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Very few world champions retire
undefeated in boxing. But former
World Boxing Federation (WBF)
Womens World Heavyweight
Champion Natascha Ragosina
(22-0, 13 KOs) is one who did,
still in her prime and at the
very top of her sport.
Ragosina was born on April 5,
1975 in Kazakhstan, but is of
Russian descent and would fight
professionally representing
Russia. At the age of eighteen
she started Kick-Boxing, and
after just two years in the
sport she won the European
Championships.
She repeated that accomplishment
two years later, in 1998, and in
1999 she became world champion.
That same year, looking for new
challenges, she took up
conventional boxing, and being a
natural fighter she quickly
became a successful boxer too.
In 2003 she won gold at the
European Championships held in
Hungary, as a Middleweight, and
soon after decided to pursue a
professional career. She signed
with SES Boxing in Magdeburg,
Germany, and made her paid debut
in July of 2004.
While the talent-pool in women´s
boxing was easy to overlook at
the time, there was little doubt
that Ragosina was a little bit
special. After three quick
victories, she won her first
championship already in her
fourth outing, the WIBF
Intercontinental Super
Middleweight title, stopping
American Yvonne Reis (3-5-1) in
the tenth round.
Despite her less than impressive
statistics, Reis was no slouch
and would go on to win the WBC
World Middleweight title in
2006. The impressive way
Ragosina dealt with her was a
clear indication that she would
develop into a major force in
years to come.
After two routine victories in
early 2005, Ragosina went the
distance for the first time when
she defended her
Intercontinental title in July
with a unanimous decision over
another American in seasoned
former world champion Valerie
Mahfood (19-8-1).
One more stay-busy victory paved
the way for her first world
title fight, and on October 29,
2005 she won the vacant WIBF
World Super Middleweight title
by knockout in the second round
over Tanzanian Monica Mwakasanga
(5-2-1) in Brandenburg, Germany.
That victory was the start of an
impressive run, as Ragosina more
or less took over the Super
Middleweight division. Laila
Ali, the daughter of Muhammad
Ali, was still the biggest name
of the weight-class, and a fight
between the two was often talked
about but never materialized as
Ali retired in 2007.
Instead Ragosina collected all
the Super Middleweight belts she
could get her hands on, and
between 2005 and 2009 she
captured world titles from the
WIBF, GBU, WBA, WIBA, IWBF, WIBC
and in 2007 the WBC, the title
just vacated by Laila Ali.
Her March 15, 2008 unanimous
decision victory over future
WBC/WBA Middleweight world
champion Teresa Perozzi (6-2-1),
is noteworthy due to the fact
that it was the first time in
history that no less than seven
world titles were on the line in
one fight.
Ragosina won thirteen
consecutive Super Middleweight
world title fights, and beat the
best opponents on offer
including the likes of Carlette
Ewell (10-4), Conjestina Achieng
(14-4-3), Scroller Carrington
(7-1-1), Laura Ramsey (9-3), and
undefeated contenders Yahaira
Hernandez (8-0), Gardy Alvarez
(8-0-1) and Akondaye Fountin
(7-0-1).
As there was a lack of qualified
challengers to her Super
Middleweight supremacy, “The
Russian Tsarina” decided that it
was time to think out of the
box. Instead of defending her
many belts, she accepted to
fight Pamela London (6-3-1) for
the WBF and WIBF World
Heavyweight titles.
On December 19, 2009 she fought
for the first time as a
professional in Russia,
headlining a show in
Ekaterinburg, and in front of
more than 5000 spectators she
had little trouble defeating
London by knockout in the eighth
round to win the WBF Womens
World Heavyweight title.
An interesting side-note to this
fight: Ragosina weighing only 78
Kilos. (172 Lbs.) as opposed to
London´s 107,5 Kilos (237 Lbs.),
this is probably the largest
weight difference in any female
world championship fight in
history: 29,5 Kilos (!), or 65
Lbs. (!).
Following the London triumph,
Ragosina announced that she
intended to continue fighting at
Heavyweight, if the right fights
were there. She still had hopes
of luring Ali back in the ring
for a Mega Fight at Super
Middleweight, but the American
declined to entertain the
thought of coming out of
retirement.
In 2008 Ragosina stared in an
action movie, and her growing
interest in doing other things
than boxing, besides a lack of
challenging opponents and
troubles with various injuries,
probably contributed to the
fight against Pamela London
being her last.
In December of 2010 she
announced at a press conference
in Moscow that she wanted to
return at Light Heavyweight to
win the WBF World title and
become a three-division
champion, but it was not to be.
A June 2011 comeback fight in
Russia was planned, but canceled
when no opponent had been
finalized just a few weeks
prior.
A single mother to a teenage
son, she has since kept busy
doing various projects,
including the writing and
release of a book called
“Knockout From a Blonde”, and is
happily retired from boxing with
her unblemished, and highly
impressive, record.
The publishing-date of this
article, is coincidentally her
42nd birthday.
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