| |
|
WBAN and the International
Women's Boxing Hall of Fame would like to give our condolences to Alesia
Graf's Family and Friends. Rest in Peace Alesia. You were
far too young at the age of 43 to pass away and will be truly missed.
OCTOBER 14, 1980 - MARCH 2024 |
5'7" bantamweight Alesia "The Tigress" Graf was born Alesia-Tamara
Klimovich in Gomel, Belarus on
October 14, 1980. She moved to Germany in 1999. She has said
that she did not move to Germany in order to box, but intended to
study. However, she found that her knowledge of the German language was
insufficient and she changed her plans when she found herself becoming
successful in a boxing career. She moved
to Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia, in 2011 and trains there
with coach and promoter Lee Murray (who coached several
Australian men's champions at the University boxing gym).
An athlete who also enjoys
swimming, basketball and beach volleyball.
Alesia Graf began boxing as an amateur in 2001. After fifteen fights
she won the
54-kg division of the first international women's tournament organized
by the
German Boxing Federation in Meppen, Germany in November,
2003. In this
event, which attracted considerable interest from journalists, radio
and TV
stations as ell as spectators, 35 women competed in eight weight
divisions.
Alesia first defeated Magdalene Dalecki (Bayer Leverkusen) 40-14, then
dispatched Carmen Carrido Chadez (BSC Augsburg) by 56-14. In the
tournament
final she won by a convincing 36-9 score over Halim Ay (BV Ibbenbüren)
and was
awarded the title of "best boxer" in the tournament.
Alesia joined the professional
ranks with Universum Box Promotion and manager
Klaus-Peter Kohl in February 2004. Under the direction of trainer Torsten
Schmitz, who has guided the career of long-time German WIBF champion Regina Halmich,
Alesia competes in the bantamweight
division where Universum had previously promoted Bulgarian fighter Daisy Lang.
Alesia is benefiting from Universum's
ongoing contract for live boxing shows on German television and is also
sponsored by Stuttgart jeweler Ralf Haeffner.
She made her professional
debut on February 14, 2004 at Hanns-Martin-Schleyer Halle
in Stuttgart at 119 lbs, winning a four-round unanimous decision over
Petra Jachmanova
(119 lbs) of Slovenia who fell to 0-3-1 with the loss.
On
March 2, 2004 at the Universum Gym in Hamburg, Germany,
Alesia progressed
to 2-0 (1 KO) with a second-round TKO of debut fighter Marina Zhekova
of
Bulgaria in a scheduled four-rounder.
On May 29, 2004 at Ostseehalle
in Kiel, Germany she won a decision over Simone Suciu
of Romania who fell to 0-7-0 with the loss.
On July 2, 2004 at Stadthalle
in Hattersheim, Germany, she won a four-round
decision over debut fighter Julia Kulikowa of the Ukraine.
On July 17, 2004 at Stadthalle
in Zwickau, Germany, she won a six-round decision
in a rematch with Petra Jachmanova, who was now 1-7-1.
On September 21, 2004 at
Universum Gym in Hamburg, Germany she weighed in at
118½ lbs and TKO'd Pavla Stankeova (120 lbs) of Chechnya at 0:29 in the
second
round of a scheduled six-rounder. Stankeova fell to 0-4-0.
On November 6, 2004 at Erdgas
Arena in Riesa, Germany, Alesia (116¼ lbs) TKO'd Agnes Adonga
(117 lbs) of Uganda in a ten-rounder for the WIBF intercontinental
bantamweight
title. Graf won the bout after Adonga's corner
threw in the towel
after the third round. Adonga had already pleaded with her trainer to
stop the
fight after the second round, but he persuaded her to fight on for
another
stanza. However she was outclassed and he agreed to stop her suffering
after the
third. Adonga fell to 1-2-0 with this loss.
On January 15, 2005 at
Bördelandhalle, Magdeburg, Germany Alesia (117¾ lbs)
TKO'd Dayana Santana (118½ lbs) of the Dominican Republic when Santana would not
continue into the fifth round of a scheduled eight-rounder.
Santana fell to 2-3-0.
On February 15, 2005 at Alte
Reithalle in Stuttgart, Germany, Alesia (118 lbs(
won a six-round unanimous decision over Oksana Romanova (114¾ lbs) of the
Ukraine who fell to 2-3-1 with the loss.
