Marlen Esparza

14 - 1
1 KOs
flyweight

Born in Houston, Texas, Marlen Esparza began her boxing career at 12 years old after growing up in a household that loved the sport.

Fighter Stats

Height: 5′ 3″
Birthdate: July 29, 1989
Age: 34
Birthplace: Houston, TX
Hometown: Houston, TX
Stance: Orthodox

Fighter Biography

In May 2012, Esparza qualified to compete in the 2012 Olympics in London, where she became the first American woman to qualify for the Olympics in the first year that women’s boxing made its debut as an Olympic event. Esparza went on the win the bronze medal in the women’s flyweight division. Following this, Esparza went on to win a gold at the 2014 AIBA Women’s World Boxing Championships and a bronze at the same championship in 2016.

In 2017, Esparza became the first female fighter signed by Golden Boy. To kick off her pro debut, Esparza took on Rachel Sazoff in a two-round match, ultimately taking home the win in Indio, California. Shortly after, on May 6, 2017 at the Canelo Alvarez vs. Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. fight in Las Vegas, Esparza earned a unanimous decision win against Samantha Salazar. Esparza closed out the year with two additional unanimous decision wins against Aracely Palacios and Karla Valenzuela.

On April 6, 2018, Esparza scored an exciting third-round TKO victory against Laetizia Campana, stopping her on the third round of a scheduled eight-round fight. One year later, Esparza took on Jhosep Vizcaino where Esparza earned a unanimous decision win from the judges.

Most recently on July 18, 2019, Esparza improved to 7-0 with 1 KO after an eight-round flyweight fight victory over Sonia Osorio at Fantasy Spring Casino in Indio, California.

Esparza suffered her first and only loss in 2019 against Seniesa “Super Bad” Estrada for the vacant Interim WBA Flyweight Title in the Canelo vs. Kovalev undercard. However, that hasn’t stopped Esparza’s momentum as she came back stronger afterward with back-to-back victories over former world title challenger Sulem Urbina and Shelly Barnett.

In 2021, Esparza had a successful year, with a unanimous decision victory against Ibeth Zamora Silva for the WBC Flyweight World Championship and successful defended her new world championship title against former world champion Anabel “Avispa” Ortiz. On April 9, as part of the undercard of Ryan Garcia vs. Emmanuel Tagoe, Esparza faced her toughest challenge to date, taking on five-division world champion Naoko Fujioka. The fight pitted the #1 vs. #2 in the female flyweight division, granting them the honor of fighting for the first-ever, Ring Magazine Female Flyweight World Championship. After 10-rounds of non-stop action, from two of the mightiest female fighters in the flyweight division, the judges ruled in favor of Esparza via unanimous decision, crowning her the new WBC, WBA, and Ring Magazine World Champion.

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