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Myriam Lamare
of France is yet another former
WBF Womens World Champion who
should go down in history as one
of the most accomplished female
operators in the sport. Retired
for only a couple of years at
time of writing, she was among
the elite for almost ten years.
Lamare was born on the very
first day of 1975, her father
French and her mother Algerian,
and left school at the age of
seventeen to pursue a job that
would help support her family.
As a teenager she kept active by
doing athletics and kick-boxing.
While staying in Martinique, the
French insular region in the
Caribbean sea, Lamare worked in
catering and continued her
Kick-boxing, which eventually
led her to conventional boxing
and back to mainland France to
embark on an extraordinarily
successful amateur career.
Lamare was a four-time French
champion, won gold in the 2001
European championships, and
silver in the world
championships that same year. In
2002 she did one better when she
captured gold in the world
championships, and in 2003 she
took home the gold again in the
European championships.
After fifty-two unpaid bouts,
where she won forty-nine times,
she decided it was time to earn
some money as a boxer, and reach
new goals. With that in mind,
she accepted an offer to turn
professional with the renowned
Acaries brothers, who ran one of
the most established promotional
groups in Europe.
Getting a late start in boxing,
Lamare was 28 years old when she
made her pro debut in October
2003. But it was soon clear that
she was levels above her
competitors, and just over a
year later, after only seven
straight victories, she won her
first world championship, the
WBA Light Welterweight title,
out-pointing American Eliza
Olson (8-3-2).
Lamare made five successful
defenses of the WBA world title,
including a third round stoppage
of former WBF world champion
Jane Couch (26-7) in a fight
where she also captured the WIBF
belt, before clashing with Anne
Sophie Mathis (12-1) in an
all-French Super-Fight in
December 2006.
Fighting on a huge show at the
Palais Omnisport in Paris,
televised by Canal + Sport, the
two ladies put on a marvelous
fight and gave each other hell
for seven rounds before Mathis
got the better of Lamare and
referee Daniel Talon stepped in
to save the defending champion.
The fight was so good it was
named Female Fight of the
Year by “The Bible of
Boxing”, Ring Magazine, and a
rematch was bound to happen. And
so it did, six months later,
with Lamare going straight back
in with Mathis, who had squeezed
in two quick non-title bouts in
the meantime.
On June 29 2007, at the Palais
des Sports in Marseille and
again going out to a huge TV
audience, Lamare and Mathis went
at it again, and delivered
another incredible fight. But
again Mathis had a little too
much for Lamare, and won by
majority decision.
Obviously there was no shame in
coming up short against a
fighter such as Mathis, who
would not only go on to add WBF
World titles at Welterweight and
Super Welterweight but also win
numerous other world
championships from other
organizations.
So, after three easy victories,
Lamare was soon ready to fight
at the very top again. In
January of 2009 she traveled to
America to fight another
all-time great in future WBF
two-weight world champion
Holly Holm (22-1-3), with
the WIBA World Welterweight
title on the line.
Lamare put up a very good
performance, but Welterweight
was not her natural division and
Holm won a deserved unanimous
decision. Now with a 16-3
record, Lamare wisely decided to
return to Light Welterweight,
and before the end of 2009 she
had reestablished herself as one
of the best in the world.
After the defeat to Holm, Lamare
decided to go on her own and
created a promotional company
called Absolute Boxing. Her
first card was a big one, staged
at the Salle Vallier in
Marseille, with herself in the
headliner fighting for another
world title.
On October 9, 2009, Lamare
squared off with former two-time
WBC World Lightweight ruler Ann
Saccurato (14-3-2) for the
vacant WBF World Light
Welterweight title. It was
make-or-break time for the now
34-year-old, and the American
was a very tough obstacle on
paper.
But Lamare was excellent on that
night, boxing extremely well on
her way to a clear unanimous
decision and her second
professional world championship.
With her performance she made it
clear to the boxing-world that
the losses to Mathis and Holm
had not signaled the end for
her.
True to form, Lamare did not
chose an easy opponent for her
first title-defense, as she took
on future WBF and WIBA world
champion Lucia Morelli (14-1)
from Italy on November 6, 2010.
Boxing in front of a packed
crowd, and televised to millions
across Europe on Eurosport, it
was another big night for Lamare
and French boxing.
And, despite being out of the
ring for over a year, the WBF
world champion hadn’t missed a
beat. Morelli was strong and had
her moments, as a quality
campaigner such as she will
have, but Lamare broke her down
and retained the title by sixth
round stoppage.
Perhaps feeling the hassle of
being both the promoter and the
main event fighter, it would be
yet another ten months before
Lamare defended her WBF world
title again. This time in
Réunion, the French island and
region in the Indian ocean,
against former WBC champion Lely
Luz Florez (11-3) from Colombia.
As expected, Lamare had plenty
in the tank to defeat Florez,
winning every round on two
judges cards and eight rounds
according to the third judge, so
for once it could be said that
she had taken something of a
routine defense. But it would
not be long before she
challenged herself massively
again.
Less than two months after the
trip to Réunion, Lamare added
the vacant IBF world title to
her resume when she beat (UD)
tough American Chavelle Hallback
(28-7-2) in Toulon, and again it
was in front of a packed crowd
and televised by Eurosport.
Hallback, nicknamed “Fist Of
Steel”, was a former WIBF, IBA
and WIBA world champion, and had
just lost a competitive fight on
points with unified world
welterweight champion Cecilia
Braekhus in Denmark. She would
later win the WBF World
Welterweight crown, so it was a
very good scalp for Lamare.
Unfortunately it would prove to
be her last significant victory.
Between the Hallback triumph and
November of 2013, two years
later, she would only fight
twice. Both times were
low-profile victories over eight
rounds against Floarea Lihet
(10-11-4) and Loli Munoz
(12-12-3).
However, Lamare was not quite
done challenging herself, at 39
years of age, and in February of
2014 she challenged the WBC, WBA
and WBO World Welterweight
champion, the aforementioned
Cecilia Braekhus
(23-0), for her titles.
But it was not to be for Lamare,
who fought
valiantly but lost
clearly on points
to the
bigger, stronger Norwegian
Pound-For-Pound claimant.
A former WBF, WBA and IBF World
Light Welterweight Champion,
Myriam Lamare retired with a
22-4 (10) record, having only
lost to Mathis, Holm and
Braekhus, three of the very best
women to ever lace on gloves.
She, along with Mathis, took
female boxing in France to new
levels, with big crowds and TV
viewing-numbers.
Lamare deserves to be recognized
as a member of the same group as
the only three opponents that
defeated her in the professional
ranks: One of the best ever!
Former WBF Champ
Myriam Lamare Gets Hall Of Fame
Induction.
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