Montserrat Alarcon outworks Martinez to retain title

Montserrat "Raya" Alarcon (17-4-2) defeated Brenda Balderas Martinez (4-3-1, 1 KO) by unanimous decision, 100-93, 97-93, and 98-92, in a 10-round women's atomweight (102 lb.) championship fight.

Alarcon retained her WBA atomweight world title on EstrellaTV's Boxeo EstrellaTV. The series occurs on the last Friday of each month, and last night, the fights were broadcast from Auditorio BB in Mexico City.

The bombings erupted from the first bell. Martinez came out with everything pressing forward, trying to surprise and overwhelm Alarcon, who showed off her experience to deal with the incoming shots. Martinez focused on the middle part of the body, but Alarcon initially was able to avoid much punishment.

Martinez used the best of her arsenal to shoot punches up and down, but Alarcon began to move around the ring and attacked Martinez from mid-range and long distance with hooks and uppercuts.

Martinez's hunger for victory left her exposed to counters. Alarcon punished her with hooks to the body, and side to side movements made the challenger miss often. Alarcon did a lot of damage in the fifth round.

Sensing that the fight was moving over in her favor, Alarcon and her corner chose to use more movement around the ring, releasing only the necessary amount of punches to do damage without taking big risks and piling up points from the judges.

The last round was pure drama, with Alarcon do whatever to hold on to the win and Martinez, sensing the fight had slipped away from her, was doing whatever she could to secure a knockout.