The junior flyweight division has been shaken up over the last two years, but Kim Clavel (16-0) and Jessica Plata (28-2) have emerged as the top contenders.
After our ratings update (see below) Clavel/Plata meets LBC’s (Lineal Boxing Champion’s) core criteria for being a Lineal Championship fight: It’s a divisional “#1 Vs #2” match-up.
As with the men’s Lineal Championship Policy, the “wider opinion among the boxing fraternity” is also taken into consideration. When Valle’s departure from the weight class is accounted for, Clavel and Plata are also the top two women in ESPN’s ratings. The WBO and IBF titles are vacant. The only two titlists at junior flyweight are Clavel (WBC) and Plata (WBA), effectively making Clavel/Plata a fight for the “undisputed” title. In terms of independent ratings, The Ring is alone in not having Plata in the top-two (when allowing for Estrada’s inactivity and Valle’s departure). With Estrada/Valle out of the picture, The Ring is also alone in having Argentina’s Evelin Bermudez (who lost her last bout, to 105lb fighter, Valle) at #1. Incidentally, BoxRec has Plata ranked at #1 and Bermudez down at #6 - LBC and ESPN do not have Bermudez in their top two.
Mexican veteran, Plata, is on a 7-fight win streak - in her last fight she defeated former pound-for-pound star, Yesica Bopp. Clavel, the WBC titlist, is undefeated in 16 fights and coming off a career best win, a wide-decision victory over Yesenia Gomez, last July. Plata and Clavel are worthy contenders to fight for a vacant Lineal crown. Tonight, in Place Bell, Laval, Canada, they will square off in a fight that will crown the true champion at junior flyweight.
Ratings Update
Seniesa Estrada defeated Tenkai Tsunami on July 9, 2021, a win that pushed her to the top of 108lb ratings, however, that win was over 18 months ago, meaning she now gets removed from our ratings. Most rating organisations, such as the TBRB and The Ring have a 12-month cut-off. If Estrada’s next fight was scheduled to be at 108lb, that would keep her in the ratings, but it is scheduled to be against Tina Rupprecht at minimumweight on March 25; with the target afterwards being “undisputed” in that weight class; by then, she will have been inactive at 108lb for more than 20 months.
In early December 2022, the WBO announced that Yokasta Valle had formally vacated her WBO 108lb belt (which she had recently won by beating WBO/IBF titlist, Bermudez, on November 26, 2022) – the plan being to return to the 105lb division in favour of an “undisputed” fight against the winner of Estrada/Rupprecht (as reported by Boxing Scene’s Jake Donovan on December 7, 2022). The IBF listed Bermudez as its 108lb titlist in its October 2022 ratings. The latest IBF 108lb ratings state that the IBF title in that division is vacant. Valle, who had been ranked at #4, has exited LBC’s 108lb ratings.
This makes Lineal Boxing Champion’s new top five, as follows:
1) Kim Clavel
2) Jessica Plata
3) Evelin Bermudez
4) Tenkai Tsunami
5) Yesica Bopp
ESPN and Ring Ratings
ESPN’s divisional ratings (11/01/2023)
1) Kim Clavel
2) Yokasta Valle
3) Jessica Plata
4) Evelin Bermudez
5) Anabel Ortiz
The Ring (05/01/2023)
1) Seniesa Estrada
2) Evelin Bermudez
3) Kim Clavel
4) Tsunami Tenkai
5) Jessica Plata
@LinealBoxChamp
Addendum:
*In ESPN’s updated rankings on January 31, 2023, Yokasta Valle was removed from the junior flyweight ratings.