Since the World Boxing Federation was originally founded by American Larry Carrier in 1988, many of the sport’s biggest names have won a WBF title, and proudly defended the blue, red and gold belt all over the world.
In the Champions Of The Past Series we take a closer look at some of the boxers who held WBF titles in years gone by, from lesser known champions to world renowned fighters, legends of the sport and current or future Hall of Famers.
Very few world champions retire undefeated in boxing. But former World Boxing Federation (WBF) Women’s 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 Women’s 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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