FRESNO – Gabriela Alaniz gets her revenge.

Alaniz was the aggressor and outboxed Marlen Esparza to win by split decision at the Save Mart Center. One judge scored the bout 98-92 for Esparza, while the other two judges correctly scored the bout 97-93 and 96-94 for Alaniz, who improved to 15-1, 6 knockouts.

The 27-year-old won the Ring Magazine flyweight championship, including the WBC, WBO and WBA Female world flyweight titles. 

From the opening bell, Alaniz attempted to walk Esparza down. Her aggression and ability to initiate exchanges was rewarded as she consistently landed lead and counter right hands to the head of Esparza, who threw lead or counter right crosses, with some finding their mark.

During round four, Esparza chose to stand in the pocket, producing decent exchanges between the two fighters. Esparza was able to sneak an occasional left hook to Alaniz’s head.

Alaniz continued being the aggressor into the second half of the fight. Esparza stuck or pawed out her jab, followed by straight right hands to the head, but Alaniz was the more-accurate fighter, landing more right hands to the head of Esparza.

At Friday’s weigh-in, Esparza weighed in at 114 pounds, two pounds heavier than the flyweight limit of 112 pounds. Because she missed weight, Ring Magazine, the WBC, WBO and WBA stripped her of their respective titles. Only Alaniz was eligible to win the title belts. 

In their first fight on July 8, Esparza won a close majority decision. Alaniz and promoter Georgina Rivero filed a protest, and after a thorough review by the WBO, it was determined a rematch was warranted before Esparza fought a different opponent. 

The 34-year-old Esparza, who resides in Houston, Texas, drops to 14-2, 1 KO. She had not lost since a technical decision to current Ring Magazine strawweight champion Seniesa Estrada in November 2019. 

Welterweight prospect Raul Curiel dropped Jorge Marron twice en route a first round knockout victory. Curel improved to 15-0, 13 KOs.

About a minute into the first round, Curiel threw and landed a left-right combination to the head, followed by a left hook to the body, dropping the southpaw Marron to the canvas. Marron beat the count and attempted to fight back, but Curiel closed the gap, unleashing a barrage of punches. 

Moments later, a left hook to the body dropped Marron to one knee. Referee Thomas Taylor reached the count of eight, but waved the fight off at 1:31.

Curiel, who is managed by Frank Espinoza and is trained by Freddie Roach, represented Mexico at the 2016 Olympic Games. In his previous fight on January 6, the 28-year-old Curiel stopped once-beaten Elias Diaz in the eighth round. 

Marron, who resides in Lakeside, California, falls to 20-5-2, 7 KOs. The 30-year-old is winless in his last four bouts. 

Lightweight Bryan Lua of nearby Madera dropped Ronaldo Solis (4-5-1, 3 KOs) of Cancun, Mexico twice en route to a first round knockout victory. Referee Jack Reiss stopped the bout at 2:08. Lua goes to 9-0, 4 KOs. 

In the opening bout of the Golden Boy Promotions card, bantamweight Figo Gonzalez of Dallas improved to 6-0, 3 KOs, stopping Alejandro Robles (0-3) of Modesto, California after Robles did not answer the bell for round four. 

Francisco A. Salazar has written for The Ring since October 2013 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (California) Star newspaper. He can be reached at [email protected]

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