Alycia Baumgardner drops and dominates Elhem Mekhaled to become undisputed at 139lbs

Alycia Baumgardner defeated Elhem Mekhaled by unanimous decision at Madison Square Garden’s Hulu Theater. The 28-year-old Baumgardner became women’s boxing’s fully unified junior lightweight champion by retaining her IBF, IBO, WBC, and WBO 130-pound championships and winning the vacant WBA belt. The judges scored the bout 99-89, 99-89, and 98-90, all in favour of Baumgardner.

Baumgardner (14-1, 7 KOs) dropped her opponent twice in the fourth and badly hurt Mekhaled in the seventh round to dominate the fight, despite Mekhaled's (15-2, 3 KOs) valiant effort to come back in the later rounds. The Parisian fighter has now lost back-to-back bouts, the previous one being against Delfine Persoon.

Mikaela Mayer, Baumgardner's rival, watched the fight from a ringside seat and wants a rematch as soon as possible. Mekhaled showed her toughness and never gave up, catching Baumgardner with a right hand in the 10th round and having a strong showing in the ninth. However, Baumgardner's power and dominance proved too much for Mekhaled. The fight was an entertaining one-sided battle that solidifies Baumgardner's status as the best female boxers.