On March 16, 2005 at
Bördelandhalle, Magdeburg, Germany Alesia (119 lbs) won a
hard-fought six round majority (60-55,57-57,59-57) decision over Oksana
Vasilyeva
(120¼ lbs) of Russia. The hard-charging Vasilyeva provided a very clear
step
up in the level of competition for Graf, and came prepared to do battle
despite
the abundant technical skills of the German. Graf controlled the early
action
with her jab and her varied repertoire of following punches while the
undaunted
Russian came on strong and turned up the pressure on her in the later
rounds.
Graf's cleaner scoring punches in the early going were apparently
sufficient to
persuade one judge to award her five of six rounds, while the others
saw a much
closer fight that could easily have resulted in a draw.
Vasilyeva fell to 5-2-0,
her other loss being to Anastasia
Toktaulova.
On May 28, 2005 at the
Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle in Stuttgart, Germany, Alesia
(115¾ lbs) lost
a ten round split (96-94,96-95,94-96) decision to Alicia Ashley (115¾
lbs)
of Westbury, New York, USA for the GBU Bantamweight title.
Alicia Ashley improved her record to
12-5-1 (1 KO) while
Graf suffered her first pro loss and fell to 10-1-0 (4
KO).
On September 10,
2005 at DM-Arena in Karlsruhe, Germany, Alesia (118 lbs)
knocked out Liliana Martinez (119 lbs) of the Dominican Republic at
1:42 in the
third round of a scheduled eight-rounder. Martinez fell to 3-6-0 (3
KO's).
On November
15, 2005 at
Hohenstaufenhalle in Göppingen, Germany, Alesia (118 lbs) won a
10-round
unanimous (99-91,99-91,
100-91) decision over
Sharon
Gaines (118 lbs) of Kansas City, Missouri for the WIBF
Intercontinental
Bantamweight title. Gaines fell to 9-5-0 (3 KO's).
On
February 28, 2006 at Alte Reithalle in Stuttgart, Germany,
Alesia (114
lbs) won a ten-round unanimous (99-91,98-92,99-91) decision over
Marylin
Hernandez (114¼ lbs) of the Dominican Republic for the
vacant GBU Junior
Bantamweight title. Hernandez fell to 13-6 (7 KO's) with the loss.
On April 29, 2006 in Stuttgart,
Germany, Alesia (112½ lbs)
made her first defense of her GBU Junior Bantamweight belt, winning by
a TKO at
1:42 in the sixth round over Beatrix Farago (5'0", 113½
lbs) of Sopron, Hungary. Farago showed a lot of fighting
spirit and courage,
but simply did not have the boxing skills to pose any kind of threat to
Graf.
Farago had a clear disadvantage in reach, and hardly managed to get
inside to
deliver any telling punches. Graf was in command all through the fight,
until
the referee stopped it. Farago fell to 4-2-1
(2 KOs) with the
loss.
On
September 9, 2006 at Bördelandhalle in Magdeburg, Germany,
Maria
Jose Nunez Anchorena
(114¾ lbs) of Uruguay did not have the boxing skills to pose
any threat for a
very motivated Graf (114¼ lbs). Anchorena was wide open, and
Graf
took full advantage and punished her from the beginning of round
one. Graf
continued to catch Anchorena with left jabs and follow up with powerful
rights
in round two. The referee stopped the fight 42 seconds into round
three, after
Anchorena was caught with some very powerful blows on the ropes, and
failed to
return any punches.
Anchorena fell to 5-1-0
(4 KO's).
On November 18, 2006 at the
Burgwächter
Castello in Düsseldorf, Germany, Alesia (114¾ lbs) defeated Heather
Percival (114¾ lbs) of Fontana, California, by a ten-round unanimous
decision.
Graf was defending her GBU Junior Bantamweight title. Percival fell to
9-4 (1 KO).
On June 30, 2007 at Porsche Arena in Stuttgart,
Germany, Alesia (113¾ lbs) TKO'd late substitute Natasha Guthier (114½
lbs) of Karlsruhe, Germany at 1:03 into the third round of a scheduled
ten-rounder defending her GBU Junior Bantamweight title. Guthier
fell to 5-2-2 (2 KO's).
