(APR  7) Despite a game effort from South African challenger Julie Tshabalala, World Boxing Federation Women’s World Middleweight Champion Christina Hammer impressively dominated the proceedings to retain her title with a unanimous decision on Thursday night, April 5, at the Vodova Arena in Brno, Czech Republic.

While the reigning champion had the upper hand from the beginning, she did have to work hard in every round and the lopsided scores of 100-90, 100-90 and 99-91 didn’t reflect the spirited effort of Tshabalala. Hammer improved her record to 12-0 (7), and Tshabalala dropped to 4-2-1 (1).

Hammer had predicted a knockout victory, and with this in mind Tshabalala took the fight on the inside to avoid the long range and hard straight shots from the German, who adjusted nicely and countered with hooks and uppercuts. Tshabalala had her best moments in rounds six and seven, and seemed to be catching her second wind, but Hammer was back on top in the final three rounds, making Tshabalala miss and pay for her mistakes.

As the final bell sounded the South African appeared happy to have survived all ten rounds, and there was never any doubt about who would be awarded the verdict. Christina Hammer had once again proven her superiority in the middleweight division, and status as one of the pound-for-pound best female fighters in the world.

The fight was promoted by Ulf Steinforth and his SES Boxing, and was broadcasted live worldwide on bild.de. The card also featured a championship fight with local hero Lukas Konecny, and the atmosphere at the Vodova Arena was electric throughout the evening.