(MAR 2) On Saturday, March 1st, Alliance Boxing
Promotions presented a fight card at the River Cree Resort and Casino in
Edmonton, Canada. The main event was a world title fight featuring Women’s
International Boxing Association (WIBA) flyweight champion Alexas “Iron Lady”
Kubicki fighting in her hometown of Edmonton. Kubicki was making the first
defense of her title against Fara El Bousairi of Spain (originally from
Morocco). El Bousairi is arguably the best boxer that Kubicki has ever faced as
a professional. At 21 years of age, Kubicki is about a decade younger than El
Bousairi who is 30 years of age.
Kubicki won the vacant WIBA flyweight title in May
2024 by unanimous decision against Silvia Duran of Costa Rica. Kubicki does not
have a high knockout percentage with only two of her eleven wins by KO, so she
usually wins because of her relentless pressure and high volume of punches.
All of El Bousairi’s previous four losses were by decision in her opponent’s
home countries against boxers who are currently legitimate contenders in their
divisions. El Bousairi lost by majority decision to Fabiana Bytyqi of the Czech
Republic and Kim Clavel of Canada which means that one judge scored it a draw in
each fight. El Bousairi lost on points to Chloe Watson of the United Kingdom and
Mailys Gangloff of France. El Bousairi is rated the No. 24 flyweight contender
by the International Boxing Organization (IBO). Kubicki is rated No. 6 by the
IBO and also rated by other sanctioning bodies: No. 5 IBF, No. 6 WBO, No. 11
WBA, and No. 16 WBC. Kubicki who is of Polish descent was a Polish and Canadian
national champion as an amateur boxer. At the weigh-in, Kubicki weighed 110.7
pounds and El Bousairi weighed 110.5 pounds. The flyweight division has a weight
limit of 112 pounds. The event was live streamed on the BXNG TV website.
Round one began with both boxers fighting at close range even though El Bousairi
is taller and has a longer reach than Kubicki. It was a close round and a good
round for both. In round two, El Bousairi was against the ropes for about a
minute. El Bousairi had a good defense, but could not block all the punches from
Kubicki who typically throws a high number of punches each round. After
round three, Kubicki showed a little swelling under her right eye and El
Bousairi had a little swelling on the side of her right eye. Kubicki landed more
punches after three rounds. El Bousairi was not throwing punches as much and
consequently not landing as often as Kubicki. Round four was similar to round
three with Kubicki throwing and landing more punches. The pace of the fight
slowed near the end of round five.
In round six, Kubicki was not moving forward as much. However, Kubicki was
gesturing with her gloves for El Bousairi to come to her. Kubicki landed a left
hook/straight right combination to the head. About ten seconds later, El
Bousairi landed the same combination to the head of Kubicki. About halfway
through the seventh round, El Bousairi landed a left hook/straight right
combination to the head and then El Bousairi gestured with her glove for Kubicki
to come forward. Kubicki then did the same gesture with her glove. Kubicki was
throwing and landing more for the rest of the round.
Round eight is when the fight significantly changed. Kubicki had expended so
much energy during the previous seven rounds that she could not maintain that
pace for the remainder of the fight. In round eight, Kubicki was moving her legs
more than her arms. El Bousairi landed a big left hook to the head as Kubicki
tried to engage. El Bousairi was the better boxer in round nine with her punches
being in range of Kubicki who was not coming forward as much.
In the tenth and final round, Kubicki gestured with her glove for El Bousairi to
come to her. Kubicki then walked to one corner of the ring. El Bousairi obliged
and followed her to fight at close range. El Bousairi rapidly threw and landed
punches and then Kubicki decided to get out of there. Kubicki was backpedaling
and shuffling from side to side. After the bell rang to end the round, the
boxers hugged in a sign of mutual respect. The total judges’ scores were 97-93,
97-93, and 95-95. Kubicki won by majority decision and retained her title. The
two judges that scored it 97-93 probably had Kubicki winning rounds one to seven
and El Bousairi winning rounds eight to ten. Kubicki improves her record to
12-1, 2 KOs and El Bousairi is now 9-5, 3 KOs.
Kubicki thanked El Bousairi for coming all the way from Spain to fight her in
her hometown. Kubicki did not mention her next possible opponent by name, but
Kubicki said that she wants “all the titles.” Gabriela Fundora(15-0, 7 KOs) of
the United States holds the WBC, WBA, WBO, and IBF flyweight titles and is
considered to be the best boxer in the division and among the top ten pound for
pound. Fundora is 5’9” in height which is six inches taller than El Bousairi who
is 5’3”. Fundora is 22 years old which is similar in age to Kubicki who is 21.
The IBO flyweight title is held by Marie Connan (7-3, 0 KOs) of France.
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