiz, through the first half of the bout
tried to jab herself inside the long right leads of Ashley as
the shorter fighter attempted to trap her taller opponent on the
ropes and in the corners.
As the rounds tolled by, Ashley's style proved increasingly more
effective as she continually potshoted the always advancing
Ruiz.. Ruiz had her moments in several of the middle rounds but
those flurries were invariably answered by Ashley. The majority
of the middle and late rounds were close, but the final judges'
scorecards, 99-91, 98-91 and 100-90 seemed to indicate that
most, if not all, of the close calls went to the new champion. I
scored the fight 98-93 for Ashley, giving Ruiz the first and
third rounds and calling the sixth round even.
Alicia Ashley raised her record to 17-9-1 with her third
straight win following a loss to Marcela Acuna in an August 2009
bout for the same title she (Ashley) won last night in the
Bronx. Chistina Ruiz, who drops to 6-4-1, was coming off her
stunning three round KO of unbeaten Emily Klinefelter in
February.
This was the first WBC female title fight in New York in recent,
if not distant, memory, and, hopefully, is a portend that the
world's largest boxing federation has discovered the country's
largest reservoir of female boxing talent. New York based Jill
Diamond supervised the bout for the WBC.
Bernie McCoy
Photo: Ashley with
trainer/brother Devon Cormack (photo courtesy PowerImage PR)
