At the end of ten bitterly contested rounds last night in San Cristóbal Huichotitlán for the interim junior flyweight championship of Mexico, it was not the hand of the number one ranked contender, the undefeated Ivette “La Roca” Zamora, that was raised in victory but that of the woman she had edged out by a split decision in their previous encounter six short months ago; Esmeralda Moreno had entered the fight ranked only fourth, but won favour with two of last night’s judges (97-93), the third ruling it a draw (96-96).

 

Fighting in her home town for a shot at the title held by Anabel “Avispa” Ortiz, which she had planned to make the springboard for an international career, the 2007 Newcomer of the Year must have been cruelly disappointed at the outcome, having entered the top-of-the-bill encounter full of confidence, predicting that she would drop the woman from Chimalhuacán for the full count in the fifth.

 

Not in the fifth. Not ever.

 

And as round succeeded round, it was the older woman, the heavy punching Moreno, unexpectedly, that proved to have the greater stamina, concentrating her attacks not on the liver, as she had led us at the weigh-in to expect she would do, but with cruel insistence on her pretty opponent’s face. Zamora ended the fight, reports Esto,  badly marked around the eyes, and well beaten, with even her own supporters recognizing the superiority of the visitor.

 

Moreno had vowed she would leave no one in any doubt as to which of them was the better woman. And although the knockout she too had predicted eluded her, it would appear last night she did just that.

 

Last night. As well to say last night, because there’s bound to be a decider.