On Thursday night at the Orange County Fairgrounds Events Center, in Costa Mesa, California, I had the opportunity to be present at the IFBA World Lightweight championship bout between Rhonda Luna vs. Crystal Morales. The fight was a rematch from their first meeting on June 6, 2013, where Luna won that fight by a six-round unanimous decision. This was the first fight for Morales to fight a 10-round bout.
The house was packed with 1482 fans, standing room only, with the event promoted by Roy Engelbrecht who just seems to have the knack to have cards that includes men’s boxing, female boxing and MMA.
Roy Engelbrecht continues to show strong support for the female boxers in the sport, and WBAN would only hope that some of the ole’ coots, ah… “ole” promoters would be more progressive in featuring many more of the top elite female pro boxers on their cards.
If some of the “set-in-their-ways” promoters would give these female boxers a “fighting chance” to be on their cards, they just may be pleasantly surprised what the women can bring to the ring.
Last night was a classic example of that with boxing fans, literally standing on their feet, screaming with excitement, and wads of money into the ring for what was considered, the “Fight of the Night.”
From the beginning until the end, both Luna and Morales fought toe-to-toe, non-stop action. Morales won by a close 10-round split decision. In the only knockdown of the fight, Morales threw a left hook that took Luna down, although Luna was able to quickly recover from it and continue.
http://womenboxing.com/NEWS2013/news081613morales-wins-ifba-title.htm