|
|
It’s “The Fight of the Year” (DERF);
it’s “The Most Eagerly Anticipated Female Fight In Argentinian
History” (Deporte Auquen); it’s ‘The Fight Between Women Most
Men Want To See’ (La Capital); and it’s tonight.
“One thing is certain,” runs the leader in
Ring Side magazine.
“The pair have unlimited courage, professional pride in its most
extreme form, and they know very well that they’re staking
everything on this fight : their prestige, their futures, their
credibility (in view of all that´s been said…). Clearly, the one
with the least to lose is Alejandra, because the cognoscenti—I
mean the people who regale us with their wisdom on programmes like ‘Fuera
de Combate’ on Saturday evenings on Radio Belgrano or ‘Ringside
en el Aire’ on the web on Sunday nights—are generally agreed
that Acuña will win. The weight of expectations, in other words,
bears more heavily upon Acuña, the WBA champion, than upon Oliveras,
who holds the WBC belt. Be that as it may, one thing is certain:
it’s going to be a hard fight, a fierce fight, and a bitterly
contested fight in every sense. Not to be missed!”
The analysis proposed on the site Boxeo Amateur Argentino is that
the pressure will prove too much for Acuña. Of the two, the writer
argues, Oliveras is the only one to have fought the other fighter in
the top three, Jackie Nava, whom she knocked out on the first
occasion and held to a draw on the second, so she’s been through it
all before. The Tigress is also likely to find herself in the
unfamiliar position of being the hunted rather than the hunter, with
the younger, stronger Oliveras crowding her the whole time and
trying to lure her into a brawl. Everything will turn on how well
the WBA champion is able to adjust and whether or not she is able to
find and stick to a viable strategy. “If I were betting,” concludes
the author, “I’d take 2:1 on Oliveras.”
“The fight is already more or less transparent from a strategic
point of view,” according to Ring Side. “It has to be supposed that
Oliveras, playing to her temperament and her strengths, will be
seeking to force the issue, looking for an open confrontation, a
donnybrook. She’ll won’t let Marcela use her best weapons. Acuña has
a very good left jab, much more effective than Alejandra’s, she is
capable of boxing better—in a more orderly fashion. Getting in and
out, working from a distance, and seeking to drive home her counters
with the right hand, are likely to feature in her plans. And I say
‘plans’ advisedly, because the Tigress has admitted that she has a
Plan A, a Plan B, and a Plan C.”
Whether this is sophistication or a sign of uncertainty time will
tell. In the past, it has to be said that—as far as tactics are
concerned—the Acuña camp has been known to get things badly wrong.
Marcela has preferred, always, to keep it in the family. Her husband
was her coach before he was her husband. Before, in fact, she was
even in her teens, but his speciality was kick-boxing. Oliveras’s
trainer, on the other hand, is Carlos Tello, the coach of Omar
Narváez, perhaps Argentina’s best ever technician. According to WIBA
bantamweight champion Carolina Gutiérrez, who trains with Oliveras,
the three share “the best trainer in the world”.
But, surprisingly, Gutiérrez, when asked recently, tipped Acuña to
win. (“She’s more skilful”). But, unless she and Oliveras have
fallen out, I suspect this may be part of a strategy in the Oliveras
camp to lower expectations and increase the pressure on the WBA
champion in the hope that she’ll crack.
It has to be said, though: if there’s any danger of this happening,
Acuña seems blissfully unaware of it. These last few weeks, she’s
done and said nothing calculated to undermine her status as the
favourite, and if she ends up having to eat her words tomorrow
evening, it’s going to be a sumptuous feast: “I haven’t the
slightest doubt that I’m the better fighter,” she told the world
back in October. “I’m the queen of the super bantamweight division
and I’m going to prove it. There’s no one in the world at this
weight that can beat me. Not Oliveras. Not Jackie Nava of Mexico. No
one. I say this with conviction. I don’t like to have people
treading on my heels. I want there to be no shadows. Oliveras is a
shadow. I want things crystal-clear.”
Oliveras, who was rumoured to be having weight problems, has been
vacillating between “I’ll do my talking in the ring” and “I’m going
to knock her out”. She’s in no doubt, though, that it’s going to be
a hard fight. “It’s going to be a historic fight, a unique one, in
which you’re going to see two wild animals fighting for their
lives,” she told an interviewer after the press conference.
At the conference itself, she was surprisingly subdued. It was left
to the Tigress to light the blue touchpaper. (“In the past, I’ve
always been the good girl,” she joked afterwards. “She’s been the
one talking trash!”).
“You’re very quiet over there,” she told Oliveras. “What’s the
matter, mamita? You wouldn’t be scared now would you?”
“Of course I’m not scared,” shot back ‘La Locomotora’
angrily. “No fighter is ever scared. I love boxing. It’s in my soul.
I’ll do my talking, though, after I’ve beaten you.”
“But why so diffident now all of a sudden?” wondered Acuña. “All
you’ve been assailing me with these last two years have been words.
And I haven’t liked them. Not one bit. It’s all very well trying to
turn down the heat now. But I’m not going to forget just like that
all that’s happened and all the things you’ve said. For you, mamita,
the day of reckoning is at hand.”
“She seems in good shape,” commented Marcela afterwards, “and I want
her that way. I want her in the best shape of her life, so she’ll
have no excuses when I thrash her… I’m looking forward to this. I’m
going to relish beating up Alejandra Oliveras!”
The funniest moment came back in October when the pair signed the
contract, which incidentally stipulates for a return match,
regardless of who wins, within 90 days. With around 100 journalists
in attendance, it was a real circus.
Acuña signed first, and stood up, ceding her place to her rival. As
Alejandra sat down, Marcela grabbed the microphone and began goading
her.
“Alejandra, wait. Are you sure you want to go through with this?
Have you really thought things through?”
Oliveras said nothing.
Marcela watched her, with a spider´s avid eyes, with the cruel,
impatient glee of the fisherman at the twitching float, saw her
reach for the pen and watched, the way Lucrezia Borgia must have
watched her victims reach unknowing for the poisoned cup…
She signed. And laid the pen down. And looked up.
“It’s too late to back out now, mamita. You know that, don’t you?”
asked Acuña. “I do hope you’re not going to regret this!”
|
|
|
|
