For the first time in her professional career, Maricela Cornejo will get to box for her hometown crowd.
Cornejo, 38, was born in Prosser, Washington, and grew up in the nearby community of Grandview. Both are a few hours outside of Seattle but – more importantly – only half an hour or so from where Cornejo will be fighting on Friday.
She will headline at the Legends Casino Hotel in Toppenish, facing Natasha Spence in a six-round middleweight bout.
“Beyond excited to fight in front of my hometown!” Cornejo said in a press release. “It has been a goal of mine to come back here where I grew up and have all my family be able to take a 30-minute drive to watch me fight.”
The show is promoted by Roy Jones Jnr, who is also scheduled to have three separate musical performances that night. A stream is scheduled to begin at 10 p.m. ET (3 a.m. BST) on the RJJBoxing YouTube page.
Cornejo, 19-7 (7 KOs), lives these days in Los Angeles. She was last in the ring almost exactly a year ago, coming in as a late replacement and losing a unanimous decision to former undisputed welterweight champion Cecilia Braekhus. That fight, a junior middleweight bout, was on the undercard of Vergil Ortiz Jnr-Serhii Bohachuk in Las Vegas.
The loss to Braekhus ended a three-fight winning streak Cornejo had put together following a shutout defeat to undisputed middleweight champion Claressa Shields in June 2023. Cornejo also lost title fights earlier in her career against Kali Reis at middleweight and twice against Franchon Crews-Dezurn at super middleweight.
Spence, a 40-year-old from the Canadian province of Ontario, is 8-8-2 (6 KOs). She has gone 0-6-1 in her last seven fights but has shown as sturdy chin against name opponents while fighting between junior middleweight and super middleweight, dropping decisions to the likes of Hanna Gabriel in a title fight at 154lbs, Melinda Watpool (twice), Shadasia Green, Tamm Thibeault and Elia Carranza.
David Greisman, who has covered boxing since 2004, is on Twitter @FightingWords2. David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” is available on Amazon.
