Baumgardner-Makhaled Preview
WBC/WBO/IBF/Ring Magazine super featherweight titleholder Alycia Baumgardner will fight for the undisputed championship on Saturday night against Elhem Mekhaled at Madison Square Garden's Hulu Theater. Baumgardner will be putting her titles on the line and competing for the vacant WBA belt, in an attempt to unify the 130-pound division.
The 28-year-old Baumgardner (13-1, 7 KO) has been on one of the more remarkable and sudden risers in women’s boxing over the last couple of years. She entered the title picture after her stunning fourth round TKO of Terri Harper, in late 2021, in which she won the WBC title.
Then, after a title defense in early 2022, Baumgardner took on the WBO/IBF titleholder Mikaela Mayer in her most recent outing. The highly-anticipated bad blood unification against Mayer was her biggest fight and her biggest win to date.
Baumgardner’s upcoming opponent, Makhaled (15-1, 3 KO), is relatively unknown amongst the boxing public, coming into this fight in what will be her first full-version world title bout. Despite being unsuccessful in her competition for the WBC Silver title, she has shared the ring against top opposition; her most recent outing being against Delfine Persoon.
If she’s able to win the undisputed championship, it’ll be interesting to see where Baumgardner goes from there. She could stay at 130 pounds and defend the title against a notable opponent, like former WBA titleholder Choi Hyun-mi. Or, she could go after a rematch with Mayer, which would probably be the more lucrative option. However, Mayer has recently expressed interest in moving up in weight, so this intention may affect the possibility of that matchup occurring.
Fighter’s Form (last 5 fights):
Alycia Baumgardner
Mikaela Mayer - WIN by SD (96-95, 96-95, 93-97) - 22/10/2022
Edith Soledad Matthysse - WIN by UD (100-90, 100-90, 100-90) - 17/04/2022
Terri Harper - WIN by TKO 4 - 13/11/2021
Vanessa Bradford - WIN by UD (Scores not available) - 14/08/2021
Cristina Del Valle Pacheco - WIN by TKO 1 - 14/12/2019
Elhem Mekhaled
Delfine Persoon - LOSS by UD (93-97, 94-97, 94-96) - 21/05/2022
Pasa Malagic - WIN by KO 1 - 18/09/2021
Karina Szmalenberg - WIN by UD (60-54, 59-56, 59-55) - 28/12/2019
Gabriella Mezei - WIN by DQ - 15/11/2019
Danila Ramos - WIN by UD (97-93, 97-93, 97-94) - 16/03/2019
Event Information:
Date: February 4, 2022
Time: 2:00 am (GMT), 6:00pm (PT), 9:00pm (ET)
Venue: Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York, USA
Channel: DAZN
Elsewhere on the card
Baumgardner-Makhaled will be chief support to the headliner of the card, a women’s WBC/WBO/IBF/Ring Magazine featherweight championship unification between Amanda Serrano (43-2-1, 30 KO) and Erika Cruz (15-1, 3 KO). Also on the card is super lightweight contender Richardson Hitchins (15-0, 7 KO), who takes on John Bauza (17-0, 7 KO) – a 10-round battle between two undefeated fighters.