Esparza Wins Pro Debut

By Marc Livitz: Marlen Esparza made her professional debut this evening at the Fantasy Springs Resort Casino in Indio, California. The 2012 Olympian from Houston, TX became the first American woman to medal in the sport of boxing as she brought home the bronze and her first outing as a professional boxer was a successful one as she slugged her way to an easy unanimous decision win over Rachel Sazoff.

The opening seconds brought a firefight out of both flyweight competitors, yet Esparza’s right glove hit the target, as in Sazoff’s head and face just about every time it was thrown. A hard right landed in the final twenty seconds and the parity in overall talent was more than clear. More of the same occurred in the second, most notably target practice for the Houston fighter.

Rachel (0-3) was continuing to do her best to absorb the oncoming punches but was largely unable to answer by any meaningful fashion. Left jabs, right hooks high and low connected for Marlen in the third, yet she was up to this point unable to effectively hurt or move her game opponent from New Jersey. The accuracy was there but the power would have to wait.

As the fourth and final round commenced, the biggest problem for Marlen Esparza was the fact that her hair was in her face, but it didn’t stop her from connecting at will. The judges likely had an easy decision to make as their three respective scores of 40-36 apiece confirmed.