It wasn’t easy, but a battle-ravaged Jackie Nava overcame a tough challenge from the scrappy and headbutt-happy Gloria Elena Yancaqueo to emerge victorious in her farewell fight in Tijuana last night by scores of 98-92 and 97-93 (x2).
Well before she recently came to the conclusion that the time was right to hang up her boxing gloves for good, the question of Nava’s Hall of Fame credentials wasn’t really a question at all. The eventuality of her plaque hanging on a wall in Canastota among the pugilistic immortals has long been considered inevitable rather than debatable. Now that the ‘Aztec Princess’ has officially relinquished her crown after two decades, just three years separate her from eligibility for enshrinement.
The 42-year-old Nava punched her Hall of Fame ticket, not to mention four dozen faces, during the course of a stellar career that dates back to May 29, 2001 when she traveled from Tijuana, Mexico to Honolulu, Hawaii and outpointed the 1-0 hometown favorite, Vicki Cozy, over four rounds. Cozy decided she was not cut out for boxing and never competed again. In just over four years, Nava would become a two-division world champion.
Having claimed the Mexico super-bantamweight title ten months earlier, Jackie stopped Martha Leticia Arevalo in the seventh round to win the inaugural WBA world bantamweight championship, and rejoined the ranks of the 122-pound class four and a half months later where became the first ever female to hold a WBC world title belt by virtue of a unanimous decision over New York native ‘Downtown’ Leona Brown.
Her first reign at super-bantamweight lasted ten days short of a full calendar year. On May 20, 2006, Nava was flattened by an Argentinian ‘Locomotive’ named Alejandra Marina Oliveras, who put Jackie on the deck twice en route to an eighth-round knockout. Their rematch nine months later ended in a majority draw. Oliveras, herself a deserving Hall of Fame candidate, would be the only woman to put Nava down for the count and ran full steam ahead toward 33 career victories and world titles in four weight classes before pulling into the last station on the line in 2017.
Defeating Donna Biggers in September 2007 earned Nava the interim version of the WBC super-bantam belt, but her next shot at reclaiming the world title ended in disappointment when she was floored and widely decisioned by new champion Marcela Eliana Acuna. It would take seven years for Jackie to once again wear the green and gold around her waist, when she wrested it away from Brooklyn’s Alicia ‘Slick’ Ashley by majority decision in a 2014 unification bout. In the meantime, the ‘Aztec Princess’ had ascended to the WBA super-bantamweight throne with a ten-round shutout of Chantall Martinez.
Incidentally, Ashley, yet another strong contender for Hall of Fame induction, took the now vacant belt back the following year by beating Christina McMahon. 48 years old at the time, Alicia became (and remains) the oldest female boxer to win a world championship.
Nava’s win over Gloria Elena Yancaqueo last night capped off a career-closing 17-fight unbeaten streak which began in 2011 when she rebounded from a loss to Ana Maria Torres in their return bout by dominating Edith Soledad Matthysse two and a half months later. The lone blemish on her ledger since then was a majority draw against her old foe Marcela Eliana Acuna in May 2019.
In a long-awaited showdown between two Mexican living legends, Jackie outpointed Mariana Juarez by wide margins last October 30. Juarez (55-11-4, 19 KOs), like Nava, is 42 years of age. A 24-year veteran and three-division world champion, she has hinted that her upcoming challenge of WBC super-bantamweight title-holder Yamileth Mercado on October 15 may be her last fight as well, which would pit Mariana against Jackie Nava once more three years from now–this time for a spot on the International Boxing Hall of Fame ballot.
In the world of boxing, retirements can be as fleeting as the rest period between rounds, and the pugilist emeritus in question is often back in action no sooner than you can count to sixty. Whether Nava’s withdrawal from the sport is permanent or temporary remains to be seen, but with nothing left to prove inside the ring and a family to enjoy spending a hard-won abundance of leisure time with, not to mention some unsightly lumps to tend to after being repeatedly butted by Yancaqueo last night, the ‘Aztec Princess’ will hopefully lay down her scepter to be fought over by a new generation of women whom Nava played a most influential role in helping to inspire.
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