Brazilian “Beast” Beatriz Ferreira won the vacant IBF lightweight title with a steady beatdown of Yanina del Carmen Lescano.
Ferreira won by a technical decision after Lescano was withdrawn near the end of the sixth-round having sustained an ugly gash over her left eye from a headclash, which meant the outcome went to the scorecards but by that point, anyone with Lescano’s best interests at heart, should have been on the verge of stopping it anyway.
Ferreira is now 5-0 (2 KOs) and also has her sights on an Olympic gold in Paris this summer.
“I’m really happy and really grateful,” said the new champion. “The fight didn’t turn out as planned but I’m so happy to be a world champion and I promise the next fight will be a lot more spectacular. Now, onto the gold medal in Paris.”
Lescano, who is now 14-4 (4 KOs), used her height and reach advantages early on but she shipped a right hand at the start of the second and Ferreira looked to force her way in and clubbed away with left hooks, trying to keep the exchanges on the inside.
Lescano landed a crisp jab to open the fourth of a fast-paced encounter but she was finding it hard to keep aggressive Ferreira off her and in the second-half of the session Ferreira really asserted herself, firing up and down and even switching southpaw as she looked for openings, picking up a warning from referee Howard Foster for straying unintentionally low with a bodyshot.
The Brazilian was not finding it hard to find Lescano, jolting her head back with a right hand and then a left hook to commence the fifth and with 30 seconds left in the round it looked like a right hand might spell the end for Lescano, who hung on and fought back but by now she was now bleeding from an ugly thick and jagged cut over her left eye following a clash of heads.
Lescano survived a doctor’s inspection to open the sixth but an early end appeared inevitable.
It was becoming very one-sided. Lescano was taking big shots, the blood was flowing the referee had a good look at the cut, allowed the action to continue a little longer but then escorted Lescano to her corner and compassionately ended the night of the outgunned Argentine.
The final two or three rounds had been a beating.
Officially, it was stopped at 1:49 of the sixth but the fight went to the scorecards for a technical decision and Ferreira was a clear winner by two cards of 59-55 and another of 58-55.
Joe McGrail Defeats Stubborn Ryan Walker Over Eight Rounds
Ahead of his brother Peter topping the bill at the Liverpool Exhibition Centre, Liverpool featherweight prospect Joe McGrail won a steady eight-rounder against a determined and stubborn Ryan Walker.
McGrail’s speed was the difference early on, and he slotted home a right hand, a left hook and worked the body as he took control of the middle of the ring.
Walker was game and gritty, trying to get in behind his jab in the second, but McGrail was winning the rounds with his sharpness.
It looked like McGrail would go through the gears in the third and he landed a brace of right hands near the end of the session and Walker appeared to feel a bodyshot.
However, McGrail was warned by his corner before the sixth that Walker had outworked him in the fifth and that he needed to assert himself more. Dogged Walker was finding a rhythm, stayed in front of McGrail and worked his way in by jabbing to the body and head.
Walker opened the seventh with a right hand and one could sense McGrail was cutting a slightly-frustrated figure.
“You’re boxing beautiful,” Walker was told in his corner before the last round. “You’ve got three minutes to change your life.”
Walker was boxing with confidence in the last and McGrail kept searching for answers but there was little between them and although Walker lifted his right hand hopefully high at the final bell, he shook his head when referee Steve Gray’s 77-75 scorecard was read out.
The 21-year-old McGrail is now 10-0 (5 KOs), while London’s Walker is 12-7 (3 KOs).
