Potential World title opponents for Irish boxers decided
World title fights on either side of the Atlantic last night would determine potential future fights for Irish boxers.
In Argentina,In an all-Argentina fight, Anahi Esther Sanchez [17(9)-2(1)] stopped Cecilia Sofia Mena [10(5)-2(1)-1] on cuts in the sixth round of their vacant WBA lightweight title fight.
The win in San Miguel saw ‘La Indiecita’ become a two weight champion, having previously held the IBF super featherweight title.
Sanchez looks now to be the prime candidate to face Katie Taylor [6(4)-0]in the Irishwoman’s first world title fight. The Bray lightweight won the WBA Inter-Continental title on the Joshua-Klitschko undercard at Wembley Stadium in April.
This seventh round stoppage of Nina Meinke saw her claim the #1 spot in the WBA’s rankings, and it would now seem likely that Taylor challenges for Sanchez’s newly won belt on the Joshua-Pulev undercard at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff on October 28th.
Meanwhile, at the Max-Schmeling-Halle in Berlin, Ukrainian Oleksandr Usyk [13(11)-0] defended his WBO cruiserweight title for the first third time against Yugoslavian-born German home favourite Marco Huck [40(27)-5(3)-1]. 2012 Olympic gold medalist Usyk dominated the bout, eventually stopping the former champ in the tenth round.
The fight was the first quarter final of the inaugural season of the World Boxing Super Series. Usyk will now look to unify his title in January with the winner of the quarter final between WBC champ Mairis Briedis [22(18)-0] and Mike Perez [22(14)-2(1)-1] in Riga on Saturday September 30th.
Cork-Cuban Perez is an underdog for this fight, but remains a completely unknown quantity at cruiserweight.
