Arely Mucino waited more than three years for another shot at a major title.

The past fifteen months of that run was spent while carrying the memory of her father and head trainer, Juan Mucino to whom her latest title win was dedicated.

Mucino fought with emotion and through a badly swollen left eye to enter her fourth flyweight title win following a ten-round split decision win over Argentina’s Leonela Yudica. Judge David Soliven (96-94) preferred the boxing and counterpunching style of Yudica, overruled by judges Alejandro Rochin (96-94) and Zachary Young (97-93) who had Mucino doing enough to claim the IBF flyweight title Saturday evening at Pechanga Arena in San Diego, California.

The battle of boxer versus volume puncher played out exactly to the scouting report. Yudica spent much of the night on the outside, looking for counterpunching opportunities, which came with greater frequency in the early rounds. Mucino charged forward for all ten rounds but didn’t always find the mark in the opening round.

Mucino settled down and concentrated more on her body attack in round two. The 33-year-old from Monterrey, Mexico was able to cut off the ring and connect with her left hook downstairs. Yudica adjusted when mobility alone couldn’t get the job done, relying on her stellar defense to pick off most of the incoming.

A hematoma began to develop over the left eye of Mucino, who fought through the pain and began to increase both her activity and power behind those punches.

Yudica landed her jab and was able to catch Mucino with a right hand but admired her work in lieu of getting out of harm’s way. Mucino was able to make her pay, sitting down on her punches and forcing Yudica to fight off the ropes for much of round four and five.

Mucino had additional swelling under her left eye, but continued to charge forward in her best effort to force a fight. Yudica showed patience and poise, landing counter right hands on an oncoming Mucino in round seven.

A much-needed shift in momentum came early in round eight, forced by Mucino who forced Yudica in retreat mode. Mucino landed a straight right hand upstairs, immediately followed by a left hook to the body.Yudica adapted, continuing to enjoy success with her right hand on Mucino’s badly swollen left eye. A jab-right hand combination by Mucino backed up Yudica but was short with her left hand at round’s end.

Two-way action ensued in round nine. Mucino charged forward, with Yudica making a conscious decision to stand her ground and sit down on her punches. Mucino bobbed and weaved at close quarters, though Yudica was able to time her movement and land right hands upstairs. Mucino compensated with superior volume, as was the case in an impassioned final round to secure the victory and her fourth title reign.

Mucino improves to 33-3-2 (11KOs) with the gutsy win, returning to the title picture for the first time in more than three years. She previously held the WBO title but had to give up the belt in 2019 due to injury preventing her from properly defending the crown. Saturday’s win was her second since following her husband and former WBO junior flyweight titlist Angel ‘Tito’ Acosta to the Indio, California gym of Joel Diaz, who pushed his fighter to dig deep down the stretch to once again become champion.

Yudica suffers her first defeat in falling to 18-1-3 (1KO). The loss ends what was boxing’s second longest active title reign only to WBA junior lightweight titlist Hyun Mi Choi, having previously made nine defenses of the belt she held since December 2014.

Headlining the show, former IBF junior lightweight titlist Joseph ‘JoJo’ Diaz (32-2-1, 15KOs) faces unbeaten 135-pound contender William Zepeda 26-0, 23KOs) in a scheduled twelve-round bout above the lightweight limit.

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for krikya360.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox