With a record of no wins, seven losses and one draw going into Thursday night's contest with a far younger woman (who had already beaten her once!), no one gave forty-eight-year-old Guillermina Fernández much of a chance.

Until her opponent did.

Instead of turning her height, reach, and youth to her advantage (as Enrique Abellá suggests she ought to have done), dancing around Fernández from a distance and making her pay a price each time she attempted to close, María Eugenia López accepted the invitation to slug it out at close quarters, where, in the view of two of the three judges, she got the worse of the encounter.

Rather than settling for the easier option of a points win, López was hoping, we assume,  to weaken the older woman with body shots and finish her off in the last round, but the format (four two-minute rounds) provided altogether too cramped a theatre for a war of attrition of that kind.

With the defeat, López falls to 2-3-0. But not to despair. She's clearly a fighter, as she demonstrated eight months ago in her debut against the highly-fancied Cris Namus, when the decision in the local girl's favour drew virulent criticism even from the Uruguayan press; and, next time, hopefully, they'll grant her rather more than a ridiculous eight minutes to prove her worth.

All credit to Fernandez, though, and not only for her perseverance: Eight years without a win and fighting a woman 25 years her junior (who wanted a piece of her, too, it would appear), "she showed tremendous guts," says the report, "or 'temperament', if you prefer – particularly in the last round."

Source: Boxeo Uruguayo 0 Guillermo Abellá has provided 5 photos (3 action shots).
1. Open the index page
2. Find the report entitled "12-Ene-2008 - El Mantra se sumó con todo al boxeo"
3. Click the words "Más información" directly below the story (beneath the photo of the chap in the fetching yellow silk shorts getting punched in the belly)
4. At the bottom of the page that opens, click "Fotos"
5. Click the word "Siguiente" 20 times to locate the right fight

Date: 2008-01-10
Venue: Casino Hotel Mantra, Punta del Este, Uruguay.
Referee: Freddy Sosa

Over 4 rounds at junior welterweight (63.5 kg = 140 lbs), Guillermina Fernández obtained a split decision over María Eugenia López (Judges: Hugo De León 39-38, Enrique Vales 38-38, Carlos Cabrera 40-36).

Both fighters were born in Salta (in NW Argentina) but live and train in Buenos Aires.