Costa Rican Boxing Star Yokasta Valle Eyes Another World Title

Costa Rican boxing star Yokasta Valle will return to the ring Saturday, May 30, with a chance to add another major belt to one of the most decorated careers in Costa Rican sports. Valle will face Mexico’s Lourdes “La Pequeña Lulú” Juárez for the WBC junior flyweight world title at the El Paso County Coliseum in Texas. The fight is part of MVPW-03, an all-women’s boxing card promoted by Most Valuable Promotions and airing on ESPN and the ESPN App.

For Costa Rican fans, the bout carries extra weight as this is Valle’s bid for a seventh world title, a milestone that would add to her standing as one of our country’s most internationally recognized athletes of the past decade.

The challenge is different from many of Valle’s recent fights. She is moving up from 105 pounds, where she holds the WBC strawweight title, to 108 pounds to challenge Juárez for the WBC junior flyweight belt. Repretel reported that Valle had to increase muscle mass to adapt to the higher division.

The matchup also gives Valle a larger U.S. platform at a time when women’s boxing is drawing bigger cards and stronger television placement. The El Paso event includes four world title fights, with Stephanie Han vs. Holly Holm and Amanda Serrano vs. Cheyenne Hanson also on the card.

Valle enters with a professional record of 34-3, while Juárez brings a 39-4 mark into the title defense. MVP lists the fight as a main-card bout for the WBC junior flyweight world championship.

Juárez is no soft landing. The Mexican champion is a two-division titleholder and successfully defended her WBC light flyweight belt in 2025. MVP announced in April that she had joined its women’s boxing roster and would defend her title against Valle on May 30.

For Valle, the fight offers a chance to show that her success can carry into another weight class. She has already won world titles across multiple divisions and remains Costa Rica’s leading figure in professional boxing. The WBC has described her as a three-division world champion and current strawweight champion.

Her profile extends beyond boxing. UNESCO named Valle a United Nations Champion for her example in the fight for women’s rights in 2023, noting that she moved from Nicaragua to Costa Rica as a child and became an example for girls, women and migrants pursuing their goals.

That broader story helps explain why the bout is drawing attention outside the sports pages. Valle has become a rare Costa Rican athlete with sustained international visibility, especially in a sport where Costa Rica has not traditionally produced global stars. Her fights are followed closely at home, and this one will be broadcast in Costa Rica on Repretel’s Canal 6 and Repretel.com, with coverage scheduled from 6:30 p.m.

For those in Costa Rica who follow women’s boxing, the fight gives our country a clear sporting storyline this weekend. Valle is not just appearing on a major card. She is chasing another world title against an experienced Mexican champion on U.S. soil, with the chance to turn a Saturday night fight into a national celebration.

A win would strengthen Valle’s case as one of Costa Rica’s most successful athletes in any sport. It would also give local fans another reason to rally around a fighter who has carried the Costa Rican flag into some of women’s boxing’s biggest moments.

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المصدر: Tico Times