The queens of
South American boxing, Alejandra Oliveras and Marcela Acuña,
will be in action on consecutive nights in Argentina this
weekend – in each case against Colombian opposition. Oliveras,
who, after a four-month layoff with a broken hand, didn't fancy
defending her WBC super bantamweight title against the Mexican
teenager Jazmín Rivas, will be doing so instead against Anays
Cecilia Gutiérrez Carrillo of Barranquilla in the Club Sportivo
América in Rosario (Santa Fe) on Friday evening; whilst Acuña,
who has already beaten Gutiérrez
Carrillo, will be defending her WBA title in the same weight
division against the unbeaten Paola Esther Herrera
Gómez [14-0-2 (2 KOs)] of Cartagena in
Luna Park the following night.
What she'd
like most though, as she made clear yesterday, would be for them
to be fighting each other: "Oliveras is my arch-enemy," said 'la
Tigresa', in a statement in which irony and seriousness were
mixed in unknown measure. "I hope she can sort out her
contractual problems with the Mexican promoters, and the sooner
the better. I don't care where we fight – Luna Park, Córdoba,
anywhere – let her decide. She talks a great deal, but when the
moment of truth arrives, she always wriggles out.
"I'm ready
whenever she wants it. Let her just give me 15 days' notice, and
I'll be there. The people want to see this fight. They want to
see which of us is the better."
Oliveras will
seek to obtain a psychological advantage over her rival on
Friday by knocking the so-called 'Lady of the Ring' out –
something Acuña failed to do in her last outing; and, if
Juan
E. Brignone of Notifight is to be believed, she
has every chance of doing so: "With very little in the way of
boxing technique but a numinous offensive arsenal," he writes
this morning, "Oliveras has leapt to the forefront of the public
imagination – aided in no small measure by her female assets."
Gutiérrez would be ill-advised to stick her tongue out at 'La
Locomotora' (as she did to Acuña) in case it ends up on the
canvas; but if she can survive the first six rounds and drag
Oliveras into deep water, the outcome could be interesting.
Alejandra Oliveras
Acuña, who
obtained 67% of the votes of viewers of the Bailando por un
sueño programme on Monday (see below), said yesterday she'd
be trying to keep the lid on her own aggression in the early
rounds, so as not to burn herself out, as she has done once or
twice in the past. She hasn't seen any video of her opponent,
who was scheduled to arrive in Buenos Aires today; but with only
2 KOs in 16 fights, Herrera Gómez is unlikely to be causing her
much anxiety. "The aim is to knock her out, yes; but not
necessarily in the first round."
