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5'7" junior bantamweight Daisy "The Lady" Lang was born
Deisislawa Kirowa in Sofia, Bulgaria on
4 April 1972. She now lives in Düsseldorf, Germany where she trains with Michael Timm.
"Deisislawa is the name of a Bulgarian queen. But
a lot of people find it too long", she explains. "And as I have
very long legs, I was just called Daisy Lang by the others in the gym".
She's called "The Lady" because of her pronounced femininity outside the
ring. "I really wanted the name "Leopard" as I like the animals very much",
she says, "I would like to have their speed, power and explosive power, but
in my soul I am a true Lady".
Daisy's uncle inspired her to take up martial arts, but
she says that she grew up fighting because
she had three brothers who trained her to be tough.
Martial arts training was soon not enough for her.
"When I'm doing something I want to make it perfectly. Anything else
just bores me", she says. Her determination helped her to become
a world class amateur competitor. She became a European Tae Kwon Do champion in 1992
and won a European Kickboxing title in Portugal in 1994. In
1995 she won world titles in karate and kickboxing in the USA.
She turned to professional boxing in 1996 and made her debut
in Neuweid, Germany on February 27, winning by a third-round KO over Darina Chakolawa
of Bulgaria, who fell to 0-2.
She then won a six-round decision over
unbeaten Nathalie Meiss of Neu-Isenburg, Germany in Frankfurt on
July 6, 1996. Meiss fell to 4-1 (3 KO). On August 29, 1996 in
Essen, Germany she stopped debut fighter Bresda Movotna in the third round.
In 1997, Lang began studies at the German Sport University in Köln
where she trained as a physiotherapist.
Daisy Lang's first pro boxing loss came by a six-round decision to undefeated
British-born star Michele Aboro in Karlsruhe, Germany on November 29, 1997.
Lang was the first to go the distance with Aboro, whose pro record moved to 6-0
(5 KO). She rebounded from this defeat with a fourth-round TKO of France's Valerie Rangeard
in Stuttgart, Germany on February 14, 1998. This was Rangeard's pro boxing
debut.
On October 3, 1998 at the Prinz-Garden-Halle in Augsburg, Germany,
she weighed in at (114½ lbs) and defeated
Krisztina Horvai (115½ lbs)
of Hungary by 10-round unanimous (99-91, 99-88, 100-88) decision to win the
vacant WIBF European Bantamweight title. This dropped Horvai to 4-5-1, with 1 KO.
On January 30, 1999 at Stadthalle Cottbus in Cottbus, Germany,
a crowd of 1,500 saw
Daisy (115 lbs) win by a 2nd-round TKO of Portugal's Sandra Podence (119½ lbs),
who fell to 5-3-1.
On March 27, 1999 at Sartory Säle in Köln, Germany,
she defended the WIBF European Bantamweight title with a 10-round unanimous decision over
Anastasia Toktaulova
of Russia, whose record fell to 2-3. Lang was knocked down in the sixth round,
but went on to earn a controversial 96-94, 98-94, 97-93 decision. The
result was greeted by boos from those in the crowd who felt the Russian boxer
had done enough to win the contest.
On July 17, 1999 at the Phillipshalle in Düsseldorf, she
weighed in at (114½ lbs) to take on
Gizella Papp (114½ lbs) of Hungary over 10 rounds for the vacant WIBF
Junior Bantamweight Title. Daisy won by seventh-round TKO in a
one-sided fight. Lang applied pressure from the start and was never in
trouble against the overmatched Papp. The Hungarian boxer was
knocked down in the second round, frequently turned her
back on her opponent, and failed to answer the bell for the eighth.
Papp's record, according to Lang's promoter Universum, fell to 7-1 (2 KO´s).
Promoter Klaus-Peter Kohl congratulated Lang for her win, but said he was disappointed by Papp's
performance.
"This shows once again that female boxing is still in a period of
development", said Kohl. Lang was more sanguine: "It was a dream that came
true", she told reporters. "but I feel that defending the title will
become much harder than it was to win it."
On October 23, 1999, at the Ballsporthalle in Frankfurt, Germany,
she retained the WIBF Junior Bantamweight title with a clear
ten-round unanimous decision over Sónia Pereira of Portugal.
