Marlen Esparza | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Born | Pasadena, Texas, U.S. | July 29, 1989||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Nationality | American | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Statistics | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Weight(s) | Flyweight | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Height | 5 ft 3 in (160 cm) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Reach | 64 in (163 cm) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Stance | Orthodox | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Boxing record | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Total fights | 16 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Wins | 14 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Wins by KO | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Losses | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
|
Marlen Esparza (born July 29, 1989) [1] is an American professional boxer who is the former WBC, WBO, WBA and Ring female world flyweight champion. As an amateur, in 2012 she became the first American woman to qualify for the Olympics in women's boxing, in the first year that women's boxing was an Olympic event, [2] going on to win a bronze medal in the women's flyweight division at the 2012 Olympics in London. [3] This made her the first American woman winner of any Olympic boxing medal. [4]
Esparza, who is of Mexican descent, graduated from Pasadena High School in Pasadena, Texas in 2007. [5] Esparza won a bronze medal at the 2006 Women's World Boxing Championship, [6] gold at the 2014 AIBA Women's World Boxing Championships, and bronze at the 2016 AIBA Women's World Boxing Championships. [7]
In 2012 she became the first American woman to qualify for the Olympics in women's boxing, in the first year that women's boxing was an Olympic event. [2] In the 2012 Olympics she defeated Karlha Magliocco, making her the first American woman winner of an Olympic boxing match. [8] She won a bronze medal in the women's flyweight division, [3] making her the first American woman winner of any Olympic boxing medal. [4]
Esparza was the subject of Soledad O'Brien's 2011 CNN documentary In Her Corner: Latino in America 2. [9] She was the subject of an extensive profile in the June 2012 issue of The Atlantic, [10] which discusses in detail her childhood, education, and her intense commitment to competition and training.
Marlen Esparza was voted the Houston Fighter Of The Year (an award that encompasses both professional and amateur boxers) for 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014. [7]
In December 2016, she signed a contract with Golden Boy Promotions and subsequently made her pro debut on ESPN's March 23, 2017 opening card of a multi-year deal with Golden Boy. She won that fight, which was against Rachel Sazoff. [11]
She faced Seniesa Estrada for the WBA interim female flyweight title on November 2, 2019 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Paradise, Nevada. The bout formed part of the undercard for Canelo Álvarez vs Sergey Kovalev. The bout was stopped at the end of the ninth round, on the advice of the ringside doctor, after Esparza suffered a cut in the fifth round from an accidental clash of heads, handing her the first defeat of her professional career by way of a unanimous technical decision. [12]
Esparza has an endorsement deal with CoverGirl cosmetics. [10] She also appeared in a Spanish-language commercial for Coca-Cola. [13] In addition, she collaborated with animal rights group PETA and posed in an ad to urge the public to speak up for abused animals. [14]
On July 8, 2023 in San Antonio, Texas, Esparza defeated Gabriela Celeste Alaniz by majority decision to unify WBC, WBA and WBO flyweight titles. [15]
On March 16, 2024 in Las Vegas, Esparza was scheduled to defend her WBA, WBC, WBO flyweight titles in a rematch against Gabriela Celeste Alaniz. [16] On March 7, 2024 it was announced that the fight was postponed due to Alaniz's US VISA issue. [17] The rematch eventually took place on April 27, 2024 in Fresno, California, although Esparza missed weight by 2 lbs, and was ineligible to keep the titles in case of her victory. [18] Alaniz won the contest by split decision. [19]
15 fights | 14 wins | 1 loss |
---|---|---|
By knockout | 1 | 0 |
By decision | 13 | 1 |
No. | Result | Record | Opponent | Type | Round, time | Date | Location | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
