|
Former World Boxing Federation
(WBF) Womens World Welterweight
and Super Welterweight Champion
Anne Sophie Mathis
from France didn't have a very
good start to her professional
career, but finished it as one
of the most accomplished female
fighters the sport has seen.
Mathis was born on June 13, 1977
in Nancy, in the north-east of
France, and turned professional
boxer in 1995 at eighteen years
old, without boxing as an
amateur but with combat
experience from amateur
Kick-Boxing and Savate.
On October 21, 1995 In Eger,
Hungary she stopped Erika
Szegedi (1-3) in the first round
of her debut, and less than a
month later Mathis was already
matched for a title, the WIBF
European Super Welterweight,
against Marischa Sjauw (5-0-1)
in Holland.
Quite predictably it was much
too early for the French
teenager, and she was
overwhelmed, dropped three times
and stopped in round five. It
would be her last boxing contest
for over eight years, as she
returned to Kick-Boxing.
The “second career” of Anne
Sophie Mathis would obviously be
much more successful. At the age
of twenty-six she made her
boxing comeback, in France,
stopping Katalin Csehi (3-3) in
two rounds as a Light
Welterweight on December 6,
2003.
That would be the start of a 25
fight unbeaten run over almost
nine years, boxing exclusively
in her home-country where Mathis
soon developed into a
fan-favorite. She blew away
eight straight opponents, before
securing her first real test
since coming back.
With a much improved record of
9-1 (8), Mathis challenged
undefeated European Light
Welterweight Champion Natalie
Toro (14-0) in October of 2005,
firmly announcing herself as a
factor on the world-scene with a
ninth round stoppage.
Toro, from Liege in Belgium, had
won the WIBF World title at
Lightweight in her previous
outing, so the fact that Mathis
impressively defeated her in an
all-action fight was a big
statement and clear indicator of
what was to come.
Mathis
stayed busy with low-profile
victories in February and
October of 2006, while a true
all-French Super Fight against
WBA World Light Welterweight
Champion, and fellow future WBF
World Champion,
Myriam Lamare
(13-0) was in the works.
The fight, probably the most
significant female fight ever in
the country, was signed and
sealed for December 2 on a
massive card at the Palais
Omnisport in Paris, televised
live by Canal+ in France and
with both Mathis´ European title
and Lamare´s World title on the
line.
And it didn't disappoint, as the
two rivals went to war, trading
punches back and forth before
Mathis got through with a
vicious combination in the
seventh round to stop Lamare,
basically knocking her out on
her feet as the referee jumped
in to save the now former world
champion.
It was such a great fight,
named Female Fight of the Year
by Ring Magazine,
that
they were bound to do it again.
Mathis kept busy again with two
non-title victories over
inferior opponents while
the rematch
was negotiated and finally set
for June 29, 2007 in Marseille
as part of another huge
televised event.
The second go-around was close,
but while Lamare started best
and appeared to be trying for a
quick finish, Mathis took over
in the second half and retained
the WBA World title by majority
decision in front of almost six
thousand fans.
Mathis finished 2007 with a
second round demolition of
former WBF World Champion
Jane
Couch
(28-10) in a non-title fight. On
March 8, 2008 she retained the
WBA world title, and captured
the vacant WBC and WIBF belts,
stopping Panamanian Ana Pascal
(11-0) in three.
On November 22 she scored a
unanimous decision over Belinda
Laracuente (23-22-3) to retain
the WBA title only.
It would be two years before
Mathis boxed again, and when she
returned in November of 2010 she
had grown into a welterweight as
she began her mission towards
becoming a two-division world
champion.
Mathis
reeled off three routine
victories against nondescript
opposition, before entering her
first decent
Welterweight
challenge on April 29, 2011 in
Seine-et-Marne against
Serbian-born fellow former Light
Welterweight world title-holder
Duda Yankovic (11-2) for the
vacant WBO European crown.
With little trouble, Mathis took
care of
the game
Yankovic inside three rounds,
proving that she carried her
power well into the new
weight-class and that she was
ready to fight undefeated
Swiss-based compatriot Olivia
Boudouma (8-0) for the vacant
WBF and WIBA world titles seven
weeks later.
Boudouma
was no match for Mathis, who
steamrolled her in five rounds
to become a two-time, two-weight
world champion on June 23, 2011
at the Salle Jean Roure in Les
Pennes-Mirabeau on the outskirts
of Marseille.
