|
Two new WBF World Champions were
crowned on Friday night June 15,
as Holly Holm dethroned Women’s
World Welterweight Champion Anne
Sophie Mathis in Albuquerque,
New Mexico, and Nadjib Mohammedi
took the World Light Heavyweight
crown from Doudou Ngumbu in
Pennes Mirabeau, France.
Interestingly, both Mathis and
Mohammedi is managed by the same
manager, Christel Aujoux.
In a highly anticipated rematch,
Holly Holm evened the score with
Anne Sophie Mathis at the Route
66 Casino in Albuquerque when
she won a unanimous decision to
capture the WBF World title.
In their original meeting last
December Mathis won by brutal
knockout, and “The Preachers
Daughter” showed amazing mental
strength to get right back in
with the French power-puncher
and pull off the victory.
Unlike their first fight, Holm
seemed to be sticking to the
gameplan and boxed instead of
brawling with the stronger
Mathis, who in the first three
rounds struggled to cut off the
ring while Holm piled up points
from the distance. However, in
the middle rounds Mathis had
more success imposing her will
and made it a close fight.
In the final third of the bout
it looked as if Mathis might
repeat the dramatic ending of
the first encounter as she
slowly but surely began to close
the gap. But this time Holm
stood her ground and managed to
counter effectively and avoid
getting caught by the champion’s
hard punches.
Judges Lisa Giampa, Joel
Elizondo and David Moretti scored
the bout 97-93, 96-94 and 99-91,
the last score being
unrealistically wide, in favor
of Holm who, besides the WBF
World championship, can now also
lay claim to the female
Pound-For-Pound title.
The new champion improved her
record to 31-2-3 (9), while
Mathis lost for the first time
in almost seventeen years,
falling to 26-2 (22). The fight
was promoted by Fresquez
Productions, with WBF President
Howard Goldberg supervising from
ringside.
Thousands of miles away, in
Pennes Mirabeau, France,
reigning WBF Intercontinental
Light Heavyweight Champion
Nadjib Mohamedi impressively
stopped reigning WBF World
Champion Doudou Ngumbu at 2:19
of the fifth round. Up until
that point, the two had traded
on even terms.
The bout was fast-paced and
difficult to score, but Ngumbu
seemed slightly more accurate.
The finish came as a complete
surprise, as Mohammedi connected
with a perfect left hook that,
it would later be revealed,
broke the nose of Ngumbu and had
the champion bleeding heavily.
After this left hook, Ngumbu
completely fell apart and
drunkenly stumbled back while
Mohammedi sensed his moment and
rushed in to finish his foe with
a thunderous right hand. Ngumbu
fell on all fours, clearly dazed
and with blood from his nose
running down his face, as
referee Noel Monnet counted him
out.
With that, the crowd at the
Salle Jean Roure went wild as
Mohammedi fulfilled his dream of
becoming a world champion. He
improved his professional record
to 28-3 (15), and Ngumbu dropped
to 29-4 (11). Promoter was
Robert Safrani of Boxing Center.
|
