Boxing News

More than 3000 fans in the arena saw Kuehne dominate Brazilian challenger Halana Dos Santos for ten rounds, and score a one-sided unanimous decision: 100-90, 100-90 and 99-91. She improves her professional record to 20-1 (6), while Dos Santos falls to 14-5 (9).

Keuhne, making her fourth defense of the WBF title, made Dos Santos come forward in the first round and effectively countered the South Americans attacks. From the second round on it was Kuehne on the offensive, and Dos Santos was thoroughly put in her place with excellent boxing from the champion.

Especially in the fifth and eight rounds it was one-way traffic, and while she was not able to threaten Kuehne, Dos Santos deserves credit for not giving up and for doing her best under heavy fire. The difference in class was just too big, and there was never any doubt as to who would emerge victorious.

“It was very hard to be out of the ring for so long, but the fight was fun”, said a happy Kuehne at the post fight press conference. “The spectators were fantastic, and I hope to fight in Potsdam again in the future.”

The Ramona Kuehne vs. Halana Dos Santos WBF World Super Featherweight title fight was promoted by SES Boxing, and went out live in Germany on Sport 1 television.

More than 5000 fans showed up to support and celebrate El Halabi, who was miraculously returning to the ring after being shot in hands, knees and feet by her estranged stepfather in April 2011, but after an inspired and admirable performance it was not enough in the end.

Both fighters started cautiously, feeling each other out, but Morelli (18-3, 8 KOs) may have nicked most of the early rounds by being more precise with her punches. Midway through the bout things got more heated and the exchanges more frequent, as both had their success.

After ten good, close rounds Morelli was declared the victor by scores of 96-95, 97-93 and 95-95, but El Halabi must still be considered a major winner for defying the odds and coming back from tragedy to perform at world class level.

“I congratulate Lucia on the victory”, said El Halabi after the fight. “She was just a little bit better than me, but I gave it everything I had and it was not quite enough. I lost the fight, but I gained so much and I am happy. I’m back in my life!”

When asked if she perhaps should have returned against an easier opponent, El Halabi, who lost for the first time as a professional (11-1, 6 KOs), didn’t want to offer any excuses for the defeat, saying:

“I was having a hard time finding my distance and it took me two or three rounds too long to find it, but I didn’t want to return against an easy opponent. I wanted to fight someone as tough as Lucia. I wanted an honest fight, and I lost honestly. That’s the way sports should be!”

El Halabi expressed her gratitude towards the many fans in attendance, and promised them that she would return soon and eventually become a world champion again. Both camps expressed interest in a rematch, and there is no doubt that the loyal fans of El Halabi will turn out again to cheer her on.

Also on Saturday night, at the Palais des Sports in Saint-Quentin, France, German underdog Mounir Toumi survived a first-round knockdown to capture the vacant WBF International Light Heavyweight title with a split decision over Tony Averlant.

Toumi, coming off four straight victories after going 10-11 in his first twenty-one starts, showed great willpower to not be discouraged by the knockdown, and came back strong to edge the local man after ten entertaining rounds of boxing.

The three judges at ringside scored the bout 95-94, 95-94 for the visitor and 97-93 for Averlant. The new champion improved his deceivingly modest professional record to 15-11 (5), while Averlant fell to 18-7-2 (4).

The fight was promoted by Bleu Ciel Production headed by Pascal Cordier.

Marco Antonio Rubio is finally a world champion, after failed attempts at middleweight against Kelly Pavlik and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., as he captured the vacant World Boxing Federation World Super Middleweight title by defeating former world champion Carlos Manuel Baldomir on Saturday night (Sept.  8) in Celaya, Mexico.

Rubio put on an impressive performance and totally dominated the cagey Argentinean, and eventually made Baldomir, who has beaten the likes of Zab Judah and Arturo Gatti, and gone the distance with Floyd Mayweather Jr., retire on his stool before the start of the fifth round.

32-year-old “El Veneno” hurt Baldomir already in the first round with a hard right hand, but the visitor from Santa Fe quickly recovered. In the second Rubio started to punch more in combinations, and Baldomir began to clinch in order to escape the Mexicans punishing blows.

In rounds three and four, Rubio derailed that strategy by using his longer reach to keep Baldomir at bay, continuously connecting with combinations and it looked like a steep up-hill battle for the courageous veteran. As the fourth round came to an end, Baldomir was already seriously marked in the face, and he didn’t come out for round five.

The new WBF World Champion improved his professional record to 55-6-1 (48), while Baldomir’s ledger dropped to 49-15-6 (15). This was only the third time that Baldomir lost inside the distance, but at 41 years of age he can no longer stay with murderous punchers such as Rubio.

The fight, staged at the Estadio Miguel Aleman and promoted by HG Boxing and Promociones Del Pueblo, was televised live throughout Mexico on Televisa.

Mexican power-puncher Marco Antonio Rubio will take on Argentina’s former World Champion Carlos Manuel Baldomir for the vacant World Boxing Federation World Super Middleweight title on Saturday September 8 at the Estadio Miguel Aleman in Celaya, Mexico.

The show, labeled “Viva Celaya Campeones”, will be promoted by HG Boxing and Promociones Del Pueblo, and will go out live on television throughout Mexico on Televisa.

Rubio, 54-6-1 (47), turned professional in 2000 and has since build an amazingly impressive resume. Almost half of his sixty-one fights were for titles, twenty-nine to be exact, and twenty-four times Rubio emerged victorious from championship bouts.

Having won Mexican national titles and various regional straps, this will be the 32-year-olds third attempt to capture a world championship. In 2009 he lost a challenge of world middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik, and this past February he got the wrong end of a close decision, also at middleweight, against Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.

Moving up to Super Middleweight, Rubio will this time be on home turf, and he won’t be coming in as the outsider. But he is facing a fighter in Baldomir, 49-14-6 (15), who is no stranger to being an outsider, and very often winning as such.

Although 41-years-old, Carlos Manuel Baldomir is still operating at a very high level, and all his impressive victories since turning pro in 1993 are way too many to mention. In 2006 he dethroned world champion Zab Judah in New York, and six months later defended the title by stopping Arturo Gatti in Atlantic City before ultimately relinquishing it on points to pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Since then a lot of water has flown under the bridge, and Baldomir has yet to recapture his old glory. In 2007 he came up short in a Super Welterweight world title-challenge against the late Vernon Forrest, and in 2011 he started to campaign at Middleweight without securing a shot at world honors.

In his last outing, this past July, Baldomir made his Super Middleweight debut with an impressive knockout victory over fellow countryman, and former Mundo Hispano Champion, Gaston Alejandro Vega. Not known as a hard puncher, but very much respected for his brilliant boxing intelligence, it seems that Baldomir is still able to hurt bigger opponents. And that’s exactly what he plans on doing to Rubio, saying: “Rubio can not deal with quality fighters. In Mexico, he’s a monster against bad fighters, but he always crumbles when he faces a fairly good fighter. Pavlik and Chavez Jr. are good examples. I have no fear of facing him at his weight. I know that even at 41-years-old and with the little time I have left boxing, I still have enough of an opportunity to beat him”.

The Rubio vs. Baldomir WBF World Super Middleweight title fight is a classic puncher vs. boxer encounter, between a young, albeit experienced, slugger and an older former world champion looking to get back on top. It remains to be seen if the power of Rubio will be too much for Baldomir, or if the Argentinean has too many tricks in the bag for Rubio to handle.