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5'7" junior lightweight Ramona "Wild Dragon" Kühne
was born in Berlin, Germany on January 31, 1980. The younger
of two daughters of a truck driver, Kühne preferred to spend time with
her father in his workshop than to play with girls her age, and played
soccer with boys. Her childhood idol was action superstar Jackie Chan.
She tried to emulate Chan and at age 12 began in the martial
art discipline yiu yutsu - against her parents' will.
Her decision paid off as her
yiu yutsu career was crowned with success. She was the Berlin and
German champion several times and in 2000 she claimed the bronze medal
at the world championship in Sweden. Her success went almost un-noticed
by a majority of martial arts fans because yiu yutsu is an exotic
discipline, but during that time she met kickboxing trainer
Stephan Boestfleisch who suggested that she should try kickboxing. She
quickly developed her skills and punching techniques and soon had
success in kickboxing, winning many championships and the national
title. She won 46 of her 51 fights and was a key player on
the national kickboxing team.
In 2005 her trainer/boyfriend
convinced her to take up boxing because she was winning her kickboxing
matches mainly because of her superior punching. She agreed
and started as an amateur boxer that year, scoring eleven wins in
eleven fights and winning the German amateur boxing championship.
Ramona turned professional in
2006 with manager Adel Ciftci, the son of Turkish immigrants who was an
amateur boxer who left the sport with a shoulder injury and began to
stage local boxing shows in Berlin.
She made her pro debut on
April 21, 2006 at the Mehrzweckhalle Grossziethen in Schoenefeld,
Brandenburg, Germany. She weighed in at 138¼ lbs and
won a 40-36 four-round decision over a game Natalija Dolgova (5'7",
138¼ lbs) of Jurmala, Latvia who fell to 1-2 (0 KO's) with the
loss. Kühne's debut headlined the sold-out
card.
On May 25, 2006 at Prestige
Concertsaal in Neukoelln, Berlin, Germany, Ramona (137¾ lbs) won a
four-round decision over Jarka Blahova (136 lbs) of Nitra, Slovakia,
who fell to 4-2 (1 KO). Blahova was a late replacement who
had already gone the distance with future WIBF champion Ina Menzer, but
Kühne was able to control the skilful and mobile opponent.
On July 14, 2006 at the Blue
Box in Potsdam, Brandenburg, Germany, Ramona (138¾ lbs) won a
four-round unanimous decision over Miroslava Durinova (5′ 9½", 143 lbs)
of Piestany, Slovakia who fell to 1-2-1 (0 KO's).
On September 16, 2006
at Altes Funkwerk in Koepenick, Berlin, Germany, Ramona (137
lbs) TKO'd pro debuter Danielle Camerling (5'6", 131 lbs) of Meppel,
Netherlands at the end of the first round of a scheduled six-rounder.
Camerling, who had been a late replacement for a Hungarian
who had license problems, took hard punishment in the opening round and
her corner did not let her come out for the second.
On October 28, 2006 at EWE
Arena in Fuerstenwalde, Brandenburg, Germany, Ramona (137 lbs)
TKO'd Olga Bojare (5′7½″, 137 lbs) of Riga, Latvia at 1:41 in the
second round of a scheduled four-rounder. Bojare, who had
started fast but tired quickly, fell to 1-2-1 (0 KO's) when the referee
halted the bout with Kühne punishing her in a corner.
On November 11, 2006 at
Sportforum Oderstrasse in Neukoelln, Berlin, Germany, Ramona (137 lbs)
TKO'd Dorota Kosatka (141 lbs) of Poland who fell to 1-6 (0 KO's).
Kosatka was coming off a three-year break because of
pregnancy.
On February 24, 2007 at
Mehrzweckhalle Grossziethen in Schoenefeld, Brandenburg, Germany,
Ramona (135¼ lbs) won a six-round decision over Monica Herzilla (129
lbs) of Poland who fell to 2-4 (0 KO's). It was reported to
WBAN that Kühne won every round, landing the cleaner, harder
shots.
On March 21, 2007 at the
Box-Tempel in Weissensee, Berlin, Germany, Ramona (137 lbs) won a
six-round 60-53 decision over Russian-born Angel McKenzie (5′7½″,
138 lbs) of Brixton, London, England who fell to 2-2 (0
KO's). According to an
insider, after a furious start by both,According to an
insider, after a furious start by both, Kühne began to
connect with the heavier blows, scoring a knockdown in the fourth
round. In the last round, Kühne almost knocked
out the unorthodox boxing southpaw with a series of hard
blows.
On August 18,
2007 at Altes Funkwerk in Koepenick, Berlin, Germany,
Ramona (136¾ lbs) won a hard-fought unanimous (59-58,60-56,59-57) six
round decision over the experienced Daniela David (134½ lbs) of
Bucharest, Romania who fell to 4-11 (1 KO).
