Yokasta Valle will return to headline a homecoming event against Rocío Gaspar on July 18 at the Cámara de Ganaderos de Liberia in Guanacaste, Costa Rica.
Valle (33-3, 10 KOs) will defend her WBC strawweight title when she opposes Peru’s
Gaspar (12-2, 3 KOs), the sixth-ranked contender for her title. Valle, a 32-year-old three-division champion, is coming off
a split-decision win against Marlen Esparza in a non-title flyweight fight March 29.
It appeared at the time that Golden Boy Promotions was
building Valle as a potential opponent for undisputed flyweight champion Gabriela Fundora, but Valle has returned back to 105 pounds to defend her throne under her own banner, Yoka Sport & Boxing Promotions.
Valle is riding a three-fight winning streak since suffering a competitive 10-round, unanimous-decision defeat to
Seniesa Estrada in a March 2024 fight for The Ring, IBF, WBA, WBC and WBO 105-pound championships. Estrada retired soon after and vacated the titles, which allowed Valle to win the WBC crown when she beat Elizabeth Lopez Corzo last November 1 in Guanacaste.
Gaspar hasn’t fought since she lost a unanimous decision to
Tina Rupprecht in December 2022. Valle’s challenger has lost two of her past three bouts, but she didn’t fight for 5½ years, from December 2016 until August 2022.
Valle is The Ring’s No. 1 contender for its vacant strawweight title. Gaspar is not ranked among The Ring’s top five contenders in the 105-pound division.
Manouk Akopyan is The Ring’s lead writer. Follow him on X and Instagram: @ManoukAkopyan.