TOPPENISH, WA - Last night at the Yakama Legends Casino, in Toppenish, Washington, in the main event there was a female bout on the card in a ten-round title bout. 

When these two fought in August of 2025, Spence won a lopsided six round unanimous decision to claim the WBA Interim Middleweight title. The rematch was scheduled for ten rounds and the winner would take the WBA International Middleweight Belt.

The pace of the opening round was slow considering the seeming animosity between the two, Spence was content to feint, causing Cornejo to either back away or step forward to throw counter punches. Cornejo shot her left, moving to try to catch Spence at the end of her long reach, but Spence was quick enough to slip many of the punches. There was a bit more action in the second round as Spence began to jump in and throw punches to Cornejo’s body, then back out before Cornejo count land counter punches.

Spence began to apply more pressure in the third round by stepping in close to Cornejo and throwing hard rights at Cornejo’s head. Cornejo moved to use her height and reach advantage, and while she was able to land punches, they were not as hard as the punches Spence was landing. While Spence was landing effective punches in the early rounds, she upped her game in the fourth round as she threw more punches and kept Cornejo moving. There was a slight shift in momentum in the closing moments of the fourth when Cornejo was able to land her left to Spence’s body and follow that with a right to Spence’s head.

Spence stepped up the aggression in the fifth round as she stayed in front of Cornejo, throwing and often landing her left to Cornejo’s body. While Cornejo was able to throw punches at Spence, she was often doing so while backing away from pressure and even with a reach advantage, she was not able to land effective shots. There was a lot of in close fighting in the sixth round, and some holding, which also meant the two were throwing short hard body shots. Spence had an advantage there as she was able to land her right to Cornejo’s lanky body.

The momentum shifted in Cornejo’s favor in the seventh round as she stepped toward Spence, shooting her left jab and following that with a right targeting Spence’s head. As the round neared the final ten seconds, Spence backed Cornejo onto the ropes and landed a flurry of body shots. The eighth round saw Spence return to jumping in, throwing wide looping rights, that often landed, and then backing out before getting caught with counter punches. Late in the round, the two again stood in close and when not holding, threw short body shots.

The ninth round may have been the best round of the fight as both women were able to land scoring shots, often starting with body shots and following with heavy punches aimed at the other’s head. Spence was quite effective in throwing and landing her double left and following that with her right. As the round drew to a close, Cornejo landed a series of left jabs that slowed Spence. Both women threw a lot of punches in the final round. Spence scored when she targeted Cornejo’s body with her left and followed that with a quick short right. Cornejo chose to shoot her right, trying to slow Spence’s aggression.

After ten rounds, two judges scored the fight 97-93, the third scored it 96-94, all in favor of Natasha Spence who with the unanimous decision would claim the WBA International Middleweight Title.

[WBAN would like to thank Mike Blair for covering this fight in Toppenish, WA.]

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