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Hungarian title holder Renata
Szebeledi rejoiced when finally
she was crowned world champion
in her third attempt last
Saturday (July 2) in Lemgo,
Germany after she upset local
favorite Pia Mazelanik is an
intense battle to win a
unanimous 10-round verdict and
with it the vacant WBF womens
world bantamweight championship.
Still only 20 years of age,
Renata turned professional back
in 2008 – and lost her first
five bouts in a row! From her
following 15 contests since, she
suffered just three reversals: A
6-rounder against current WBF
womens world superflyweight
champion Nadya Hokmi and
back-to-back losses for WBF
world titles last year. In
September, the young Budapest
girl ventured to South Africa to
take on Unathi Myekeni for the
superbantam belt and two months
later she took on Oksana
Vasilieva in Russia for the
featherweight title, both times
giving a good account before
losing on points (Szebeledi was
never stopped in her career).
Now she finally returned to her
natural bantamweight division –
and hot favorite Mazelanik,
12-3-1 (0) going in, was not
able to stand the heat that
Szebeledi brought to the ring.
Boxing open air on this cold
evening, Pia took the first
round, before Renata got going.
To all intends, this was
Szebeledi’s career-best
performance and she would not be
denied. Just when Pia looked to
get back into things, Renata
send her heavily to the floor in
round six. From then on, it was
an uphill battle for Mazelanik,
who fought her heart out to the
delight of the huge
admission-free crowd. After a
fast-paced, action-packed fight,
handled well by Luxembourg
referee Tonio Tiberi, all three
judges had Szebeledi ahead by
97:92 (Tamas Sasvari from
Hungary), 96:94 (Dominique
Schmitt from Luxembourg) and
95:94 (Arnold Golger from
Germany).
It was a hard road to the world
title for Szebeledi, as her
record of 12-8 (6) attests, but
she thoroughly deserves to be at
the pinnacle of her career so
far, joining the ever-growing
list of champions produced by
Zoltan Petranyi’s Profibox
Promotion. Mazelanik’s trainer
Kai Gutmann, who co-promoted
this excellent event with his
partner Thomas Mrutzek, said in
the ring:
“We knew Szebeledi is really
tough and strong, but too many
girls take easy roads to titles
these days in laughable matches
which alienate sponsors and fans
sooner or later. This will not
happen with my boxers at my
shows. We want real fights, even
at the risk of losing. Pia lost
today fairly, but she will come
back stronger for the experience
and the fans will love her for
that, because they got more
action from her and Szebeledi
tonight than Klitschko and Haye
delivered. That’s what boxing is
about!”.
Saioni Wins Nice Battle
At the age of 36 and after ten
long years in the paid ranks,
Frenchman Denis Saioni finally
won the first professional title
of his career when he annexed
the vacant World Boxing
Federation International
middleweight crown on Thursday
(June 30) in his hometown of
Nice at the Cote d’Azur. Saioni
deservedly won an 10-round
unanimous decision over
Portugal’s former WBF
Intercontinental champion and
world title challenger Vitor Sa,
which was scored 97:93 (twice)
and 96:94.
Sa, from Oporto, was fired up
and chased Saioni throughout,
who cleverly circled the ring.
The hometown favourite boxed
from the outside, but stopped
and punched enough to be in
command. However, any time he
wasn’t fast enough, Vitor was
able to land telling punches.
After six rounds, it was still
everybody’s fight and the crowd
at the open air Masséna Forum in
the center of Nice pushed their
hero forward throughout. From
round seven onwards, Saioni was
able to pull away to secure
victory, but with blood flowing
down from a cut over the right
eye (from a legal punch as ruled
by Austrian ref Ernst Salzgeber),
Sa was still trying to win in
the last round.
When Denis was finally awarded
his first championship belt,
everyone in attendance knew he
had witnessed a minor classic.
Saioni improved his record to
35-5 (14), while Sa fell to 24-6
(4). The show was expertly
staged by Pierre Vitale of the
boxing club PC Nicois.
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