Former world champion Choi suffers first loss, losing to Camara!
Earlier today in South Korea local fans were left disappointed by former 2-weight world champion Hyun Mi Choi (21-1-1, 5) [최현미], who suffered her first loss in a notable upset against Canadian Jessica Camara (13-4, 3) in a bout for the WBA Gold Female Lightweight title.
Choi, who had won WBA world titles at both Featherweight and Super Featherweight, looked the more technical boxer through out the bout, and looked the quicker fighter, with the better movement, but that was for naught when it did nothing to stop the aggressive march of Camara. The Canadian, fighting outside of North America for the first time, fought like the naturally bigger fighter, on a near constant aggressive march, landing huge, sweeping right hands, stiff jabs and and doing what she could to take the bout out of the hands of the judges.
Although Choi had had success early on, with her more polished technical boxing, as the fight went on the pressure and power of Camara shone through as she left Choi’s face red, swollen and bruised, with notable swelling under Choi’s right eye. The longer the bout went on the harder Choi found it to create space, with Camara cutting the ring off better as Choi’s legs began to look tired and weary. By the end of round 8 it was looking a less a case of “who would win?” and more a case of whether Camara could do enough to drop Choi, who was taking a lot of hard head shots and doing nothing to force Camara to respect her.
At the end of 10 rounds we went to the judges, who gave the split decision to the Canadian visitor, who seemed to clearly the win the bout with her cleaner, heavier, more hurtful shots.
For Choi the loss marks her first, and at 33 with a career that saw her debut as a professional back in 2008 we do wonder whether or not she has much more left to give the sport. The last few years have been hugely frustrating ones for the "Defector Girl Boxer", who seemed to be on the verge of huge fights before her US debut in 2020, but has now only fought once a year since and seen not only the route to a US ring vanish, but also funding for big bouts at home.
As for Camara the win is a huge one for her career and although the WBA “gold” title isn’t a huge one, it is a belt that could open doors for the 36 year old “Cobra”, who debuted in 2017 and has scored, by far, the most significant and most noteworthy win of her career, potentially even setting up a second world title fight for the Canadian.
Choi, who had won WBA world titles at both Featherweight and Super Featherweight, looked the more technical boxer through out the bout, and looked the quicker fighter, with the better movement, but that was for naught when it did nothing to stop the aggressive march of Camara. The Canadian, fighting outside of North America for the first time, fought like the naturally bigger fighter, on a near constant aggressive march, landing huge, sweeping right hands, stiff jabs and and doing what she could to take the bout out of the hands of the judges.
Although Choi had had success early on, with her more polished technical boxing, as the fight went on the pressure and power of Camara shone through as she left Choi’s face red, swollen and bruised, with notable swelling under Choi’s right eye. The longer the bout went on the harder Choi found it to create space, with Camara cutting the ring off better as Choi’s legs began to look tired and weary. By the end of round 8 it was looking a less a case of “who would win?” and more a case of whether Camara could do enough to drop Choi, who was taking a lot of hard head shots and doing nothing to force Camara to respect her.
At the end of 10 rounds we went to the judges, who gave the split decision to the Canadian visitor, who seemed to clearly the win the bout with her cleaner, heavier, more hurtful shots.
For Choi the loss marks her first, and at 33 with a career that saw her debut as a professional back in 2008 we do wonder whether or not she has much more left to give the sport. The last few years have been hugely frustrating ones for the "Defector Girl Boxer", who seemed to be on the verge of huge fights before her US debut in 2020, but has now only fought once a year since and seen not only the route to a US ring vanish, but also funding for big bouts at home.
As for Camara the win is a huge one for her career and although the WBA “gold” title isn’t a huge one, it is a belt that could open doors for the 36 year old “Cobra”, who debuted in 2017 and has scored, by far, the most significant and most noteworthy win of her career, potentially even setting up a second world title fight for the Canadian.