Big compliment for SES
I want to give a big compliment to SES for the Ragisona vs Mahfood matchup. They are taking a chance and bring a good quality opponent to Germany. Mahfood is a tough veteran who's leaning towards the downside of her career. Some people will say it's to early to throw Ragosina in against an experienced fighter like Mahfood, but I disagree. There is no other choice.
If you have a hard to market middleweight (an empty division) like Ragosina under contract, it has only one purpose: try and set up a fight against Ali and cash in there. Normally you have time to build her up properly, but since Ali is looking to do only about 2 or 3 more fights before becoming a mother, you have to hurry. That means you have to make a direct comparisson to Ali. There is no better way to do that than fighting Mahfood, who has been TKO'd twice by Ali in the mid and later rounds and is slipping a bit. If you beat Mahood soundly, you jump into the international picture. Since Ali wants no part of the number 1 in the division (Anne Wolfe), and therefor will be looking for something softer in her 2nd and 3rd fight from now, you can rocket yourself into the market as an unknown middleweight that beat Mahfood the same way Ali did. Ali might grab the bait as she doesn't know anything about Ragosina other than that she (let's say) beat Mahfood. Does Ragosina have a chance vs Ali? No! But it's a way to get your investment back as a promoter and even make a little money on top of it. But let's not look past Mahfood.
Mahfood is no Reis, the "strongest" fighter Ragosina faced. This is a different class. The good thing, for Ragosina, about Mahfood is that she is not consistent. Sometimes she shows up as a true world champion, and sometimes she fights like a middle of the road fighter. So you can take a chance and hope the "bad" Mahfood shows up.
Mahfood is a fighter with decent skills, fair power and a lot of experience, where Ragosina is a fighter that is a one-dimensional, almost robotic fighter, with decent power but little pro experience. That doesn't sound good for Ragosina if it wasn't that Mahfood, besides being not consistent, tends to tire relatively early. That means Ragosina has to pace herself and needs to devide her fight well so she can drag Mahfood into the later rounds where she has to apply a lot of pressure. Mahfood CAN be ko'd and does not have the best chin in the world. She bleeds easy from the nose, which should not be a problem to her having an experienced women's boxing ref like vd Wiele in the ring. But you never know how some ringdoctors respond to it, especially when it comes to (foreign) women. So there's another chance for Ragosina.
Another thing that could make a difference: We know from Mahfood that she's not scared of the devil and that she can handle pressure well and doesn't give up early. That is something that I don't know of Ragosina yet. How will she respond to a fighter that will be coming after you as long as her chins allows her to? Even a sloppy fighter like Reis tried to apply pressure every once in a while and I didn't like the way Ragosina responded to that. I do not think Ragosina will take Mahfood out, keeping in mind that she couldn't take out a Jr. Welterweight in her last fight and that the people she DID ko'd were far from being of the level Mahfood is at. But like I said: Mahfood can be ko'd. Especially in the later rounds. The two times that she was ko'd early was just a matter of the opponent "having her number" if you know what I mean. There are fighters that you can just never beat.
So the ball is really in Ragosina's court. That's why I think it's a smart matchup. SES can find out early out of what wood Ragosina is carved. If she passes this test, she's in the race for an Ali match. (but no guarantee there, as you never know with Ali) If she doesn't beat the girl Ali ko'd twice, SES know's they better stop investing in her. Time's too short. It's better to find out early so in case it goes wrong, you didn't put too much money into handling Ragosina's career. For the rest this division is empty and there is nothing to gain. You would run out of opponents within a year.
My personal oppinion: I can see Mahfood cruising to a decision, simply because she is more allround and has a good workrate, giving Ragosina the benefit of the doubt in regards to her ability of being able to handle pressure.
On the other hand there remains a chance of Ragosina cathing her with a lucky punch from which Mahfood can't recover. The later in the fight, the bigger the chance. But that chance is smaller than the first option imho, and heavily depending on in what shape Mahfood enters the ring. The first two rounds will make most of that clear.