Kim Shantal said she was frightened when organizers changed her opponent for Supernova Génesis and replaced Lupita Villalobos with Karely Ruiz just hours after Villalobos withdrew because of a subdural hematoma.
In a documentary on her YouTube channel, Shantal said the switch landed like a blow of its own. She said Ruiz came into the bout after a defeat and would try to win hard enough to erase that result, while she was still making her debut in this kind of combat.
The change came only a few days before Supernova Génesis 2026, and it forced a fight Shantal had spent months preparing for into a new matchup with little time to adjust. Organizers announced Ruiz as the replacement opponent after Villalobos pulled out, and Shantal said the timing made the whole process feel unstable.
Shantal said she viewed Ruiz as the more polished fighter, with more boxing experience and prior appearances in Stream Fighters and Ring Royale. “Ayer sí fue como una frustración bien enorme porque yo me siento en desventaja en esta ocasión,” she said, adding that she saw Ruiz as better trained and more seasoned inside the ring.
That frustration also came from the sacrifice behind her own preparation. Shantal said she wanted the fight to go ahead because she had turned down a long list of travel, DJ and other work offers that would have paid well, all so she could focus on training. “Quiero que se haga porque me parece que ha sido en vano todo lo que he hecho en estos meses,” she said.
The last-minute switch now leaves Shantal trying to turn a disrupted buildup into a credible debut against a rival she says is entering with more experience and more to prove. Ruiz may have been the replacement, but for Shantal the bigger issue is that the fight no longer resembles the one she trained for.