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5'4" bantamweight Hagar Shmoulefeld Finer (הגר פיינר) was born on October
15, 1984 in Tel-Aviv, Israel. She took up martial arts at age
13 as a way to defend herself and soon became Israeli champion in karate for her age group. She began boxing at age
17 with coach Ra'anan Tal, often training with boys as her sparring partners. She
made her pro debut on March 24, 2002 in Tel-Aviv, fighting fellow
debuter Lital Liron (114¾ lbs) of Israel to a four-round draw. On
November 9, 2002 in Tel-Aviv, she fought a four-round draw with
Viktoria Varga of Budapest, Hungary, who moved her record to 11-7-2 (0
KO's). On November 27, 2002 in Tel-Aviv, she
fought to a six-round draw with Reka Krempf of Esztergom, Hungary who
moved to 4-2-2 (1 KO). On July 26, 2003 in Tel-Aviv she won a points decision over pro debuter Goranka Blagojevic (114¾ lbs), also of Tel-Aviv.  On
August 30, 2003 at the City Sporthall in Ozd, Hungary, Hagar Finer
(114¾
lbs) suffered her first pro boxing defeat. She lost a ten-round
unanimous (97-94,97-94,99-93) decision to Romanian-born Judith
Palacian (5'5", 112 lbs) of Gyor, Hungary for the WIBF and GBU Junior
Bantamweight titles. The win improved Palacian's record
to 6-4-1 (3 KO's). Finer would avenge this loss three years later (see below).
On December 13, 2003 at Falconer Centret, Copenhagen, Denmark, undefeated Anita Christensen (118½
lbs, 14-0) of Denmark fought a six-rounder with Hagar (120 lbs), but the
bout was had to be ruled a no decision without scoring because the
19-year-old Israeli was too young to box professionally
under Danish rules.
On May 29, 2004 at Aviv
Sport Hall in Ra'anana, Israel, Hagar (118 lbs) won a four-round
decision over pro debuter Anat Idan (118 lbs) of Israel, who has not
fought again. On October 15, 2004 at CMA Gym in tel-Aviv, Israel, Hagar Finer (115¾ lbs) TKO'd Lital Liron (116¾ lbs) of Israel in the fourth round of a scheduled six-rounder. Liron fell to 0-1-1 and has not fought again. On November 6, 2004 at Aviv Sport Hall in Ra'anana, Israel, Hagar won a four-round decision over debuter Yelena Shalkovina of Ukraine. On February 19, 2005 at Aviv Sport Hall in Ra'anana, Israel, Hagar (119 lbs) won a four-rouund decision in a rematch with Yelena Shalkovina (121¼ lbs) . Shalkovina fell to 0-2 and has not fought again. On June 4, 2005 at
Aviv Sport Hall in Ra'anana, Israel, Hagar (118 lbs) won a six-round
unanimous decision over Russian-born Eira Ragimova (119 lbs) of Israel,
who was making her pro debut. On June 24, 2005 at Sporthall Lang in Budapest, Hungary, Reka Krempf (113½ lbs) of Esztergom, Hungary won a ten-round unanimous (100-91, 99-91,100-90) decision over Hagar (114¾ lbs) for the vacant WIBF Junior Bantamweight title. Krempf improved to 8-7-3 with the win. On November 12, 2005 at Aviv
Sport Hall in Ra'anana, Israel, Hagar won a six-round unanimous
decision over Gabriela Rozsa of Budapest, Hungary who fell to 0-2 with
the loss.
On January 24, 2006 at the Universum Gym in Wandsbek, Hamburg, Germany, Turkish-born Hülya Şahin (111 lbs) won a
ten-round majority (98-96,95-95,98-92) decision over Hagar (111¼ lbs) for the WIBF Inter-Continental Flyweight title. Şahin,
a former world amateur champion also known as Julia "Sunshine" Sahin,
improved her pro record to 14-0 (2 KO's) with the win. Finer
would avenge this loss five years later (see below). On March 25 2006,
at Aviv Sport Hall in Ra'anana, Israel, Hagar won a ten-round unanimous
decision over Svetla Taskova for the WIBF Inter-continental and WIBA
European Junior bantamweight titles. Taskova fell to 4-14-1 (1 KO) with
the defeat.
Bianchini (left) was cut by a head butt against Finer in May 2006
On May 13, 2006 at
the Sports Hall in Rezzato, Italy, Stefania Bianchini (1111 lbs) of Italy retained her
WBC Flyweight title with
a five-round technical decision over
Hagar Finer (110½ lbs). The bout was stopped after Bianchini suffered a severe gash to her
right eye as the result of a head butt, while ahead on the judges'
scorecards. Bianchini had outworked Finer and
shown a greater variety of punches in the battle of two southpaws.
