Former women’s WBA featherweight Mexican champion Erika Cruz recently moved down to super bantamweight, where she recorded a unanimous decision (UD) win over American contender Melissa Odessa Parker on September 15th. With only one fight at 122 lbs under her belt, Cruz now gains the opportunity to face WBA super bantamweight champion Mayerlin Rivas, as officially announced by Matchroom, who will be promoting the title fight. The two women will headline a fight card held at the YouTube Arena in Inglewood, California.
The 33-year-old Erika Cruz (16-2, 3 KO’s) showed herself to be well-acclimated to her new weight of super bantamweight (after moving up from featherweight) through her performance against Melissa Parker and now seems set to immediately challenge for a world title. She will be facing longtime WBA champion, Venezuelan Mayerlin Rivas (17-4-3, 11 KO’s), who has held her sole title since 2020.
Rivas, 35, last fought in June when she had a title defense that ended in a technical draw in the fifth round (of the ten-round scheduled fight) after her opponent, undefeated Argentinian challenger Nazarena Romero (13-0-1, 7 KO’s), suffered a cut that forced the fight to end early.
Noticeably, during her fight with Romero, Rivas suffered the first knockdown of her career in the third round, giving Erika Cruz a minor advantage depending on how Rivas has progressed since. Some of her vulnerabilities may have been revealed.
However, as a two-division champion herself, Rivas has the experience and ability necessary to firmly stop Cruz’ attempt to notch another career-defining achievement to become a two-weight champion.
Erika Cruz is now in the ideal position to become a two-division champion, which may serve as some consolation for Cruz, who earlier this year in February suffered a UD loss to undisputed featherweight champion Amanda Serrano (45-2-1, 30 KO’s).
The two will be up for an exciting fight that can help further cast a spotlight on the 122 lbs women’s division, which has seen several new champions emerge over the past year, potentially setting up a historic storyline to crown the division’s first undisputed champion.