On October 13, 2007 at the
Herrmann-Gieseler-Halle in Magdeburg, Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany, Ramona (136¾
lbs) won a unanimous (97-93,97-93,96-94) ten-round decision over
Loli Muñoz Garcia (5′7½″, 135 lbs) of Barcelona, Spain for the
interim WIBF Junior Welterweight title. Muñoz pursued Kühne
with wild and looping punches throughout an action packed fight while Kühne used
her boxing skills to secure her first professional
title.
On May
16, 2008 at Ballhaus Arena in Aschersleben, Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany,
Ramona (133 lbs) won a hard fought split (93-97,96-94,96-95) ten-round
decision over Galina Koleva Ivanova
(129¾ lbs) of Sofia, Bulgaria for the vacant WIBF Lightweight
title. Ivanova slipped to 8-6-2 (0
KO's).
On November 28, 2008 at the Maritim
Hotel in Magdeburg, Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany, Ramona (133¼ lbs)
defended the WIBF Lightweight title with a ten-round unanimous
(97-93,100-92,97-93) decision over Dahiana Santana (129¼ lbs) of Santo
Domingo, Dominican Republic who fell to 14-5 (5 KO's).
On March 28, 2009 at
Mehrzweckhalle Grossziethen in Schoenefeld, Brandenburg, Germany,
Ramona (128¼ lbs) won a ten-round unanimous decision over Judy Waguthii
(128 lbs) of Nairobi, Kenya for the vacant WIBF Junior
Lightweight title. Waguthii fell to 7-4-1 (0 KO's) with the
loss.
On June 19, 2009 at Tabor
Arena in Maribor, Slovenia, Ramona (129½ lbs) defended the WIBF Junior
Lightweight title with a ten-round unanimous decision over
Galina Gumliiska (129¾ lbs) of Sofia, Bulgaria who fell to
8-18 (1 KO).
On November 28, 2009 at Altes
Funkwerk in Koepenick, Berlin, Germany, Ramona (125¼ lbs)
TKO'd Zsófia Bedo (125½ lbs) of Szekesfehervar, Hungary at
1:30 in the final round of a scheduled eight-rounder. Bedo fell to
2-12-1 (0 KO's). This was Kühne's first
fight as a featherweight, preparing her for the far more difficult task
ahead.
On January 9, 2010 at Bordelandhalle in
Magdeburg, Germany, Ina Menzer (125½ lbs) of Mönchengladbach,
Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany defended
her WBC, WIBF and WBO Featherweight titles with a sixth round technical
knockout over Ramona (125 lbs) when a straight right
from Menzer opened a huge gash over Kühne’s left eye. This injury
prematurely ended a much-anticipated battle between the two
previously unbeaten Germans. Menzer started well
pressing the action and scoring with a variety of shots to Kühne's body
and head while Kühne relied on her left hand from the get-go and
produced
serious swelling around Menzer’s eye. Kühne worked herself into
the
fight around the fourth round as she connected with good combinations,
but
Menzer turned the tide when she landed the big right that ended the
fight after 57 seconds of the round. “It was really
hard today”, Menzer said. “Ramona did a great job.
But it was my day today.” Kühne fell to 15-1 (4
KOs) but retained her WIBF Junior Lightweight belt while
Menzer improved to 26-0 (10 KO's).
On June 4, 2010 at Landesgartenschau
in Aschersleben, Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany Ramona (129¾ lbs)
TKO'd Maribel "Vispa" Santana (5'4", 129¾ lbs) of La Romana,
Dominican Republic at 1:50 in the fourth round of a scheduled
ten-rounder. Kühne
was defending the WIBF Junior Lightweight title and won the
vacant WBO and WBF Junior Lightweight titles. The light-hitting
Santana, who went to the canvas in the second, third and fourth
rounds, did little to test Kühne as she fell
to 10-9-1 (all of her wins have been within the Dominican Republic, but she has
never won outside her home base)
On November 20, 2010 at
Freiberger Arena in Dresden, Sachsen, Germany, Ramona (129¾ lbs) won a
ten-round unanimous (100-90,97-94,100-90) decision over Irma
Balijagic-Adler (127 lbs) of Bosnia-Herzegovina defending the WIBF, WBO
and WBF Junior Lightweight titles. Balijagic-Adler, who had
been awarded a very controversial home decision over Canada's Jeannine Garside for the WIBA
Featherweight title in December 2008, fell to 12-1 (5 KO's).
On April 9, 2011 at the
Bordelandhalle in Magdeburg, Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany, Ramona
(129 lbs) won a ten-round unanimous decision over a game Arleta
Krausova of
the Czech Republic who fell to 4-1 (1 KO). Krausova was a
late replacement for Michelle Bonassoli who had weighed in three
kilograms over the limit for this bout, which was for the WIBF,
WBO and WBF
Junior Lightweight titles. Kühne controlled the late rounds with Krausova battling hard while bleeding from her nose.
Page
last updated: Tuesday, April 12, 2011
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