Bianchini improved to 15-2 (2 KO's). On June 30, 2006 at Aviv Sport Hall in Ra'anana, Israel, Hagar (114¾ lbs) won an eight-round unanimous decision over Emilina Metodieva (113½ lbs) of Bulgaria, who fell to 0-2-1 (0 KO's). On November 11, 2006 at Keltenhalle in Rheinstetten, Baden- Württemberg, Germany, Hagar (114 lbs) won a four-round decision over Albena Atseva (111½ lbs) of Sofia, Bulgaria who fell to 0-6. On November 25, 2006 at Aviv Sport Hall in Ra'anana, Israel, Hagar (114¾ lbs) defended her WIBF Inter-continental Junior Bantamweight title with a third-round TKO of Judit Palacian (112½ lbs) of Gyor, Hungary. Palacian fell to 6-7-2 (4 KO's) in what would be her last pro fight. On
January 6, 2007 in Sofia, Bulgaria, Hagar won a four-round rematch with
Svetla Taskova of Bulgaria on poiints. Taskova fell to 4-19-1. On April 28, 2007 at Aviv
Sport Hall in Ra'anana, Israel, Hagar defended her WIBF
Intercontinental Junior Bantamweight title with a ten-round unanimous
decision over previously undefeated Natascha Guthier ofKarlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg, Germany who fell to 5-1-2. [ Video with interviews] On October 27, 2007 at Aviv Sport Hall in Ra'anana, Israel, Hagar TKO'd Bettina Völker of Germany in the eighth round of a scheduled ten-rounder for the WIBF Junior Bantamweight title. Völker fell to 4-3-3 (1 KO).
 On November 30, 2007 at the
DM-Arena in Karlsruhe, the 31-year-old veteran Regina Halmich (110½ lbs) of Karslrihe,
Germany claimed a l ten-round majority (97-94,95-95,96-94) decision
against Hagar Finer (112 lbs) to finish her boxing career with a
54-1-1 (16 KO's) record. Halmich, who had held her world title for
a decade and made 45 title defenses, was tested hard by Finer
but came away with a hard won majority
decision to a standing ovation from the capacity crowd of
7500. Fine fought well in this historic bout but angered some of
the German fans by
raising her hands in triumph after almost every round.
On February 9, 2008 at Rheinstetten in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Hagar (115½ lbs) won a four-round decision over Doris Köhler (115½ lbs) of Vienna, Austria who fell to 3-2-1 (0 KO's). 
Hagar Finer vs Doris Kohler in March 2008
On March 1, 2008 at Aviv Sport Hall in Ra'anana, Israel, Hagar TKO'd Doris Köhler in the ninth round of a scheduled ten-rounder for the WIBF Inter-continental Junior bantamweight title., dropping Köhler's record to 3-3-1 (0 KO's).
Hagar Finer vs Alesia Graf in March 2008On March 8, 2008 at the Königspalast
in Krefeld,
Germany, Alesia-Tamara Graf (5'7", 114¾ lbs) of Stuttgart, Germany won a 10-round
unanimous (98-92,98-93,97-93) decision
over Hagar (114¾ lbs) 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) while Graf improved to 20-1 (8 KO's)
 On August 30, 2008 at Burg-Waechter
Castello in Düsseldorf,
Germany, Susianna
Kentikian (111¾
lbs) of Hamburg, Germany had to dig deep to retain her WBA
and WIBF Flyweight titles against a very determined and top fit Hagar
Shmoulefeld Finer (110 lbs). According to WBAN's correspondent,
Kentikian had problems coping with the unorthodox and aggressive boxing
style of Finer. Kentikian usually goes forward and controls
the action in her fights, but the experienced Israeli didn't allow her
to do that. Finer kept Kentikian busy in the early rounds, and her good
defense prevented the champion from doing much damage with her fast
combinations. Kentikian had difficulty finding the range, especially in
the first half of the fight, and probably gave two or three of the
first five rounds away to the challenger. The second half of
the fight saw Kentikian standing her ground and seeking to fight
inside, instead of going backwards and counter boxing Finer. This eliminated the reach advantage of the taller Shmoulefeld,
and Kentikian's combinations began to work. The champion got through
with some telling punches, but they hardly showed any effect on the
game Shmoulefeld. The last three rounds were toe to toe, and although
both fighters showed signs of fatigue, it looked as if the larger
number of telling punches from the champion had taken its toll on the
Israeli fighting machine. The judges scored the fight 97-93, 98-92 and
99-91, all in favor of Kentikian.
