Marlen Esparza missed weight by two pounds on Friday, losing her WBC, WBO and WBA flyweight titles on the scales.
Esparza (14-1, 1 KO), of Houston, Texas, who came in at 114 pounds for the 112-pound bout, will still fight Saturday night at the Save Mart Arena in Fresno, California, against Gabriela Celeste Alaniz, who hit the scales at 111.2.
Alaniz (14-1, 6 KOs), of Buenos Aires, Argentina, is eligible to win the titles with a victory. She was the WBO champion before losing the belt last July in a unification fight with Esparza by majority decision, with scorecards of 99-91, 95-95 and 97-93. Alaniz had won the belt with a seventh-round TKO over Tamara Elisabeth Demarco in June 2022 and made a successful defense in a ninth-round TKO against Debora Rengifo three months later, before losing to Esparza.
Esparza qualified for the 2012 Olympics, the first year that women’s boxing was part of the games and won a bronze medal representing the U.S. in the flyweight division. She turned professional in 2017 and won her first seven fights before losing to Seniesa “Super Bad” Estrada challenging for the WBA interim flyweight title. She recovered to win her next seven fights in a row. Esparza won the WBC title against Ibeth Zamora in June 2021, unified the WBA in April 2022 against Naoko Fujioka before adding the WBO belt against Alaniz.
The fight will take place on the undercard of Jose Ramirez’s Golden Boy debut against Rances Barthelemy.