16 | Loss | 14–2 | Gabriela Celeste Alaniz | SD | 10 (10) | April 27, 2024 | Save Mart Arena, Fresno, California, U.S. | Alaniz won WBC, WBA, WBO and The Ring female flyweight titles - Esparza missed weight. |
15 | Win | 14–1 | Gabriela Celeste Alaniz | MD | 10 | Jul 8, 2023 | AT&T Center, San Antonio, Texas, U.S. | Retained WBC, WBA and The Ring female flyweight titles, won WBO female Flyweight title |
14 | Win | 13–1 | Eva Guzman | UD | 10 | Aug 6, 2022 | Dickies Arena, Fort Worth, Texas, U.S. | Retained WBC, WBA and The Ring female flyweight titles |
13 | Win | 12–1 | Naoko Fujioka | UD | 10 | Apr 9, 2022 | Alamodome, San Antonio, Texas, U.S. | Retained WBC female flyweight title; Won WBA and inaugural The Ring female flyweight titles |
12 | Win | 11–1 | Anabel Ortiz | UD | 10 | Dec 18, 2021 | AT&T Center, San Antonio, Texas, U.S. | Retained WBC female flyweight title |
11 | Win | 10–1 | Ibeth Zamora Silva | UD | 10 | Jun 19, 2021 | Don Haskins Center, El Paso, Texas, U.S. | Won WBC female flyweight title |
10 | Win | 9–1 | Shelly Barnett | UD | 6 | Mar 5, 2021 | Dort Federal Event Center, Flint, Michigan, U.S. | |
9 | Win | 8–1 | Sulem Urbina | UD | 8 | Oct 30, 2020 | Fantasy Springs Resort Casino, Indio, California, U.S. | |
8 | Loss | 7–1 | Seniesa Estrada | TD | 9 (10), 2:00 | Nov 2, 2019 | MGM Grand Garden Arena, Paradise, Nevada, U.S. | For WBA interim female flyweight title; Unanimous TD after Esparza was cut from an accidental head clash |
7 | Win | 7–0 | Sonia Osorio | UD | 8 | Jul 18, 2019 | Fantasy Springs Resort Casino, Indio, California, U.S. | |
6 | Win | 6–0 | Jhosep Vizcaíno | UD | 8 | Apr 25, 2019 | Fantasy Springs Resort Casino, Indio, California, U.S. | |
5 | Win | 5–0 | Laetizia Campana | TKO | 3 (8), 0:11 | Apr 6, 2018 | Belasco Theater, Los Angeles, California, U.S. | |
4 | Win | 4–0 | Karla Valenzuela | UD | 6 | Dec 14, 2017 | Fantasy Springs Resort Casino, Indio, California, U.S. | |
3 | Win | 3–0 | Aracely Palacios | UD | 6 | Sep 16, 2017 | T-Mobile Arena, Paradise, Nevada, U.S. | |
2 | Win | 2–0 | Samantha Salazar | UD | 4 | May 6, 2017 | T-Mobile Arena, Paradise, Nevada, U.S. | |
1 | Win | 1–0 | Rachel Sazoff | UD | 4 | Mar 23, 2017 | Fantasy Springs Resort Casino, Indio, California, U.S. |
Mini flyweight, also known as strawweight, minimumweight or super atomweight, is a weight class in combat sports.
Brian Viloria is a retired American professional boxer of Filipino descent. He is a former unified WBA and WBO flyweight champion, as well as a former WBC and IBF light flyweight champion. His nickname of "The Hawaiian Punch" was first given to him by Jesus Salud, a fellow Hawaiian of Filipino descent and himself a former world champion in boxing.
Rau'shee Warren is an American professional boxer who held the WBA (Undisputed), and IBO bantamweight titles from 2016 to 2017. As an amateur he won a gold medal at the 2007 World Championships, as well as bronze at the 2005 and 2011 World Championships, all in the flyweight division.
Cecilia Carmen Linda Brækhus is a Norwegian professional boxer and former kickboxer. She reigned as the undisputed female welterweight boxing champion from 2014 to 2020, and is the first woman in any weight class to hold the WBA, WBC, IBF and WBO titles simultaneously. Brækhus is also one of only 11 boxers in history, female or male, to hold all four major world titles simultaneously. She also held the IBO title from 2016 to 2020.
Amanda Serrano is a Puerto Rican professional boxer, mixed martial artist and professional wrestler. As a boxer, she is the unified featherweight world champion, having held the WBO title since 2019, IBO title since 2021, IBF title since 2022 and the WBA title since 2023. She is the only female, and Puerto Rican, to win world titles in more than four weight classes, and holds the Guinness World Record for the most boxing world championships won in different weight-classes by a female, having held 9 major world titles across seven different weight classes.
Claressa Maria Shields is an American professional boxer and professional mixed martial artist. She has held multiple world championships in three weight classes, including the undisputed female light middleweight title since March 2021; the undisputed female middleweight title from 2019 to 2020; and the unified WBC and IBF female super middleweight titles from 2017 to 2018. Shields currently holds the record for becoming a two and three division world champion in the fewest professional fights. As of October 2022, she is ranked the world's best active female middleweight by BoxRec, as well as the best active female boxer, pound for pound, by ESPN and The Ring.
