Yokasta Valle Faces an Epic Challenge Against Evelyn Bermúdez

Thirty-year-old Yokasta Valle was born in Nicaragua and, as a child, settled in Costa Rica with her family. Only two months have passed since she became a two-time minimum weight world champion. This November 26 she will have an epic challenge with the opportunity of becoming a two-time champion in a second weight division.

“Yoka” Valle (26-2, 9 KOs) will try to take the WBO and IBF light flyweight belts away from undefeated Argentine Evelyn Bermúdez (17-0-1, 6 KOs). Bermúdez successfully defended her titles in July of this year.

On September 8^th, Valle fought Vietnamese Thi Thu Nhi Nguyen, who became the WBO champion nine months earlier with a victory by unanimous decision over forty-one-year-old southpaw veteran Etsuko Tada of Japan.

Valle delivered an impeccable performance and defeated Nguyen by unanimous decision in San Jose, Costa Rica. Valle was defending her IBF title for the fifth time, while Nguyen was defending her WBO belt. Using a varied and constant attack with both hands, and without giving Nguyen (5-1, 1 KO) time to breathe, Valle gradually cleared the path to success.

After the fight, which all three judges scored 100-90, Valle stated, “I dedicate this victory to all the children, to all Costa Rica this win was for you. I want to thank Thi Thu Nguyen. She is a great warrior. Let’s go for all the titles, I want the belts. I’ve been saying it from the beginning, I want the WBC and WBA next, whoever has them. That is my immediate goal.”

Undefeated Seniesa Estrada (23-0, 9 KOs) holds the WBO title, while Christina Rupprecht (11-0-1, 3 KOs ) holds the WBC belt.

Valle and Rupprecht fought in Germany in June 2018, where Rupprecht won the WBC Interim belt by unanimous decision. A short time later, she was elevated to absolute champion at 105 pounds. Estrada defeated Argentina’s Jazmín Villarino by unanimous decision on November 12^th at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas. The judges all scored the fight 100-90.

EVELYN BERMUDEZ

Four years younger than Valle, light flyweight Evelyn Bermúdez unanimously defeated Venezuelan Yairineth Altuve (14-4, 2 KOs) on July 23th in Argentina. Altuve lost her IBF belt, which she was defending for the sixth time, and also her WBO belt.

From the fourth round on, Bermúdez began implementing her tactical plan and dominated the fight with her superior technique and greater speed, which she supported with her jab and straight right hand. At the conclusion of the bout, two of the judges delivered scorecards of 99-91, while the other scored the fight 98-92, allowing Bermúdez to retain the two 108-pound titles.

Bermúdez has held the IBF belt since December 29, 2018, when she defeated Mexican María Guadalupe Bautista in Argentina. In March of this year, Bermúdez added the vacant WBO belt to her personal showcase after anesthetizing Venezuelan Debora Rengifo (18-10-1, 10 KOs) in the fifth round.

Valle and Bermúdez will be the co-main event on the Jose Zepeda vs Regis Prograis card. The women’s unification light flyweight bout is scheduled for ten rounds and will take place on Saturday, November 26th at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California.

Article submitted by Jorge Juan Alvarez in Spanish.

Please note any adjustments made were for clarification purposes and any errors in translation were unintentional.

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