Ring Magazine minimumweight champion Seniesa ‘Superbad’ Estrada 26-0 (9) add the undisputed 105-pound championship to her resume with a 10-round unanimous decision win over bitter rival Yokasta Valle 30-3 (9) at the Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona on Friday night.
The victory for Estrada, who staked her WBC and WBA belts against Valle’s WBO and IBF straps, was the culmination of a longtime dream.
The bout was boxed at a fast pace with Estrada using her speed and clever footwork to control the early action. An accidental head clash opened up a cut over Valle’s right eye.
Costa Rica’s Valle, 31, began to have success in the third and fourth rounds with her pressure and power, but Estrada regained control by the middle rounds.
Estrada, 31, of East Los Angeles, frequently switched between the orthodox and southpaw stances, finding clever angles to get off her shots. It looked like she had the fight in the bag until Valle came roaring back late in the ninth and boxed strongly in the 10th to close out the fight.
Unfortunately for Valle, it was too little, too late. Estrada was awarded the victory 97-93 by all three judges.
“I’m happy,” Estrada said. “It’s something I’ve been wanting for a long time, becoming undisputed. It finally happened and I accomplished my dreams. I’m beyond overwhelmed and happy.
“The difference in this fight. I knew she would come in and be aggressive like she always is. That’s her style and I knew I would take everything away from her that she does best.
“I’m very competitive and I want to be the best. In this training camp, there were days where it was difficult for me to go to the gym. My body was hurting, my back was hurting. My hand was hurting. But I pushed through because that’s what champions do because I want to be great.”
According to CompuBox, Estrada held a slight lead in power punches landed throughout the fight and went into the 10th round holding a 80-69 lead. Valle landed 16 power punches in the 10th and came within one landed power punch of tying with Estrada.
Valle was despondent in defeat, claiming the cut was caused by an intentional headbutt.
“I did feel [the headbutt that opened the cut] was intentional,” said Valle. “I felt that she did that coming towards me in the first round and I had to struggle through that for the last nine rounds.”
Before the fight, Estrada spoke of what victory would mean for her.
“This is the one. I’m long overdue to become undisputed. I’m just excited it’s finally here and I’m going to take full advantage of the opportunity,” Estrada told Sky Sports.
“I’ll be the first ever minimumweight champion to be undisputed.”
The Estrada versus Valle fight was the main support bout to Oscar Valdez versus Liam Wilson.
