Yokasta Valle (right) punches Lorraine Villalobos (left) Photo by Brandon Rivas/ MarvNation Promotions
The month of September this year 2022 is set to be one of the biggest months in women’s boxing history, with a handful of title fights promising some of the best action women’s boxing has to offer.
And one of the first such events will feature the return of one of the best fighters in the lower divisions as IBF strawweight champion Yokasta Valle (25-2, 9 KOs) returns to action in her hometown. from San Jose, Costa Rica to face his unbeaten WBO counterpart Thi Thu Nhi Nguyen (5-0, 1 KOs) from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
The 10-round clash that will be the first unification match in the country’s history, and will take place at the Ciudad Deportiva Heiner Ugalde, Hatillo, San José, Costa Rica on Thursday, September 8. The fight will be broadcast live on DAZN. , the Golden Boy Boxing YouTube page and the Marvnation YouTube page starting at 6:00 p.m. PT / 9:00 p.m. ET.
And although this will be one more defense to the previous four that Valle had in his adopted country (he was born in neighboring Nicaragua some 30 years ago), this time it feels different.
Yokasta Valley – Photo courtesy of Golden Boy Boxing
“First of all, having Golden Boy is a great support and a great motivation,” said the champion, mentioning her ties to the Los Angeles-based company, which began in her last fight in June. “This is a great responsibility that I take as a great motivation to continue being champion. I am always training and preparing.
“I had a short notice before my first fight (under Golden Boy, against Lorraine Villalobos) but I said ‘yes!’ and I continued to defend my title. I am always ready, I am always training and I wanted to show who Yokasta Valle is. I know that if they give me the opportunity, they will fall in love with me (laughs).”
Valle’s successful defense against Villalobos earned him many fans in the United States, despite his rival’s lackluster performance.
“I knew I was fighting a local fighter and she had her people there, but after the fourth or fifth round I knew she had them, and I knew people liked her because they were seeing a great fight. I showed what I’m made of. And now fighting in Costa Rica is a great responsibility but I don’t see it that way. It is a historic situation for Costa Rica, showing that such a small country can have a champion, and that we have so many other champions that I know are coming”.
Fighting at home with a world-class company behind her and with her fight being broadcast on an international platform like DAZN is a welcome change in her routine. After failing to win a title in her first two attempts abroad in 2017 and 2018, Valle found her charm for the third time in Spain when she finally defeated Joanna Pastrana in Spain in 2019 for the belt she still has. have. And now, getting the opportunity to finally add another belt in front of her hometown fans carries a special feeling.
“In my career I have always handled pressure very well,” said Valle, who always managed to leave a great impression abroad even in his losses. “It’s not easy, but every time I get in the ring, I never think about this. I never say ‘oh, now I have to win, and do this or prove that’, nothing like that. I began to enjoy it. I am always confident because of my great preparation, my corner. I always wake up in fighting mode, ready to give it my all and enjoy it, every second.”
The flip side of being a globetrotter who fought some of her biggest fights overseas is that Valle knows all too well the kind of mindset Nguyen will bring to this fight and what it takes to neutralize it.
“Of course. I’ve been in his position and being a visitor is very motivating, because you always think that to win abroad you have to win every lap,” Valle said. “And for me it’s the same. Even when I fight in my own country, anyone would think I’m relaxed. Otherwise! I’ll leave everything in the ring from the first round, and I don’t want to leave anything up to the judges. I’m known for being an aggressive fighter who throws a lot of punches. I’ve practiced a lot in my accuracy and I know it’s going to be a great fight, it’s one of those fights that excites me. What excites me is to give a great show to the people, not only in Costa Rica, but all over the world.”
The risk of having a bad night in front of his people is too great to take lightly, so Valle has thoroughly studied his opponent.
“We study it a lot. Since she has a style rooted in Olympic-style boxing, she shows pauses and gaps when you throw a lot of punches. We have to land our combinations on it. Lots of footwork, lots of jabs. She’s good at it, she’s great at establishing a distance. Her jab is her strength. We’ve worked on all of that, footwork, swings and swings, just keeping her guessing and throwing punches in the air.”
Yokasta Valle (left) and Thi Thu Nhi Nguyen (right) before their IBF/WBO unification fight in Costa Rica – Photo courtesy of Golden Boy Boxing
For Valle, it’s not just the two belts at stake that motivate her. There is also the general prospect of having a mega-fight for all the marbles against current WBA champion Seniesa Estrada, a fight that seemed to be on the way when Valle signed with Golden Boy but has now gotten harder to pull off since then. . Exit from Estrada to Top Rank.
Valle discards those blocks instantly.
“I know the fight against Estrada is going to happen soon,” Valle says. “She wants to unify world titles, I want to do that too. It is a fight that we cannot allow not to happen. If she wants to face the best, here I am. Right now I will fight Nguyen, and hopefully this will give me my second world title. She is a great fighter, she deserves all my respect. She is a world champion for a reason. And even though she only has 5 professional fights… that means a lot! I see her as a kind of Vasyl Lomachenko, because she became a champion with only a few professional fights but she has a lot of amateur fights. I’ve been training really hard in Los Angeles with my new trainer Gloria (Alvarado), just so I can have fun when I’m in the ring.”
All that motivation to get that extra belt against Estrada also leads to another belt awaiting the winner of that fight. Since Estrada is ranked No. 1 by The Ring at strawweight and Valle is No. 2, an eventual clash between them would crown the inaugural Ring magazine champion at that weight.
The importance of that achievement is not lost on Valle.
“Yes, the one I want, and the one I’m almost ready to get!!”, exclaims Valle, at the mere mention of the mythical “Rocky” belt. “What more motivation do I need? Since I saw ‘Rocky’ I said ‘wow, this is the title I want, The Ring!’ It has so much prestige. I want to make history, I want to be the first to have it in 105. I love it very much, and I already visualize it in my hands. I know I can do it, and that’s why I’m training so hard for this fight and staying qualified to win it. It’s a lot of motivation to win this fight, believe me.”
Diego M. Morilla has been writing for The Ring since 2013. He has also written for HBO.com, ESPN.com and many other magazines, websites, newspapers and other outlets since 1993. He is a full member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and an electing member of the International Boxing Hall of Fame. He has won two first place awards in the BWAA’s annual writing contest and is the moderator of The Ring’s women’s ratings panel. He served as editor for the second era of The Ring en Español (2018-2020) and is currently a writer and editor for RingTV.com. Follow him on Twitter @MorillaBoxing