I've been told that she won every round, but did not receive the official
scores to confirm this.
On February 5, 2000 at the Rhein-Rhur-Halle in Duisberg, Germany,
Daisy weighed in at 115 lbs and defended the WIBF Junior Bantamweight title
with a ten-round unanimous decision over Kathy Williams
(115 lbs) of Thunder Bay, Canada. Lang won by a 97-95, 98-91 and 97-94 tally on
the scorecards, but our correspondent felt that Williams was the victim of a
hometown decision.
Lang moved to 10-1 (5 KOs) while Williams slipped to 10-2 (4 KOs).
On May 13, 2000 at Sartory Säle in
Köln, Germany,
Daisy weighed in at 115 lbs and defended the WIBF Junior Bantamweight title
with a TKO of Romanian Oana Sandor (115 lbs) early in the third round. Lang had no problems in this
fight as Sandor took a standing eight count in the second round and her corner threw
in the towel when she began taking punishment in the third. Sandor's record
fell to 0-4.
On October 14, 2000 at Kölnarena in Köln, Germany,
14,000 spectators saw Daisy (114½ lbs)
defend the WIBF Junior Bantamweight title with a ten-round
unanimous (100-91, 100-91, 96-94) decision over Brenda Burnside (114½ lbs)
of Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA. Burnside fell to 7-11-2 (3 KO's).
On
January 27, 2001 at Rudi-Sedlmayer-Halle in Munich, Germany, a sellout crowd of 8,000 saw
Daisy defend the WIBF Junior Bantamweight title and move to 13-1 (6 KO's) with a ten-round unanimous (96-94,98-93,99-92) decision over Nadia Debras of France, who
fell to 1-7-1 as a pro boxer. According to a ringside correspondent, Debras, who is an accomplished kickboxer,
pressed Lang throughout the bout despite suffering significant swelling to her left eye.
On September 29, 2001 at Universum Box-Promotion's Gym in Hamburg,
Germany, a WIBF Junior Bantamweight title bout between Daisy Lang
(114½ lbs) and WBF and IFBA Flyweight champion
Michelle Sutcliffe (113½ lbs)
of the U.K. ended when Lang failed to answer the bell for the
eighth round because of a bad cut over her left eye. The
injury was ruled to have been caused by a clash of heads, although it appeared
to have resulted from a Sutcliffe punch, so the decision went to the judges' scorecards.
According to information received from Universum,
promoter Klaus-Peter Kohl promised Sutcliffe a rematch.
Lang advanced to 14-1-0 (6 KOs) with the controversial win;
Sutcliffe slipped to 5-6-0 (2 KOs)
On April 6, 2002 at Universum Box-Promotion's Gym in Hamburg, Germany,
she had no problem defending her WIBF Junior Bantamweight title again with a unanimous 99-91
decision over unranked Reka Krempf of Hungary. Krempf, who fell to 2-1-1 (0 KO),
had had three pro fights since February
2002, against opponents with a 1-7 combined pro record at the time.
Jon Fox wrote that Krempf was introduced to the spectators as being 6-0-1,
adding "it's not surprising that Ms. Krempf was more technically limited even than Daisy.
Very little leather was landed in anger. It rarely is in a Lang fight. This is a lady who seems
devoted to the strict rationing of thrills. Neither fighter came remotely close to being hurt or
in trouble. Then everybody went home. What a waste of time."
On September 14, 2002 at Volkswagen Halle in Braunschweig, Germany,
Daisy Lang (117¾ lbs) defended the WIBF Junior Bantamweight title with a ten-round unanimous decision
over Lisa Foster (118 lbs) of Washington, D.C.
Foster fell to 5-4-1 (2 KO).
On January 18, 2003 at Grugahalle in Essen, Germany, Daisy Lang
(121 lbs) and Silke Weickenmeier (121 lbs) of Speyer, Germany fought to a ten-round (96-94 Lang, 95-95, and 97-93
Weickenmeier) draw for the GBU Junior Featherweight title. Lang fought with a
pre-existing knee injury that gave her problems in the later rounds, while
Weickenmeier had problems making the weight but moved well and was more
aggressive in the middle rounds. Weickenmeier appeared to run out of gas in the
later rounds, perhaps due to her effort to make the weight, and Lang battled
back into it despite her knee injury and an apparent calf cramp. Lang progressed
to 16-1-1 (6 KO) while Weickenmeier's record moved to 14-3-3 (0 KO).