On September 15, 2007 at the Stadthalle in Rostock,
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany, Alesia won a 10-round unanimous (97-92,96-93,97-92) decision over
undefeated NABF bantamweight champion Zulina Munoz of México City,
México defending the GBU Junior Bantamweight title. After
Munoz demanded a rematch, Graf stated, "The Mexican can have
a rematch if she likes to get hit so much. However, then she'll get
KO'd." Munoz fell to 16-1-0
(15 KOs) in her first
appearance outside México. On November 30, 2007 at the DM-Arena in Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg, Germany, Alesis Graf (113½
lbs) won a ten-round unanimous (97-93,97-94, 98-92) decision over Esmeralda Moreno (113 lbs) of Mexico City defending the GBU Junior Bantamweight title. Moreno, who was fighting outside Mexico for the
first time, fell to 8-3 (3 KO's).
On March 8, 2008 at the
Königspalast
in Krefeld,
Germany, Alesia (114¾ lbs)
won a 10-round unanimous (98-92,98-93,97-93)
decision over Hagar
Shmoulefeld Finer (114¾ lbs) of Tel-Aviv, Israel
for the GBU and WIBF Junior Bantamweight titles.
Shmoulefeld Finer, who had taken the fight at short notice, fell to 16-6-3
(4 KO's).
On May 3, 2008
at Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle in Stuttgart, Germany, Alesia
(116 lbs) won by TKO at 1:32 in the fifth round over Rosilete Santos
(114¾ lbs) of Curitiba, Brazil. About five minutes of the
fight was televised on ZDF. When the referee stopped the
fight in round 5, after a series of hard punches from Graf, Santos was
very displeased with the ref's decision. Graf stated after the fight
that she didn't understand why the fight was broken off at that
stage. Santos fell
to 10-3-0 (7 KO's).
On
November 22, 2008 at Stadthalle in Rostock, Germany, Alesia (114½
lbs) won a 10-round unanimous (99-91,97-94,97-93) decision over
previously unbeaten Magdalena Dahlen (114¾ lbs) of Poland. Graf won the
WIBF/GBU Junior Bantamweight title. Dahlen fell to 9-1 (3 KO's).
On March 7, 2009 at the
Frieberger Arena in Dresden, Germany, Alesia Graf (114¼ lbs) again
defeated Magdalena Dahlen (114¼ lbs) by a 10-round unanimous
(98-92,98-92,96-94) for the WIBF and GBU junior bantamweight
titles. Dahlen fell to 9-2 (3 KO's).
On July 4, 2009 at the Color Line Arena, in
Hamburg, Germany Alesia Graf (114¾ lbs) won a ten-round split (96-93,94-95, 95-94)
decision over Terri Lynn Cruz (114¾ lbs) of Denver, Colorado, USA for the
WIBF Junior Bantamweight title. Graf was severely tested when she was
knocked down at the end of the sixth round by a perfect right cross.
She beat the count, which ended two seconds before the bell, and then
came on strong late in the fight to earn a somewhat controversial
decision. Former IFBA bantamweight titlist Cruz dropped to
17-6-2 (4 KO's).
On September 11, 2010 at Plaza
de Toros in México City, Ana
Maria
Torres (114½ lbs) of México City, México won a ten-round
unanimous (100-88 x 3) decision over
Alesia Graf (114½
lbs) for the WBC Junior Bantamweight title. Graf,
who
was down twice in the third round, fell to 24-2-0 (9 KO's) with the
loss while Torres improved to 22-3-2 (13 KO's).
On December 21, 2011 at
the Fraternity Bowling and Recreation Club in Fairy Meadow, New South Wales,
Australia, Alesia Graf (119¾ lbs) TKO'd Naruemol Ubuabon (116
lbs, aka "Jubjang Lookmakarmwan") of Thailand at 0:53 in the
fifth round of a scheduled ten-rounder for the vacant WBU Junior
Featherweight title. Graf had a significant
advantage in height, reach and experience against the Thai boxer, a Muay Thai specialist who
fought with heart but had few answers for Graf's quick,
accurate jabs and combinations. The fight was stopped by the referee after
Ubuabon/Lookmakarmwan was hurt by a series of body punches. Graf, who is
now based at the University of Wollongong, Australia, improved
to 25-2-0 (10 KO's) while Ubuabon fell to 3-4 (0 KO's).
Page
last updated:
Monday, 25 March 2024
|
|
