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Cock-a-hoop after the eighth round KO of
Jackie Nava with which she won the WBC Super Bantamweight title on
Saturday evening, Alejandra Oliveras wants now to go two rounds with
Nava's manager, Erik ('El Terrible' - it means 'terrifying' here, I
think, rather than 'inept'…) Morales, "to find out whether he's quite as
fearsome as he would have everyone believe".
Given that Morales is one of only two men in history to have won the
world championship at three different weights, we can assume that he is,
but life, it seems, holds few terrors for the 28-year-old from Córdoba,
whose fondest wish (ugh!) is to meet Mike Tyson.
Nava, typically, was blaming no one yesterday for her defeat but
herself. Her trainers, she said, had done an 'excellent job' with her
preparation; and whilst the Tijuana public, according to Rubén Casanova,
was inclined to attribute it to an 'off day', she herself put down her
failure to perform for much of the fight at the level of which she is
capable to the after-effects of the right cross
with which the challenger dropped her in the second. Although she beat
the count, she was groggy and went down again soon afterwards as the Argentinian pressed her advantage. According to Nava, it took several
rounds for her head to clear; and Oliveras caught her again for good
measure at the end of the sixth.Nava's best moments, it seems, came in
the seventh, when she trapped the challenger several times on the ropes
and began pounding her enviably muscular midriff in the hope of slowing
her down.
She wants a rematch, and there was some confusion in the Mexican press
this morning about whether or not Oliveras would give her one, with one
source saying it was a done deal, another merely that Morales was
negotiating, and a third that Oliveras had told Nava to 'talk to my
people' — which in LA (though perhaps not in Córdoba) means 'get lost'.
Carlos Tello was discounting talk yesterday of a unification fight with
his other charge, Carolina "Chapita" Gutiérrez, who won the UBC
Bantamweight title barely a month ago, saying their careers were
following different paths and they wouldn't fight each other for less
than a million, but a showdown with the WIBF featherweight champion,
Marcela Acuña, who wants to move up and had been screaming for a shot at
Nava's title, would be a huge draw, one assumes, anywhere in Argentina.
Certainly Oliveras is under no obligation to grant Nava a rematch if she
chooses not to. Commissions have been known to order rematches where the
first was won unconvincingly on points but never after a knockout, so
the power is entirely in the Argentinian's hands. Patricia 'La Leona'
Quirico, who was on the wrong end of the fastest knockout in boxing
history, has been demanding a rematch with the same Marcela Acuña (who
inflicted it on her) for the last four years, and Acuña just laughs at
her.
What should count in Nava's favour is that she was respectful at all
times towards her opponent before the fight. Quirico wasn't, which is
why Acuña has decided, apparently, to let her stew in embarassment for
the rest of her life. |
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