Hyun Mi Choi preserved her place in line to face the division’s elite.

All that is left for Choi and her team is to actually accept such a fight.

Choi extended the longest active title reign in the sport—male or female—following a ten-round, unanimous decision win over visiting challenger Vanessa Bradford. Scores were in favor of Choi, who made the tenth defense of her WBA junior lightweight title Wednesday at Olympic Park Gymnasium in Choi’s hometown of Seoul, South Korea.

The fight came just four days after Alycia Baumgardner (13-1, 7KOs) established herself as the class of the 130-pound division following a split decision victory over Mikaela Mayer (17-1, 5KOs). Baumgardner defended her WBC title while lifting the IBF/WBO belts off Mayer and establishing true championship lineage at the weight.

It says a lot that both were regarded as the top two fighters in a division where Choi has held a major title for more than eight years. A fight with Bradford wasn’t going to change that conversation, though it at least provided Choi with the opportunity to make a statement.

Instead, she settled for a hard-fought win in a fight where she remained a step ahead during nearly every exchange.

Bradford was not without her moments in her first career title fight. The visiting 38-year-old challenger from Edmonton, Canada found success with her right hand over the top of Choi’s guard, landing several late in round five and throughout the second half of the fight.

Choi—whose family defected from North Korea when she was 14 and eventually made their way to Seoul—was able to offset through combination punching. The defending titlist—who turns 32 on November 7—connected with overhand rights and left hooks, along with uppercuts to the body during two-way action on the inside.

Choi rode out a final stand by Bradford in the closing moments of the fight, with the two embracing after ten hard fought rounds.

Bradford falls to 6-4-2 (0KOs), though valiant in defeat. The fight marked her first major title challenge as well as her first outside of North America. She now has the distinction of having fought the best three fighters in the division—Baumgardner, Mayer and Choi—through just 12 fights as a pro, though making for three of her four career losses.

Choi advances to 20-0-1 (5KOs) with the win, retaining the WBA junior lightweight title she has held since 2014. The reign has come with justified criticism, as she has faced a relatively thin level of competition.

The reign has come with a touch of bad luck, including the pandemic which limited her travel and ability to defend at home. Choi’s team—headed by longtime promoter Paco Damian—looked to change that, bringing her to the U.S. where she made a title defense on a December 2020 DAZN show headlined by Gennadiy Golokvkin.

From there, Choi entered a co-promotional agreement with Matchroom Boxing that was to include a title unification bout with then-unbeaten WBC champ Terri Harper last May 15 in Manchester, England. The fight was postponed—and ultimately canceled—after Harper aggravated a previously injured right hand during a sparring session less than two weeks out from the fight date.

Choi wound up returning home for a rust-shaking title defense, scoring a ninth-round knockout of Simone Aparecida da Silva (17-16 at the time) last September 18 in Dongducheon, South Korea. Harper would go on to lose her title to Baumgardner, who delivered a highlight-reel fourth-round knockout to crash onto the junior lightweight title scene.

Baumgardner—who is co-promoted by Kings Boxing and Matchroom Boxing—now holds all but one chip in the division, along with recognition as the lineal champ. Most observers viewed her fight with Mayer as a battle for true junior lightweight supremacy, even without the winner facing Choi as both boxers have tried and failed to land a fight with the unbeaten titlist.

To her credit, Baumgardner immediately recognized Choi as her next pursued target. The desire to become undisputed champion trumps whatever lucrative payday would come with a Mayer rematch.

“[Mayer] doesn’t deserve a rematch. For me, I want Choi next,” Baumgardner stated during the post-fight press conference. “This is what I planned on. This is what we talked about and this is what I plan to do.”

The onus is now on Choi to accept.

The fight aired live on tvN in South Korea, as well as Choi’s Instagram Live channel.

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox