In what should be another top-quality fight for women´s boxing, European champion Karine Rinaldo and former world titlist Carolina Marcela Gutierrez will clash for the vacant World Boxing Federation (WBF) World Super Bantamweight title on Friday November 27 in Marseille, France.
The 13-1-1 (4) Rinaldo, from Marseille, turned professional in 2011 and won the French national Super Bantamweight title in November 2012. After two defenses, she added the European crown in June 2014 with a first round stoppage of Hungarian Mariana Gulyas.
Last December she successfully defended the European title with a unanimous decision over Croatia´s Nevenka Mikulic, and this year she has stayed busy with two non-title fight victories to get ready for what will be her first shot at world honors.
A pro since 2004, Argentinean Carolina Marcela Gutierrez brings a 22-5-1 (13) record to the fight. She won the Argentinean national Bantamweight title in 2005, and captured the Interim WBA World Super Flyweight strap in 2008, defeating Brazilian Rosilete Dos Santos.
In 2009 Gutierrez lost a decision to undefeated German star Susi Kentikian for the WBA world Flyweight title in Hamburg, but rebounded well to make three defenses of her Super Flyweight belt between October 2010 and January 2012.
Moving up a division, she dropped two split decisions in March and May of 2014 to fellow Argentinean Mayra Alejandra Gomez for the Interim WBO World Bantamweight title, but proved that she was still world class at the higher weight.
She got back on track with a tune-up victory in August, before finishing that year with another competitive decision loss in November, this time to Mexican Yulihan Alejandra Luna Avila for the vacant IBF World Super Bantamweight title.
Gutierrez clearly has experience on her side, while Rinaldo will enjoy a boost from the support of the local fans in Marseille. Both are among the best in their weigh-class, and it looks like a real toss-up between one boxer eager to win her first world championship, and another boxer hungry to get back to the very top.
On the same night in Khayelitsha, South Africa, former South African champion Mfundo Gwayana will take on compatriot Dalisizwe “Matlala” Komani for the vacant WBF Intercontinental Light Flyweight title on a show promoted by CSUNS Boxing Promotions.
Southpaw Mfundo has faced the better opposition of the two and enters the fight with a record of 18-9-3 (9), while Gwayana has showed excellent form recently with four consecutive victories and brings a 14-6-1 (8) ledger to the showdown.
www.worldboxingfederation.net
As in September, I once again ran out of gas in the 10th & 11th championship rounds of October & November with this column, but I recovered to complete them and will unleash a few more flurries to close out the 12th and final round.
In the first week of October, Hassan N’Dam won a UD over Curtis Stevens in an eliminator for the right to challenge Jermaine Taylor who defeated aging Sam Soliman to regain the IBF Middleweight title. How Taylor even earned this title shot is another story altogether, but it is all irrelevant as he is now the champion. However he will not have too much time to savor his victory as he has assault and battery charges pending against him and an upcoming court fight that may turn out to be the toughest fight of his life, just when things started to look up for him in boxing, we wish him luck.
