WORLD BEAT
The 24-year-old Cuello improved to 15-0 (12 KOs) while his 25-year-old foe dropped to 22-2-1 (9 KOs). “I am happy with this win in a fight that I knew was going to be difficult,” said Cuello. “I trained for a month in California. My corner told me that we were behind in the sixth or seventh round, and I had to give everything I had to get the stoppage. Now that I know I am in line for a title shot, I will train harder than ever.” As we went to press, two other fighters were already training harder than ever for their upcoming world title clash: strawweight rising stars Sol Cudos and Sol Baumstarh, rated at Nos. 4 and 5 respectively in The Ring’s Women’s Ratings. They were set to clash in a winner-take-all bout for neighborhood bragging rights and the almost equally important IBF belt (vacant) in Buenos Aires’ legendary Boxing Federation Stadium on February 22. Cudos (9-0-2, 3 KOs going into the fight) is the up-and-comer who displays tons of energy in the ring, imposing her tempo and her technique in every fight in what has been one of the most explosive careers of the lower weights. Baumstarh (12-6-1, 8 KOs going in) had an unremarkable start to her career, going 2-6-1 in her first nine bouts while losing against some of the best in the biz (Gabriela Alaniz and Carla Merino, among others), before joining forces with former junior welterweight titleholder Juan Coggi and becoming a KO artist of sorts, scoring seven stoppages during a 10-fight unbeaten stretch that led to this title bout. On that same card, Jose Rosa (27-1, 20 KOs) was scheduled for a return to action after dropping a decision to Khariton Agrba in Russia last November. His opponent was
Mirco Cuello celebrates after scoring a body-shot knockout of Christian Olivo in Las Vegas.
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