5'1" flyweight Nadia Raoui was born on June 2, 1985 and lives in Herne, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany.  Nadia practised judo from age 9 to age 16, then became interested in Muay Thai and kickboxing in 2002. In 2004 she was the International German Champion in Kickboxing.  She began to train as a boxer in parallel with kickboxing in 2004 but switched her focus entirely to boxing in August 2006.   Her all-time kickboxing record was 16-1 (13 KO's). 

She made her pro boxing debut on November 11, 2006 at Wuppertal, Germany, winning a four-round decision over Elina Tissen of Warendorf, Germany who fell to 2-1 (1 KO).

On April 28, 2007 in Cologne, Germany, Nadia Raoui TKO'd Lucie Sovijusova of Košice, Slovakia in the second round of a scheduled six-rounder.

On June 9, 2007 in Ulm, Germany, Nadia Raoui (111½ lbs)  won a four-round unanimous (40-37,40-36,39-37) decision over Agnese Boza (116¾ lbs) of Riga, Latvia, who fell to 1-1 (0 KO's).

On September 2, 2007 at Universal Hall in Mitte, Berlin, Germany, Nadia Raoui (110¼ lbs) won a four-round unanimous decision over Doris Koehler (114¼ lbs) of Vienna, Austria, who fel to 1-1-1 (0 KO's).

On November 17, 2007 at Sporthalle "Neue Zeit" in Schwedt, Brandenburg, Germany, Nadia Raoui (112½ lbs) won the WIBF Intercontinental Flyweight title with an exciting ten-round unanimous decision over Juliette Winter (112½ lbs) of Derby, England. Der Westen reported that '“A left hook from the 34-year-old Winter in the third round sent the German’s gum shield flying but Raoui struck back with a wonderful straight right in the next, and down the Englishwoman went. After a fierce but even fifth round, Nadia dropped her again in the sixth with a rock-hard, left-right combination to the point of the chin, and Winter at first seemed completely disoriented, but she regained her senses as the count progressed. Now only a knockout could rescue the fight for the Midlander and she came out in the seventh like the fire brigade, hell bent on just that, but was caught by powerful counters, and Raoui cruised to an easy victory on the cards.”  Winter fell to 3-5 (0 KO's).

On December 22, 2007 at Universal Hall in Mitte, Berlin, Germany, Nadia Raoui (110¾ lbs) won an eight-round decision over Svetla Taskova (109¼ lbs) of Sofia, Bulgaria, who fell to 4-22-1 (1 KO).

On May 31, 2008 at Universal Hall in Mitte, Berlin, Germany, Nadia Raoui (113 lbs) won a six-round unanimous decision over Fleis Djendji (114¾ lbs) of  Kanjiza, Serbia, who fell to 2-2 (0 KO's).

On August 1, 2008 in Budva, Montenegro, Nadia Raoui won a second-round TKO over Klaudia Ferenci of Slovakia, who fell to 1-2.

On September 27, 2008 at Genesis in Wusterhusen, Germany, Nadia Raoui (112 lbs) won a fourth-round TKO over Elena Miftode (113 lbs) of Bucharest, Romania in a scheduled ten-rounder.  Miftode fell to 6-11 (3 KO's).  

On December 20, 2008 at the Hallenstadion in Oerlikon, Zurich, Switzerland, Eileen Olszewski (5′ 3½″, 111 lbs) of New York retained her WIBA world Flyweight title with a ten-round split (95-95,92-98,96-95) draw over Nadia Raoui (111¼ lbs). There was some post-fight controversy over the widely different scoring by the three judges. Raoui had been more aggressive for much of the fight while Olszewski used her boxing skills to land more precisely. Olszewski moved her record to 5-2-2 (0 KO's).  

