In March this year, our #1 rated strawweight, Anabel Ortiz, stepped up three weight classes, to junior bantamweight, and appears to have now left the 105lbs division. The four women left in the top four at 105lbs, as per our monthly ratings, are:
1) Yokasta Valle
2) Etsuko Tada
3) Tina Rupprecht
4) Ayaka Miyao
With Ortiz out of the picture, The Ring also recognise the above four as the best of the bunch at strawweight, but have Rupprecht and Valle ranked #1 and #2 respectively, as oppose to Valle and Tada. Incidentally, BoxRec, as of November 21st, 2020, have Tada at #1.
Rupprecht has the most eye-catching record, being undefeated (10-0-1), with wins over Valle and Joana Pastrana, although the fight with Pastrana (7-0) was four years ago, when both were green, never having previously been past six rounds. Since the close points victory over Valle in June 2018, Rupprecht has only had three fights, one of which was a draw to the unheralded Maricela Quintero. Meanwhile, Valle has been more active, picking up seven straight wins, including a split decision over Pastrana (who by this point, was 15-1).
The most experienced fighter in the division is Etsuko Tada. She is the only person to have beaten Ibeth Silva at 105lbs (albeit back in 2011), and her only losses have come by split decision, twice to the best in the weight class, Anabel Ortiz, and most recently back in 2017, to China’s Zongju Cai (who has now been inactive for two years) when challenging for the IBF belt. Over the last three years, Tada has gone 3-1, winning the WBO strap against Kayoko Ebata in 2018, before vacating it. The draw came against former WBA atomweight titlist, Ayaka Miyao, in January this year. On the surface Miyao’s record over the last three years seems the least impressive (1-1-1), but in this timeframe she has avenged an earlier loss to Nao Ikeyama, pushed atomweight #1, Monserrat Alcaron, to a ten round split decision, and drawn with Tada.
All in all, it is difficult to separate these four women. The best way to settle matters, as is always the case in boxing, is to do so in the ring. Just see the two cruiserweight World Boxing Super Series tournaments, as examples. The leading fighters entered, and universally accepted world champions emerged - Usyk in 2018, and after his move to heavyweight, Mairis Briedis took the crown. It’s important to note that if you omit a key figure, such as when Jose Ramirez was not a participant in the WBSS Junior Welterweight tournament, the winner will not have the backing of the boxing world.
When the men’s featherweight championship became vacant in 1957, there were two elimination fights involving the top four fighters to solve the muddle. The winners of these bouts, Hogan Bassey and Cherif Hamia, were ready to lock horns in June 1957 for the world championship. Ring Magazine founder, Nat Fleischer, declared: “There is hardly any arguing that Hamia and Bassey, who’ll fight it out for the world championship, are the two best featherweights in the world today.” Hogan triumphed and was unquestionably viewed as the genuine featherweight champion the world.
There is no World Boxing Super Series tournament at strawweight in women’s boxing right now, but as luck would have it, we may have the next best thing. The top four are squaring off over the next few weeks.
On December 3rd, Etsuko Tada has an all-Japanese rematch with Ayaka Miyao, in a fight for the vacant WBO title at Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan. With Ortiz gone, Tada is our #2 rated strawweight, and Miyao is #4. The winner will have a good argument for being the best in the weight class, but then, just over a week later, on December 12th, Germany’s Tina Rupprecht (#3 in our strawweight ratings) has a rematch with Costa Rican, Yokasta Valle (#1) for the IBF/WBC/Ring belts.
The victors of these bouts will each have a claim to being the best. However, they won’t have fought each other.
Belts look great in trophy cabinets and in photos, but to those that closely follow the sport, they do not necessarily prove a fighter is the true world champion of a division.
Assuming there are no draws in their December fights, we will be left just one fight away from finding out who the real queen at 105lbs is. Valle, Tada, Rupprecht, or Miyao? Who will be the last woman standing? Let’s hope we find out in 2021.
By Adam McMeeking
@LinealBoxChamp
Photo: Clockwise from top left: Ayaka Miyao, Etsuko Tada, Yokasta Valle, Tina Rupprecht