Chasing Mexico’s Jackie Nava & Other Fight Chatter

There was a television show in the late 1950s and early 1960s called “Have Gun Will Travel.” It was about a cowboy for hire named Paladin who lived in San Francisco and roamed the Wild West as a sort of sleuth/soldier of war.

Ana “The Hurricane” Julaton reminds me of that character. She’s a 21^st century female version of that TV icon.

Lately, the San Francisco-based prizefighter has been roaming the world accepting all challenges, in Mexico, Canada or Argentina. It was in the South American nation that Julaton lost her WBO junior featherweight world title belt to Yesica Marcos. All the cards were stacked against her and of course she lost by decision.

Julaton (11-3-1) knocked down Marcos during the fight but she was handicapped by the referee who would not allow her to attack the Argentine’s soft body. Every time she focused on the body bloody screams erupted from the Argentine corner and the referee responded like he had a string attached to his head.

No matter. The gutsy fighter is on to other challenges.

One challenge Julaton would love is to go to Tijuana, Mexico in the heart of current WBA junior featherweight titleholder Jackie “Aztec Princess” Nava’s home. The rugged Mexican fighter had two magnificent battles with WBC junior bantamweight titleholder Ana Maria Torres who jumped up two divisions to fight her to a draw, then beat her.

Nava can’t seem to get over it. That’s a natural instinct for a superb prizefighter. They can’t believe they can be beaten especially if they’re still standing.

Julaton has been chasing Nava for a fight for more than a year and so far there has been nary an answer. The Mexican fighter tried to lure Southern California’s Kaliesha West and then fought champion Chanttall Martinez, whom she beat. She is definitely not afraid of Julaton but what is the mystery behind not accepting to fight the Philippine-American?

According to advisor and trainer Angelo Reyes, a match between Mexico’s Nava and Philippine boxer Julaton would draw television from Mexico, Philippines and Canada. That seems like a logical fit for Nava. But some things just don’t work out. Hopefully this will.

The good thing is the 122-pound junior featherweight division is perhaps one of the most talented and loaded in women’s boxing. It’s like the Wild West in the 19^th century.

Other fight chatter

WBC flyweight world champion Mariana “Barbie” Juarez (33-5-3, 16 KOs) meets former flyweight titleholder Arely Mucino (15-1-1, 8 KOs) on Saturday, May 12. Their title match will take place at the Presidente Hotel in Mexico City. Juarez fights out of Mexico City and Mucino calls Monterrey her home.

WBA middleweight titleholder Gennady Golovkin (22-0, 19 KOs) clashes with Makoto Fuchigami (19-6, 10 KOs) on Saturday, May 12. The world title bout will be held at the Ice Palace in Brovari, Ukraine. Golovkin made his preparations in Big Bear Lake and is trained by Abel Sanchez.

Vaia Zaganas recently appeared in the television series “A 1,000 Ways to Die”. Zaganas, a former mini-flyweight world champion, appears in the television show as a boxer in one of the episodes who fights a dirty fighter who eventually dies from a blood clot. Zaganas retired from boxing several years ago and now resides in Los Angeles.

Junior lightweight contender Vicente Escobedo (25-3, 15 KOs) faces Juan Ruiz (23-9, 7 KOs) on Saturday, May 12. Their match takes place in Escobedo’s hometown Woodland, California. Escobedo trains in Indio, Calif. under the tutelage of Joel Diaz.

WBO flyweight champion Brian “Hawaiian Punch” Viloria clashes with Mexico’s Omar Nino (31-4-2, 13 KOs) on Sunday. Their world title clash takes place in Manila, Philippine Islands. This is their third meeting. Nino won the first encounter and the second was a no contest after the Mexico fighter failed the drug test in 2006. The fight will be telecast on pay-per-view television on Sat. 6 p.m. PT.

Germany’s Robert Stieglitz (42-2, 23 KOs) held on to the WBO super middleweight world title by unanimous decision against Nader Hamdan (43-10-1, 18 KOs) on Saturday. The match was held in Germany. WBO cruiserweight champion Marco Huck (35-2, 25 KOs) defeated Ola Afolabi (19-3-3) by a close majority decision.

Mexico’s Jackie Nava (27-4-3, 11 KOs) kept the female WBA junior featherweight world title by unanimous decision against Diana Ayala (12-7-3) after 10 rounds. The match was held in Tijuana. On the same card Rafael Marquez (41-7, 37 KOs) knocked out Eric Aiken (16-9-1) at 2:26 of round one.

WBA featherweight titleholder Chris John (47-0-2, 22 KOs) maintained the title by unanimous decision over Shoji Kimura (24-5-2). In another title match Daud Yordan (29-2, 23 KOs) stopped Lorenzo Villanueva (22-1, 21 KOs) at 1:06 of round two to win the vacant IBO featherweight title. Both fights were held in Singapore.

DeMarcus “Chop, Chop” Corley (39-19-1, 22 KOs) knocked out Paul McCloskey (23-2, 12 KOs) at 2:28 of round 10. Their battle took place Saturday, May 5, at Belfast, Northern Ireland. Corley was a former junior welterweight world champion in 2003. Both McCloskey and Corley are southpaws.

Mexico’s Daniel Ponce de Leon (43-4, 35 KOs) defeated fellow Mexican Eduardo Lazcano (24-3, 11 KOs) on Friday, May 4 in Las Vegas. Also, Jessica Rakoczy (32-3, 12 KOs) stopped Colorado’s Brittany Cruz (8-6-1) at 1:27 of round four.

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