Juan Francisco Estrada Romero is a Mexican professional boxer. He is a two-weight world champion, having held the WBC super flyweight title since 2022 and The Ring super flyweight title since 2019. He previously held the WBA (Unified) and WBO flyweight titles between 2012 and 2015, and the WBC super flyweight title in March 2021 and the WBA (Super) title from March 2021 to August 2022. He also challenged once for the WBA light flyweight title in 2012. As of July 2023, Estrada is ranked as the world's sixth best active boxer, pound for pound, by the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board (TBRB), seventh by The Ring, and tenth by Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA). He is also ranked as the world's best active super flyweight by The Ring and the TBRB and BoxRec.
Mikaela Joslin Mayer is an American professional boxer. She is a former unified female super-featherweight World champion having held the WBO and the IBF titles simultaneously. She has also been interim WBC female lightweight World champion. As an amateur she won a bronze medal at the 2012 World Championships and competed for the U.S. at the 2016 Olympics.
Andrew Moloney is an Australian former professional boxer who held the WBA (Regular) super-flyweight title in 2020, having previously held the interim title since 2019. At regional level he held the WBA Oceania bantamweight title from 2016 to 2017 and the Commonwealth super-flyweight title in 2017. As an amateur, he won a gold medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in the flyweight division. As of June 2020, he is ranked as the world’s seventh best active super-flyweight by The Ring magazine, eighth by the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board and ninth by BoxRec.
Michelle Preston is a Muay Thai Fighter and professional boxer. Preston resides in Auckland, New Zealand, where she has fought most of her professional fights. Preston has held many titles including New Zealand National Title, WBA Regional title and WBO Regional title. Preston is also a World title contender, fighting for the IBF World super flyweight title against Argentinian World Champion Debora Anahi Dionicius. Preston is also a Five time World Kickboxing Champion. Preston has fought on four King in the Ring undercards. Preston won her last World title on 17 November 2017 on the Main Undercard of King in the Ring. Preston won the vacant WBC Muaythai World Super Flyweight Champion against Fani Peloumpi by Majority decision.
Virginia "Ginny" Fuchs is an American professional boxer who as an amateur represented her country in the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics as well as winning a bronze medal at the 2018 World Championships and a silver medal at the 2019 Pan American Games.
Franchón Crews-Dezurn is an American professional boxer. She is the current World Boxing Council (WBC) Super middleweight world champion and World Boxing Association (WBA) interm world champion defeating Shadasia Green December 15, 2023. She was the undisputed world champion at super middleweight, losing to Savannah Marshall on 2 July 2023. She held the World Boxing Council (WBC) titles between 2018 and 2023; the World Boxing Organization (WBO) title between 2019 and 2023; and the World Boxing Association (WBA) and International Boxing Federation (IBF) title between 2022 and 2023.
Seniesa Carmen Estrada is an American professional boxer who has held the WBA female minimumweight title since March 2021, the WBC and Ring female minimumweight titles since March 2023, and the IBF and WBO female minimumweight titles since March 2024. On March 29, 2024, she became the undisputed female minimumweight champion of the world. She previously held the WBC Silver female light flyweight title from 2018 until 2021, and the WBA female interim flyweight title from 2019 to 2020. As of March 2024, she is rated as the #1 pound for pound female fighter in the world by BoxRec, and the #5 pound for pound female fighter in the world by The Ring (magazine).
Anabel Ortiz Morales is a Mexican professional boxer. She is a two-time mini flyweight world champion, having held the WBA title since 2013 and previously the WBC title from 2009 to 2011. She also challenged once for the unified WBA, and WBO light flyweight titles in 2012. As of May 2020, she is ranked as the world's fifth best active female minimumweight by BoxRec.
Leonela Paola Yúdica Andino is an Argentine professional boxer who is a former IBF female flyweight World champion.
Naoko Fujioka is a Japanese professional boxer. She is Japan's first ever five-division world champion, having held the WBA female flyweight title between March 2017 to April 2022. She also previously held the WBC female minimumweight; WBO female junior-flyweight; WBA female super-flyweight; and WBO female bantamweight titles between 2012 and 2017.
Ibeth Zamora Silva is a Mexican professional boxer. She is a two-division world champion, having held the WBC female flyweight title from 2018 to 2021 and previously the WBC light flyweight title from 2013 to 2017, as well as the WBA interim female mini flyweight title from 2009 to 2011.
Gabriela Celeste Alaniz is an Argentine professional boxer who is currently the WBA, WBC, WBO & The Ring female world flyweight champion.