Yokasta Valle came home to make history.
The two-division champion stood out in a dominant ten-round unanimous decision victory over Vietnam’s Thi Thu Nhi Nguyen in their IBF/WBO strawweight title unification bout. Judges Julio Alvarado (100-90), Samuel Nieto (100-90) and Edward Hernandez (100-90) delivered a clean win for Valle in the DAZN main event Thursday night at Cuidad Deportiva Heiner Ugalde in the city. Valle’s hometown, San Jose. , Costa Rica.
The feat came as part of the first title unification fight to take place on Costa Rican soil.
“With hard work, dreams come true,” Valle said after the win.
Valle has long served as his country’s biggest box office draw, even when he was Costa Rica’s smallest champion. He soaked up the entire atmosphere during a long ring walk with a group dance show to prep the sold-out crowd of 5,694. His double-punch attack also provided plenty of reason to celebrate, as Nguyen couldn’t keep up with Valle’s combo punches.
Most of the action took place in the center of the ring, where Valle displayed supreme infighting skills. The 30-year-old hometown hero dodged most of Nguyen’s punches on the inside, swinging and swaying to position herself for quick shot combinations.
Nguyen displayed toughness, albeit for the wrong reasons. The undefeated Vietnamese boxer, nicknamed ‘Wonder Woman,’ stood her ground as Valle smashed upstairs rights and crunching left hooks to both the body and the chin.
Frustration began to set in for visiting Nguyen, who was warned for wrapping Valle in a headlock and hitting her at halftime in the fourth round. Valle used in-and-out moves throughout the fifth round to avoid spikes or any foul play attempts by her undefeated rival, pumping his jab before mixing it with forward rights. Nguyen tried to adjust, only to take a series of left hooks to the chin.
Chants of ‘Yoka’ filled the venue as Valle let go of his hands. Nguyen was unable to respond to his opponent’s superior hand speed, and Valle unloaded with a flurry of power shots for several sequences in round six. Nguyen had a lot of heart but few answers, as Valle was landing 60 percent of his power shots in the middle rounds.
Nguyen looked to find a home for his right hand in the seventh round, but to no avail. Valle spent the first part of the round playing defense before closing the gap and catching Nguyen with left hooks to the body and head.
The momentum stayed in Valle’s favor in round eight, except for a brief moment when Nguyen managed to land a flush right hand. Valle quickly adjusted, preventing his visiting foe from following suit.
Nguyen (5-1, 1KO) repeatedly came up short with his right hand throughout the ninth round. Valle counterattacked each time, often in combination and always moving out of harm’s way before repositioning himself into striking range, as Ngyuen had little time to react and adapt.
More of the same occurred in the tenth and final round, marking the end of Nguyen’s WBO title reign just eleven months after winning the belt last October.
Valle improves to 26-2 (9KOs) with the win, now owning 50 percent of the division’s relevant hardware as he defends his IBF belt for the sixth time.
The top-ranked fighter at strawweight remains WBA champion Seniesa Estrada (22-0, 9KOs), who defected from Golden Boy Promotions earlier this summer. Estrada signed with Top Rank and will make her debut with the Las Vegas-based company in November.
“I hope Golden Boy is happy to see my whole country behind me tonight,” Valle said.
Given his star power at home, it’s clear that Valle brings a lot to the table no matter who he fights. After Thursday’s historic victory, he will also bring two major titles to his next fight.
He would like nothing more than to go with all four in his next two fights.
“I want all the belts after this,” Valle said. “I want the WBC and WBA belts, no matter who has them.”
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox
