Ferreira vs Lescano Predictions: Brazilian to succeed in maiden 10-rounder

Beatriz Ferreira takes on Yanina del Carmen Lescano this Saturday, April 27, for the vacant IBF lightweight title. The Exhibition Centre in Liverpool will host the world championship match-up, with DAZN screening the bout. Here are my Ferreira vs Lescano predictions for a fight in which everything is on the line.

Ferreira is attempting something truly unprecedented with her 2024. Fighting battles on two fronts, the Brazilian is looking to rule the world in both the amateur and pro games. Since the Rio 2016 Olympics, professional boxers have been permitted to take part in the competition. That rule change has not brought about the feared influx of elite punchers-for-pay and thus a reigning world champion is yet to win an Olympic medal.

But Ferreira, who clinched silver at the Tokyo 2020 games, is hoping to be the first to do just that. At 4-0 in the pro game, she remains technically a novice despite this world title chance. Therefore, her balancing of the commercial strain of the sport with the amateur code is far less egregious than, say, Anthony Joshua popping back to moonlight at another Olympics. 

Ferreira has arrived on the precipice of her twin goal earlier than expected. When Katie Taylor vacated the IBF lightweight title, the sanctioning body ordered an all-British clash between Rhiannon Dixon and Caroline Dubois. The former would instead pursue the vacant WBO strap, which she won last weekend against Karen Carbajal. Dubois would drop out, as would replacement Jelena Janicijevic. 

This has opened the door for the four-fight Ferreira and Lescano to contest the vacant crown in Liverpool. While the bout may lack the intrigue of the mooted Dixon-Dubois clash of unbeaten Brits, it is still a fine contest with a prestigious prize.

In terms of professional experience, the advantage lies with Lescano. She is 14-3 and has contested several meaningful fights across her seven years in the ring. Lescano took Olympic gold medalist Estelle Mossely to a split decision, losing narrowly in a 2021 IBO title challenge. She has been the distance with Dubois too, losing over eight rounds last June.

But there have been important victories too. Lescano is a former WBC Latina and South American lightweight champion. She has racked up first-round knockouts of Lorena Edith Agoutborde and former world title challenger Yenifer Rodriguez. While she might be the underdog, the Argentine is not coming merely to take part.

She faces the tallest of tasks though. While we haven’t seen a great deal of Ferreira at this level, what we have seen has been mightily impressive. The 31-year-old has four wins, with two coming inside the distance. Ferreira has stopped Carisse Brown and Destiny Jones while outpointing Karla Ramos Zamora and Taynna Cardoso. 

Interestingly, this will be Ferreira’s first fight scheduled for the women’s championship distance of 10 rounds. Lescano has gone this distance on three occasions with six of her fights scheduled for it. She is accustomed to training for 10 rounds and is no stranger to competing for  the full duration. Can Ferreira make the step up?

I feel like she can. While through the amateurs and pros Ferreira has competed in shorter fights, there is nothing in her make-up that suggests to me she can’t excel over 10. I’m backing Ferreira to do exactly that, with a decision victory for the Brazilian priced at 8/5 which implies a 38.5% probability.

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