Last Saturday night at Toyota Arena in Ontario, California, pulling off the upset of the night, Mexico City’s Mayeli Flores (10-1-1, 3 KOs) defeated her compatriot boxing veteran and former two-division world champion Mariana “Barby” Juarez (55-13-4, 19 KOs) in an eight-round super bantamweight fight that went the distance.

Flores quickly won the crowd with her aggression and relentless pressure that was accompanied with an abundance of punches. The judges scored the fight 73-79, 73-79, and 72-80.

“I had two objectives in fighting Mariana, the first was to win, the second was to show the American public that female boxing can be as exciting or more than male boxing,” said Flores.

“I had a plan going into this fight, I was well prepared, and I wanted to make sure that I applied pressure and set the pace from the beginning. That is what I did from the beginning of the fight until the end, and I feel that is was what gave us the victory [on Saturday].”

Flores has now won two fights in a row since suffering his only career defeat last April at the hands of Yuliahn Luna Avila. 

Juarez, at 43-years-old, has now lost four of his last five fights. The defeat to Flores were her third defeat in a row, after dropping decisions to Yamileth Mercado and Jackie Nava.