Both fighters threw constantly in an exciting phonebooth style fight. The 25 year old French challenger told The Jewish Boxing Blog, "I felt mentally prepared, and I won the first three rounds by a good margin."
She then admitted, "But then I felt tired. I don't know if it was because of the diet." Ben Ephraim weighed in the lightest of her career for this fight, but she thought she cut weight intelligently. "I did it step by step and didn't starve myself at all," she said.
This was Odelia's first ten round bout. Both she and Alvarez are intense fighters who let their hands go. Alvarez pressures consistently even if it means eating a few punches along the way. Ben Ephraim picked her combinations well, but her high punch activity and low right hand did allow Alvarez to land her left.
Ben Ephraim's dad David, a long time trainer, explained, "She didn't manage to do the little extra things to win at the opponent's place." Alvarez has benefitted from hometown decisions in the past.
The judges' scores were 99-91, 98-92, and 97-93, all for Alvarez, who is now 12-1 with 2 KOs. Ben Ephraim, who was gracious in defeat, is 5-4.
"I have no regrets at all," Odelia said. "I did everything I could. I gave my whole soul and body out in the ring even when I felt exhausted." Despite the challenges she has encountered this year and during this past training camp, she's proud of her performance. "I made a lot of progress, I never gave up, and most importantly, I'm not injured nor bruised at all after the fight."
More details to come....
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