On May 10, 2003 at Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle, Stuttgart, Germany,
a crowd estimated at 6000 saw Daisy (121½ lbs) win a controversial ten-round majority
(96-94,96-94,95-95) decision in a rematch with Silke Weickenmeier
(121½ lbs) of Speyer, Germany for the GBU Junior Featherweight title.
This was a bout dominated by
in-fighting and holding and both were cut from headbutts.
Daisy (left) ended it with
a badly swollen nose, and Silke (right) with a cut above her left eye. The
majority decision was controversial, in part because of head butts, elbows
and punching behind the neck by Lang in the first and fourth rounds, for
which she was admonished by the referee. Silke Weickenmeier had tried to
establish a more technical style and was the fan favorite. Her team
protested the decision to the GBU, asking that Lang be disqualified and the
title again vacated. Lang's team countered that both boxers had been injured
because Weickenmeier had fought carelessly. The judges' decision for Lang
stood and she progressed to 17-1-1 (6 KO) while Weickenmeier falls to 14-4-3 (0 KO).
On November 15, 2003 at Oberfrankenhalle in Bayreuth, Germany, southpaw
Galina
Koleva Ivanova (114¾ lbs) of Sofia, Bulgaria
won the WIBF Super Flyweight (Junior Bantamweight) title
with a clear 10-round unanimous (96-94,99-91,97-93)
decision over Lang (114¾ lbs).
As described by Women's Boxing Page correspondent Ewan Whyte, "It was hard to believe it was Ivanova
that had the speckled record and Lang that had not lost for six years. The only
impressive thing about Lang on Saturday evening was her entrance ..." On March 2, 2004 at Universum Gym in Hamburg, Germany,
Lang (116¾ lbs) won an eight-round decision
over Mariana Pampuk (115¾ lbs) of Budapest, Hungary. Lang is now
18-2-1 (6 KO) while Pampuk fell to 0-17-1 with
the loss in what was a less than stellar piece of matchmaking.
On
May 29, 2004 at Ostseehalle in Kiel, Germany, WIBF Flyweight champion and German
celebrity Regina Halmich of Karslruhe, Germany comfortably won a ten-round
unanimous (96-94,97-93,96-94) decision over Daisy for the
vacant IWBF Junior Bantamweight title. Halmich dominated the taller Lang with a more aggressive offense, and landed
more solidly throughout the fight.
Halmich apologized for the fight being unexciting, and blamed Lang for not wanting to fight.
“I wanted to show more from my boxing skills tonight”, said Halmich,
"but Daisy was just running away for ten rounds. You can’t win a world title by
moving backwards all the time.”
Lang, who had boasted before the bout that she would
'end Halmich's career', felt that she was robbed, that she had won every round, and that Halmich
hardly got any punches through. Lang added that she was a counter boxer, and
that anybody who knew anything about boxing could see that she had won! Halmich,
who had gone up two weight classes to make the match, progressed to 45-1-0 (15
KO) with this win.
Lang had prepared for the bout for several weeks by sparring intensively with
Canadian strawweight
Vaia Zaganas and American junior bantamweight
Elena Reid at the IBA gym in Las Vegas for more than two
weeks. "Her best punch is her jab," said NABA and IFBA champion Zaganas.
Against the bigger Reid, Lang demonstrated her ability to block punches and move
out of danger. "She moves really well," said Reid.
On October 16, 2004 at
Maritim Hotel in
Köln, Germany, Daisy
Lang TKO'd Simone Suciu of Romania in the fourth round of a scheduled 8-rounder.
Suciu fell to 0-8 as Lang improved her record to 19-3-1 (7 KOs).
Lang's view of boxing: "This
one-on-one sport can be compared to real life. Others will help you to prepare
for the fight, but in the ring you will have to solve your problems on your own.
Now boxing is my life".
Page last updated:
Thursday, 20 July 2023 |
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