Denice Zamboanga says Julie Mezabarba was as strong as advertised

At ONE Fight Night 9, Denice Zamboanga improved her current run to back to back wins with a unanimous decision over Julie Mezabarba.

On April 21 at the legendary Lumpinee Boxing Stadium, Zamboanga kept her momentum pushing forward, putting her consecutive losses to Ham Seo Hee in the rearview mirror.

The Filipino atomweight contender has only tasted defeat at the hands of Ham Seo Hee, who is now the next in line for a world championship shot following her wins over Zamboanga and Itsuki Hirata.

Taking on Brazil’s Mezabarba, Zamboanga’s boxing proved to be the difference between the two contenders as she landed the cleaner shots more frequently in their striking exchanges.

Her opponent started to have more success once she added takedowns to her offense, grabbing a hold of her opponent and negating her superior striking by tying her up.

In her post-event interview after ONE Fight Night 9, Denice Zamboanga reflected on her performance, saying what she could have done better and where her opponent had the advantage:

“Oh, yeah. I know. Her body so strong. I think she's stronger than me when it comes to scrambling and clinching. But I think there was a problem. I want to go strike with her but she keeps on clinching with me so I think that's what I need to work on.”

Successfully defending her position in the rankings against Julie Mezabarba who was desperately in search of a rebound win, will set Zamboanga up for a big night next time around.

While the current world championship picture in the atomweight division remains blurry as fans and fighters alike wait for an update on the current titleholder Angela Lee, Denice may feature in a world title eliminator in the near future.