(MARCH 31) Last night in
Harmony, Pennsylvania at the Steamfitters 449 Union Hall, on
boxing event, “Brawl at the Hall”, promoted by Derek Gionta of
Gionta Management, and live streamed on the Combat Sports Now
website, the Women’s International Boxing Association (WIBA)
filled a vacancy for one of their world titles.
Mary Casamassa won the vacant
WIBA super middleweight title over Olivia “The Predator” Gerula
by a ten-round (two minutes per round) unanimous decision. The
final judges’ scores were 100-90, 100-90, and 99-91.
For the weigh-in, Casamassa weighed 162 pounds whereas Gerula
weighed 169.2 pounds. The weight limit of the super middleweight
division is 168 pounds. Gerula was given one hour to have a
second attempt at making weight and she succeeded by weighing
168 pounds. Gerula is from Winnipeg, Canada and Casamassa is
from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. This event was in Casamassa’s
home state. WIBA President Ryan Wissow was present and holding a
new WIBA belt. The national anthems of Canada and the United
States were played before the bout began.
Gerula’s fight against Casamassa began with Casamassa being more
active than Gerula in the first round. Casamassa continued with
her faster footwork and hand speed in the second round. A right
hook to the head by Casamassa caused Gerula to stagger. In round
three, Casamassa landed a left hook to the body which backed up
Gerula.
The pace of the fight slowed significantly in round four, but
Casamassa still appeared to win the round. Casamassa slipped and
fell to the canvas in round five, but the referee correctly
ruled it as a slip and not a knockdown. Gerula was standing
close to Casamassa and bumped into her a bit which caused
Casamassa to slip and fall. Gerula had to get close to Casamassa
to land any punches. Gerula smothered Casamassa against the
ropes and the referee separated them.
In round six, Gerula was often close to Casamassa and landing
some punches, although it was probably not enough to win the
round. Near the end of round seven, Gerula was charging
headfirst with Casamassa against the ropes. Gerula landed a
couple of body shots, but her punching power was lessened
because she was standing so close to Casamassa. In round eight,
Gerula landed a right hook to the head. Casamassa retaliated
with a right hook to the body, but Gerula came back with a
straight right to the head. This was Gerula’s best round and
probably the round that one judge scored in favor of Gerula. In
round nine, Casamassa landed consecutive right hooks to the body
and head.
In the tenth and final round, Casamassa was landing more and her
punches had more power than Gerula. Both boxers embraced at the
end of the fight. After the decision of the judges was announced
and Casamassa was declared the winner, Wissow put the WIBA belt
on Casamassa. Casamassa then thanked the audience for spending
their hard-earned money to support her and said Happy Easter.
Casamassa remains unbeaten with a record of 5-0, 1 KO. Gerula’s
record is now 19-21-3, 3 KOs.
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Additional details on the WIBA and Olivia Gerula:
Prior to this title fight, the WIBA super middleweight title had
been vacant for about four years. The previous champion was Ema
Kozin who defeated Maria Lindberg by unanimous decision in
October 2019. Both Gerula and Casamassa are rated in the top ten
by the computerized ratings of the International Boxing
Organization (IBO). Gerula is rated No. 4 and Casamassa is rated
No. 8. Of course, this will change when the ratings are updated
in April. Certain world champions are listed above and separate
from the contender ratings list.Savannah Marshall is the WBA,
IBF, and WBO super middleweight champion and Franchon Crews
Dezurn is the WBC champion for this weight class.
It should be noted that Gerula did not have a proper trainer for
much of her career as was shown in the documentary titled The
Predator’s Last Stand which was released in 2017 and can be
viewed for free on Tubi.Gerula also could not always train
full-time because of lack of sponsorships and having to work
another job. Furthermore, she often fights in her opponent’s
home country where there could be biased judges.
Gerula is a former WBC super featherweight champion. Gerula
defeated Jelena Mrdjenovich by unanimous decision to win that
title in April 2009. Gerula’s goal is to become a world champion
again.Gerula thought about retiring in 2017, but decided to
continue her boxing career when she was offered more fights.
Gerula’s is known as “The Predator,” but her career is similar
to former light heavyweight world champion Glen “The Road
Warrior” Johnson in that both would often fight in their
opponent’s home country.
They also similarly had a year that was their best when they
defeated top-notch boxers. Johnson defeated Clinton Woods, Roy
Jones Jr., and Antonio Tarver in 2004. Johnson was named Ring
Magazine’s Fighter of the Year in 2004. Gerula defeated Fujin
Raika, Jelena Mrdjenovich, and Myriam Chomaz in 2009. All these
fights took place where her opponents resided. Gerula fought
Raika in Japan and Chomaz in France. Gerula fought Mrdjenovich
in Edmonton, Canada. Gerula received the Fighter of the Year
award from WBAN in 2009.
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