Marlen Esparza is a world titleholder.
The 2012 Olympic bronze medalist from Houston survived a first-round knockdown to defeat Ibeth Zamora of Mexico by a unanimous decision and take Zamora’s flyweight title Saturday in El Paso, Texas.
Esparza (10-1, 1 KO) went down from a right hand with about 40 seconds to go in the first round, although she didn’t seem to be hurt.
The fight was close after that, with the more-skillful Esparza outboxing Zamora at times and the two exchanging a high volume of punches inside at other times.
Zamora (32-7, 12 KOs), making her third defense, threw more punches than Esparza but the new champ was more accurate with her shots.
The judges scored it 97-92, 96-94 and 95-94, all for Esparza. Boxing Junkie had it 95-94 in Zamora’s favor.
Esparza has now won three consecutive fights since he lost a technical decision to Seneisa Estrada for an “interim” title in November 2019, a fight that was stopped because of cut on Esparza’s forehead.
Zamora, 32, hadn’t lost since she was outpointed by Esmerelda Moreno in 2017.