(SEPT 8) Susianna Kentikian left no one in doubt about the rightful ownership of the WBA Women's Flyweight Belt last night. It took her less than 3 rounds to defeat English contender Shanee Martin, who never got into the fight.

Kentikian does not usually spend the first round feeling out her opponent, and last night in Düsseldorf was no exception. She came out more focused and determined than ever, and left neither Shanee Martin nor the audience in doubt, that she meant business.

Martin was unable to capitalise on her reach advantage. Throughout the first round Kentikian stood her ground, when Martin came forward. She was able to dodge most of the Englishwoman's jabs and countered with her fast combinations, both high and low. Kentikian sustained a cut over her left eye late in the round, presumably caused by a clash of heads.

Round 2 followed the same pattern. Martin tried to keep Kentikian at bay with her jabs, but was unable to deter her smaller opponent, who found and punished the slightest openings in Martins defence. Kentikian frustrated Martin with double jabs, hooks and uppercuts coming from all angles, and as the round progressed it became abundantly clear, that Martin was out of her depths.

Kentikian continued the chase in round 3 and caught Martin with some powerful punches during the first part of the round. The end for the brave English girl came 1 minute into the round when Kentikian caught her with a vicious right to the chin, that sent her to the canvas. Martin got up on the count of four; she raised her gloves indicating, that she was ready to continue, but the Italian referee decided that he had seen enough and stopped the fight. The official time was 1 minute 14 seconds into round 3.

Kentikian's previous title defence ended in a win by split decision over Nadia Hockmi of France. She expressed dissatisfaction with her own performance after that fight, but it was all smiles after her hands was raised last night. Before the Hockmi fight the new star of women's boxing in Germany was very much in the media, with live late night TV appearances the last two days before her fight. This time she chose to cut down on media appearances and concentrate on her task in the ring, and that clearly paid off.

The reigning WIBF Flyweight champion Regina Halmich co-hosted the show with Jan Stecker, and interviewed Kentikian after the fight. The seasoned boxing queen, was taken somewhat by surprise, when her young successor took the opportunity to express her admiration and gratitude to Halmich, for her hard work during the last 12 years, in getting women's boxing to where it is today, and paving the way for the flourishing 2nd generation of women boxers in Germany.

(European TV viewers able to receive NDR TV, have the opportunity to watch an interview with Susianna Kentikian on Sunday 9th September at 10:45 pm CET)

The second women's world title fight of the evening was won by Karolina Lukasik, who stopped the over challenged Argentinean Gabriela Marcela Zapate in the 8th round. Zapata was sent to the floor at the end of the first round, but managed to beat the count. Her good chin, rather than her boxing ability, kept her in the fight until 8 round, when the referee stopped the fight after a hard left from the Polish southpaw, and no doubt, the state of fatigue of Zapata. This was the first stoppage by Lukasik, who improved her record to 8-0-0, and could leave Düsseldorf with no less than 4 belts - WIBF, GBU, WBC & WBA.

The two other women's bouts on the card resulted in UD wins for Flyweight Rebekka Hermann over Maria Kriwoschapkina and Super Flyweight Magdalena Dahlen over Petra Jachmanova.

 

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