Jackie Nava Beats Alys Sanchez, Wins WBA Belt

Tijuana—After 21 months of absence due to motherhood, Jackie Nava made her own the phrase used by Roman Emperor Julio Caesar to describe the victory over the Turkish: “Veni,Vidi,Vici”: “I came, I saw, I conquered.”

“The Aztec Princess” Nava scored a seventh round knockout against Alys “La China” Sánchez, on May 24, in Tijuana, and earned the interim WBA female super bantamweight belt

Shorter, but with more ability and punching power, Nava (29-4-3, 13 KOs) dominated Sánchez (12-2-1, 4 KOs) as of the second round and made a mad-house out of the venue in the city where she was born and resides

A straight right from Sánchez sent Nava down in the first round. The attending audience went mute, but the Mexican recovered from the punch and came back stronger and dropped the South American twice in the fourth round

In the sixth round, the Argentinian referee Romina Arroyo had to give Sánchez a protective eight count, because at this point she looked exhausted by the punishment and had little left in her

Nava, who turned 34 back on April 11, showed her superio preparation, as her attack was always precise and nasty throughout the fight, portending her victory by KO

Because of Nava’s maternity leave, the WBA gave her a “Champion in recess” status. Yesica Marcos holds the non-interim WBA belt

A curious fact about Nava and Sánchez is that they are both mothers, and the Venezuelan also interrupted her career in 2008 and came back to action in 2011

“I didn’t overlook any detail about my preparation, we did a great job in physical conditioning, speed, power and great sparring,” said Nava, mother to Frida, who graduated as an architect in 2003

Sánchez, 27 years old, lost by split decision in her previous fight against Costa Rican Carolina Arias, on October 26, 2013 in San José, Costa Rica, but that fight was at 118 pounds, so her belt was not at stake

Sánchez had won her interim belt by defeating the Mexican María Elena “Mary” Villalobos, in Dicember 8, 2012, in Kingston, Jamaica.

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