Marlen Esparza

Esparza won a bronze medal at the 2006 Women's World Boxing Championship,^[2] gold at the 2014 AIBA Women's World Boxing Championships, and bronze at the 2016 AIBA Women's World Boxing Championships.^[3]

In 2012 she became the first American woman to qualify for the Olympics in women's boxing, in the first year that women's boxing was an Olympic event.^[4] At the 2012 Summer Olympics she defeated Karlha Magliocco, making her the first American woman winner of an Olympic boxing match.^[5][6] She won a bronze medal in the women's flyweight division,^[5] making her the first American woman winner of any Olympic boxing medal.^[7]

Esparza was voted the Houston Fighter Of The Year (an award that encompasses both professional and amateur boxers) for 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014.^[3] She also won the inaugural Houston Female Fighter of the Year in 2022.^[8]

In December 2016, she signed a contract with Golden Boy Promotions and subsequently made her pro debut on ESPN's March 23, 2017 opening card of a multi-year deal with Golden Boy. She won that fight, which was against Rachel Sazoff.^[9]

She faced Seniesa Estrada for the WBA interim female flyweight title on November 2, 2019 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Paradise, Nevada. The bout formed part of the undercard for Canelo Álvarez vs. Sergey Kovalev. The bout was stopped at the end of the ninth round, on the advice of the ringside doctor, after Esparza suffered a cut in the fifth round from an accidental clash of heads, handing her the first defeat of her professional career by way of a unanimous technical decision.^[10]

Esparza won her first professional world title by defeating WBC flyweight champion Ibeth Zamora Silva via unanimous decision at Don Haskins Center, El Paso, Texas, on June 19, 2021.^[11]

She became a unified world champion when she scored a unanimous decision win over WBA title holder Naoko Fujioka at the Alamodome, San Antonio, Texas, on April 9, 2022, in a contest which was also for the inaugural Ring female world flyweight championship.^[12][13]

On July 8, 2023, at the AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas, Esparza defeated Gabriela Celeste Alaniz by majority decision to add the WBO female flyweight title to her collection.^[14][15]

Esparza was scheduled to defend her WBA, WBC, WBO flyweight titles in a rematch against Alaniz on March 16, 2024, in Las Vegas^[16] but the fight was postponed due to challenger's US VISA issue.^[17][18] The fight eventually took place on April 27, 2024, at Save Mart Arena, Fresno, California, although Esparza missed weight by 2 lbs, and was ineligible to keep the titles in case of her victory.^[19][20] Alaniz won the contest by split decision.^[21]

Esparza, who is of Mexican descent, graduated from Pasadena High School in Pasadena, Texas in 2007.^[22] She was the subject of Soledad O'Brien's 2011 CNN documentary In Her Corner: Latino in America 2.^[23]

She had an endorsement deal with CoverGirl cosmetics^[24] and appeared in a Spanish-language commercial for Coca-Cola.^[25] Esparza also appeared in an advert for animal rights group PETA.^[26]