Stephanie Han defends her WBA World Lightweight title with a clear points win over Paulina Angel after an early knockdown.
Orlando, Florida – A messy fight for the WBA interim flyweight title ended without a winner as Yankiel Rivera and Angelino Cordova split a majority draw in the main event of the Most Valuable Promotions eventat Caribe Royale in Orlando, which also featured Abass Baraou.
The judges Alex Levin and James Ged O’Connor scored the fight a 113-113 draw. Only Robert Hoyle saw Rivera clearly ahead and wrote 115-111 on his scorecard. This leaves the question of who will be the next challenger for WBA world champion Ricardo Sandoval (19-0-2, 12 knockouts) unanswered.
Jamaine Ortiz (20-2-1, 10 knockouts) put an exclamation mark on the undercard. The former world title challenger stopped Ambiorix Bautista (19-3, 11 knockouts) by TKO in round three. It was Ortiz’s third win in a row since his points defeat to Teofimo Lopez for the WBO super lightweight title.
Lucas Bahdi (20-0, 15 knockouts) was also convincing. At lightweight, he defeated the experienced Venezuelan Roger Gutiérrez (29-7-1, 22 knockouts) unanimously on points. The officials scored the bout 117-110, 116-111 and 115-112 in Bahdi’s favor.
Stephanie Han defends her world championship belt
The women’s lightweight title fight also provided excitement: WBA world champion Stephanie Han (11-0, 3 knockouts) suffered a knockdown in the first round against Paulina Angel (7-2-2, 3 knockouts). But Han showed her champion’s heart, turned the fight around and secured a commanding points victory with clear 98-91 scores on all three scorecards.