Finer
slipped to 17-7-3 (4 KO's). In
August 2008 a fracture was found in Finer's eye socket which had
damaged a nerve in her face, and she was sidelined for a year. It
was unclear whether she could continue her boxing career but she was
eventually reassured that the could do so without risk of irreversible
damage to her face. On August 8, 2009 at Aviv
Sport Hall in Ra'anana, Israel, Finer returned to the ring and won a
ten round unanimous decision over Svetla Taskova who fell to
4-27-1. On
October 10, 2009 in Darmstadtium in Darmstadt, Hessen, Germany, Hagar
Finer (113¼ lbs) TKO'd Oksana Romanova (114¼ lbs) of Minsk, Belarus at
1:40 in the sixth round of a ten-rounder for the vacant WIBF
Bantamweight title. "In the middle of the bout she got tired and started to go wild," says
Finer. "Her head opened up in the sixth round and she couldn't go on. At that moment I couldn't digest that I was the world champion." Romanova fell to 7-10-1 (2 KO's) with the loss. [Video with interviews in Hebrew] On January 18, 2010 at Hangar
11 in Tel-Aviv, Israel, Hagar Finer won a six-round unanimous decision
over Fleis Djendji of Serbia who fell to 8-6 (4 KO's).
 On April 29, 2010 at Nokia Hall in
Tel-Aviv, Israel, Hagar Finer (117½ lbs) knocked out Agnese Boza (118
lbs) of Riga, Latvia in the fifth round of a scheduled ten-rounder
defending the WIBF Bantamweight title. According
to Haaretz Sports Staff, "Both fighters began the match hesitantly, but the
bout gained momentum in the second round. Finer lifted her arms in the
air triumphantly at the bell, and justifiably so. She landed a number
of crosses that kept Boza, who was at a distinct disadvantage against
the taller Finer, on the defensive. The Israeli solidified her control of the bout in
the third round. Boza, who replaced Finer's original opponent, American
Stephanie Dobbs, was victimized by the champion's devastating right
hand. As time expired in the fifth round, Finer sent Boza to the canvas
with a powerful right blow. Although Boza got back on her feet, the
referee declared the bout over, as he ruled that the Latvian could not
sustain the continue pummeling. Finer erupted in joyous celebration,
embracing her trainer and manager Ra'anan Tal."
Boza fell to 4-4 (2
KO's).
Finer credited the crowd in Tel-Aviv with providing a home-field advantage that
simply overwhelmed the Latvian challenger. "I hope the Israeli people
will get to know her even more," Tal said of Finer. "We want to defend
the title here in Israel because the refereeing abroad is hostile
against us."
Sahin vs Finer in October 2010
© Copyrighted photo by Durell Wambolt
On
October 20, 2010 at Casino Rama in Rama, Ontario, Canada, Hagar Finer (112 lbs) won a ten-round
unanimous
(98-92,97-92,96-94) decision
over Hulya Şahin (112 lbs) of Cologne, Germany for the WIBF
Bantamweight title. WBAN correspondent Rick McLean wrote that
"It was
a very technical first round as both fighters boxed on the outside.
Finer was able to land the best combination in the round, a left hook
right hand that snapped Sahin’s head back. Finer came out very
aggressive in the second round and caught Sahin with a hard left hook
that stunned her. Finer was able to continue the pressure throughout
the round with hard combinations to the head and body that took its
tool. Sahin however was able to catch her with a hard left hook of her
own near the end of the round. Finer however was landing the much
harder and better combinations to the head and body of Sahin. Finer
went for the knockout in the third round and continued her vicious
attack to Sahin’s body. The onslaught continued as Finer hurt Sahin
with a hook to the jaw and forced her back to the ropes with body
punches. All Sahin could do was cover up and hold on as it looked like
she was going to the canvas however she was saved by the bell. In the
second half of the fight it was evident that Finer was the harder
puncher and much more aggressive fighter and it was starting to take
its toll on Sahin. Finer’s body attack and combinations to Sahin’s head
was relentless. To her credit Sahin tried her best to punch back and
stay in the fight and would land the occasional hard right hand or left
hook however she could not put together enough effective combinations
to keep pace with Finer." Şahin fell to 20-2 (2 KO's).  On
January 22, 2011 at the Palais des sports Marcel Cerdan in
Levallois-Perret, Hauts-de-Seine, France, Hagar Finer (115¾ lbs) won a
hard fought ten-round split (96-94,96-94,95-96) decision
over Nadege Szikora (114¾
lbs) of Montpelier, France defending her WIBF Bantamweight title.
Szikora, a former kickboxer and EBU bantamweight champion, fell
to 10-2 (4 KO's) while Finer progressed to 23-7-3 (6 KO's).
Finer plans to become a trainer and eventually to open her own martial arts club.
Other Hagar Finer links
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last updated: Tuesday, March 28, 2011
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