Layla McCarter Vies For WBA Jr. Middleweight Title in S.A.

Las Vegas prizefighter Layla “Amazing” McCarter with her short cropped hair and impish smile might fool the normal South African citizen as she walks around the local streets.

None would confuse the rather unimposing McCarter for a prizefighter.

For the last five years or so McCarter has traveled to different parts of the world to demonstrate why many consider her the best female boxer pound for pound.

Once again McCarter fights on foreign shores when she meets South Africa’s undefeated Noni Tenge (11-0-1, 9 KOs) on Sunday, Sept. 30, for the vacant WBA junior middleweight world title.

“I can’t get a fight in my own country so I’ll go somewhere else,” says McCarter, who normally fights as a 135-pound lightweight. “It doesn’t bother me.”

In the past the 33-year-old has flown to New Zealand, Japan, and Canada to engage with top contenders in their backyards. Fighting in hostile arenas doesn’t bother her. Confidence in her fighting skills gives that sense of assurance.

“I don’t worry about fighting in another country. I’ve done it before,” McCarter says.

While some other female fighters get more press McCarter has quietly built a reputation as an extremely talented and dangerous pro boxer. Today other girls in her weight class refuse to meet her in the boxing ring so the Las Vegas boxer is willing to move up several weight divisions.

Though she stands four inches past five feet in height, she walks around at about 136 pounds when not fighting. For this fight she needs to add another 12 pounds to qualify as a junior middleweight. Keeping the weight is difficult.

For the past 14 years McCarter has been adding layers and layers of pure boxing expertise to her abilities the way a sculptor might add additional clay to a masterpiece.

To test her talent she willingly stretches the limits by fighting bigger and bigger girls.

Can McCarter claim the junior middleweight division?

That would be amazing.

Other action

Kaliesha “Wild, Wild” West has vacated the WBO bantamweight world title and moves up to 122-pounds to challenge San Antonio’s Christina Ruiz (6-4-2, 4 KOs) for the vacant IFBA junior featherweight world title. Their fight takes place Oct. 6, at the Finish Line Sports Grill in Pomona.

“I just fell really blessed it came from out of nowhere,” said West (15-1-3, 4 KOs) about receiving the fight opportunity from Sugar Shane Mosley Promotions.

Tickets for the event can be purchased at (909) 622-9092.

Former heavyweight world champion Hasim Rahman (50-7-2, 41 KOs) fights undefeated Alexander Povetkin (24-0, 16 KOs) on Saturday Sept. 29, at Hamburg, Germany. Also, undefeated heavyweight Kubrat Pulev (16-0, 8 KOs) fights Alexander Ustinov (27-0, 21 KOs) for the EBU regional title.

Mexico’s Zulina Munoz (34-1-2, 23 KOs) fights Gabriela Bouvier (8-2-1) of Uruguay for the vacant WBC junior bantamweight world title. The championship match takes place on Saturday Sept. 29 in Morelia, Mexico.

Undefeated Luis Del Valle (16-0, 11 KOs) meets always dangerous Vic “The Destroyer” Darchinyan (37-5-1, 27 KOs) in a 10 round match on Saturday Sept. 29. Also, Edwin Rodriguez (21-0, 14 KOs) fights Jason Escalera (13-0-1, 12 KOs) in a battle of undefeated super middleweights. Both fights take place at MGM Grand at Foxwoods Resorts in Connecticut.

Sweden’s Klara Svensson (5-0) meets Romania’s Floarea Lihet (10-9-4) for the vacant WIBF lightweight title on Friday Sept. 28. The title bout takes place at Goettingen, Germany. Lihet is a southpaw.

Sweden’s Cecilia Braekhus (21-0, 5 KOs) defeated France’s Anne Sophie Mathis (26-3, 22 KOs) by unanimous decision after 10 rounds in a welterweight bout. Braekhus retains the WBA, WBO and WBC titles. The match was held in Denmark.

Mexico’s Irma Sanchez (25-5-1) defeated Northern California’s Carina Moreno (22-5) by majority decision after 10 rounds to win the WBF junior bantamweight title. The match took place in Guanajuato, Mexico.

Mexico’s Juan Carlos Sanchez (15-1-1, 8 KOs) knocked out Rodel Mayol (31-6-2, 22 KOs) at 2:25 of round nine to retain the IBF junior bantamweight title. The world title match was held in Los Mochis, Mexico. Mayol fights out of the Philippines. On the same card Jorge “Travieso” Arce (61-06-2) defeated Mauricio Martinez (36-13-1) by unanimous decision in a featherweight bout.

WBC cruiserweight titleholder Krzysztof Wlodarczyk (47-2-1, 33 KOs) retained the title by unanimous decision over Francisco Palacios (21-2, 13 KOs). The bout took place in Wroclaw, Poland on Saturday Sept. 22.

Carl Frampton (15-0, 10 KOs) stopped former world champion Steve Molitor (34-3, 12 KOs) at 2:21 of round six to win by technical knockout on Saturday Sept. 22 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Also, Paul McCloskey (24-2, 12 KOs) defeated Manuel Perez (18-8-1) by decision in a junior welterweight clash.

Scotland’s Ricky Burns (35-2, 10 KOs) stopped Kevin Mitchell (33-2, 24 KOs) at 2:59 of round four to retain the WBO lightweight world title. The match was held in Glasgow, Scotland on Saturday Sept. 22.

Delano’s Paul Mendez (10-2-1, 4 KOs) defeated L.A.’s DonYil Livingston (8-2-1, 4 KOs) by knockout at 47 seconds into round seven. The super middleweight fight took place on Saturday in Northern California.

Colombia’s Jhonatan “Momo” Romero (22-0, 12 KOs) defeated Carson’s Efrain Esquivias (16-2, 9 KOs) by unanimous decision after 10 rounds. The junior featherweight match was held in Chumash Casino.

Joseph Rios (12-7-2, 4 KOs) of San Antonio used his strength and stamina to hand Miguel Diaz (9-1, 4 KOs) of Pennsylvania his first professional loss before a crowd of more than 1,000 at the Doubletree Hotel in Ontario. The Thompson Boxing Promotions card was supposed to also feature Riverside's Richard Contreras but his opponent did not make weight.

St. Louis boxer Derrick “Whup dat ass” Murray (4-0-1, 3 KOs) floored Las Vegas's Pedro Toledo (2-0-1) in the first seconds of the fight and nearly floored him again in the next round. Then he ran out of fuel and Toledo took over. In round four Toledo crunched Murray and dropped him in an awkward position. Murray came up swinging till the final bell. All three judges scored it 37-37 for a draw. Good scores. Both fighters fired a lot of blows in their four rounds.

Zack “Kid Yamaka” Wohlman (4-0-1) and Jesus Vallejo (3-7-1) fought to a technical draw after three rounds in a welterweight match. An accidental head butt stopped the fight that took place Thursday in Hollywood, Calif.

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