Next
up was a WBF and WIBA
title-defense the following
October against Cindy Serrano
(15-3-2), a Puerto Rican
fighting out of New York.
With the vacant WIBF world title
also on the line, Mathis
outclassed Serrano over ten
rounds, winning every round and
a wide unanimous decision.
26-1
(Mathis) against 30-1-3, such
were the statistics when
Holly
Holm
stood in the opposite corner on
December 2, 2011 in Albuquerque,
New Mexico, USA for another
female Super Fight. Holm, a
massively popular local star,
was by most considered the
favorite going in.
But the WBF World Champion,
her title not on the line,
had other ideas, and put a
vicious beating on Holm before
the referee finally waved it off
in round seven, clearly trying
to give the brave home-girl
every chance to miraculously
come back in the fight.
Instead it was horrendous scenes
as Mathis mercilessly punished a
completely defenseless Holm on
the ropes before the overdue
stoppage. It was such a dominant
and conclusive victory, that
many felt Mathis proved herself
to be the best Pound-for-Pound
female boxer in the world.
But Holm was still one of the
very best too, so a rematch was
still the biggest fight out
there for Mathis and she agreed
to return to
Albuquerque
six months later
do defend the WBF world title,
and the IBA belt she picked up
in the first encounter.
Amazingly Holm had plenty left
after the beating she took in
the first fight, and against all
the odds redeemed herself by
unanimous decision. “The
Preachers daughter” boxed very
intelligently, and was awarded a
deserved triumph by scores of
96-94, 97-93 and 99-91.
What do you do when you are
coming off two genuine Super
Fights?
Many would try to secure a
somewhat easy assignment, but
Mathis would have none of that
and instead went straight into
another Mega-Clash against WBC,
WBA, WBO World Champion Cecilia
Braekhus (20-0).
Only three months after the
second Holm-fight, Mathis gave
Norwegian Braekhus fits before
coming up short on the
scorecards in Denmark. With a
rematch not on the cards in the
near future, Mathis decided it
was time to move up in weight
yet again.
After a well-deserved rest,
Mathis returned on June 1, 2013
against Dominican Yahaira
Hernandez (14-4), with the
vacant WBF World Super
Welterweight title on the line.
Only a few days before her
thirty-sixth birthday, Mathis
put on a masterclass to become a
three-weight world champion,
stopping Hernandez in five.
A spell of inactivity followed,
as Mathis was on the search for
yet another Super Fight. Such
came in July of 2014 against WBF
and WBO World Middleweight
Champion Christina Hammer
(17-0), who was also a former
undefeated WBF and WBO World
titlist at Super Middleweight.
A Kazakhstan-born German,
the highly touted
Hammer
was
mowing down in weight to
challenge Mathis at Super
Welter,
on a mission to become a
three-weight world champion
herself, but the fight, staged
in Dessau, Germany,
unfortunately ended in
controversy.
In the fifth round Mathis
knocked Hammer down while in a
clinch, and the referee
disqualified Mathis, claiming
she had his Hammer with illegal
punches. Hammer was declared the
new world champion, but it would
only last a few days.
Mathis team protested the
result, insisting the punches
were legal, and two days later
the WBF officially agreed that
the disqualification was not
justified, changed the result to
a No-Contest and reinstated
Mathis as the World Champion.
On February 27, 2015 Mathis
retained her world championship
with another close call, when
her defense against Oxandia
Castillo (13-2-2) from the
Dominican Republic was declared
a draw. Many ringsiders felt
Mathis should praise herself
lucky with that result, as
Castillo caused her many
problems throughout.
Probably realizing that her best
days were behind her, Mathis
went out with one final Super
Fight, the rematch
at Welterweight
against Cecilia Braekhus
(28-0)
she had been hoping for since
losing their original encounter.
Nineteen months after the draw
against Castillo she fought
Braekhus in Norway for the WBC,
WBA, WBO,
IBO
and IBF World Welterweight
titles, but no longer had enough
in the tank to give “The First
Lady” a competitive scrap,
getting stopped in the second
round.
At thirty-nine years old,
and more than twenty-one years
in the game,
Mathis
was finally done.
With a record of 27-4-1 (23),
and
as
one of the biggest punchers in
the sport, she won the European
title and three world titles at
Light Welterweight, four world
titles at Welterweight, and one
world title at Super
Welterweight.
|