On April 4, 2009 at Burg-Waechter Castello in Düsseldorf, Germany, Nadia Raoui (110 lbs) won a ten-round unanimous (100-90,97-93,100-91) decision over Maria Rosa Tabbuso (100 lbs) of Rome, Italy for the Interim WIBA Flyweight title.  Erik Schmidt reported that "Raoui started off well in the 1st round, rushing across the ring and immediately showering Tabbuso with punches with both hands. Raoui didn’t seem to care about defense as she threw a blizzard of shots with many of them missing or getting picked off on the gloves on Tabbuso. It didn’t matter, however, because of the sheer volume of shots that Raoui was throwing. In the 2nd round, Raoui once again went right at Tabbuso from the start of the round, throwing big bombs and trying to take her out with every punch. During this time, Tabbuso landed a nice right hand that immediately caused Raoui’s left eye and cheek to start swelling up. It didn’t slow Raoui down whatsoever, though, because she was going full throttle with her offense and wasn’t letting up with her punches one bit. In the 3rd and 4th rounds, Raoui attacked Tabbuso often with long sustained flurries, giving her Italian opponent little rest between her long salvos of big shots. Raoui seemed disinterested in throwing body punches during this time, focusing most of her attention on trying to land to the head of Tabbuso. This made Tabbuso’s job a little easier, because all she had to do was cover up her head and try to wait out Raoui’s long flurries. However, many of Raoui’s shots were leaking through Tabbuso’s defense and snapping her head around. In the 6th round, Raoui landed a big left hook near the end of the round, hurting Tabbuso and sending her backwards towards the ropes. Her mouthpiece was knocked out from the force of the big shot. Seconds later, Raoui landed another big left hook that seemed to hurt Tabbuso further. However, luckily for her the round ended before Raoui could add to the damage. In rounds seven through ten, Raoui landed often as she swarmed a tired and beaten Tabbuso, battering her with shots for the full two minutes of every round. Tabbuso now was only landing occasionally, spending the rest of the time trying to block the almost nonstop incoming fire." Tabbuso fell to 12-4-2 (3 KO's) and has not fought since. 

On October 3, 2009 at the Stadthalle in Vienna, Austria, Nadia Raoui (110½ lbs) won a ten-round unanimous (100-89,99-90,100-89) decision in a rematch with Fleis Djendji (111 lbs) of  Kanjiza, Serbia for the vacant World Professional Boxing Organization Flyweight title.  Djendji fell to 8-5 (4 KO's) with her second loss to Raoui. 

On April 24, 2010 at Alster Sporthalle in Hamburg, Germany, Susi Kentikian (110½ lbs) of Hamburg, Germany won a controversial split (96-94, 96-94. 95-96) decision over Nadia Raoui (110 lbs) for the WBA, WBO and WIBF Flyweight titles.  The fight, which was the Main Event and shown live on ZDF, was fought at a high pace throughout and was one of the best women's bouts ever seen in Germany according to reports received by WBAN.  Kentikian appeared to struggle in many rounds as she was outpunched and outlanded by the aggressive Raoui's cleaner and straighter shots, but she landed enough of her own to persuade two judges to award her a close decision. The result advanced Kentikian's  record to 27-0 (16 KO's) while Raoui fell to 11-1-1 (3 KO's).  Raoui was in tears after the decision was announced, saying "I had guessed that I needed to win twice over, and I did. But even that was not enough". German featherweight champion Ina Menzer, who was at ringside opined that "a draw would have been fair".   [Video] 

On June 25, 2011 at Lanxess Arena in Cologne, Germany, Nadia Raoui (110¼ lbs) convincingly defeated Evgeniya Zablotskaya (108½ lbs) of St Petersburg, Russia by a six-round unanimous decision.  Zablotskaya fell to 3-6 (1 KO).

On December 2, 2011 at SAP-Arena in Mannheim, Baden-Württemberg, Germany, Nadia Raoui (111 lbs) won an eight-round unanimous decision oiver Oksana Romanova (110¼ lbs) of Kiev, Ukraine for the WIBA Flyweight title. Romanova fell to 7-13-1 (2 KO's)

On April 13, 2012 at Lanxess-Arena in Cologne, Germany, Nadia Raoui retained the WIBA Flyweight title with a unanimous 98-93,98-93,100-90 decision over Eileen Olszewski of New York.  The tactical fight was closer than the scorecards suggest but Raoui was more aggressive in this rematch and did enough to secure the win. Olszewski slipped to 7-4-2 (0 KO's).

On September 1, 2012 at Koenig Pilsener Arena in Oberhausen, Germany, Nadia Raoui (15-1-1, 3 KOs) retained her WIBA Flyweight crown by overcoming a stiff challenge from Siriporn Thaweesuk (aka Samson Tor Buamas of Thailand) to win a ten-round unanimous (96-94,99-92,97-93) decision. Thaweesuk, who was the WIBA Minimumweight title holder, had jumped two weight classes for the chance to fight outside South-East Asia for the first time in her career. The Thai challenger used her reach and a steady jab to press the action for all ten rounds but she was thwarted by Raoui's speed, mobility and more practised boxing skills. Thaweesuk fell to 26-3 (11 KO's) while Raoui improved to 15-1-1 (3 KO's).

On March 23, 2013 at GETEC Arena in Magdeburg, Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany, Melissa McMorrow (110¾ lbs) of San Francisco, California won a hard fought ten-round split (99-91,96-94,94-96) decision over Nadia Raoui (109¾ lbs) defending the WBO and WIBF Flyweight titles,  As described by Ryan Songalia for The Ring: "McMorrow came out aggressively as usual, working the midsection of Raoui. Raoui took advantage of McMorrow's eagerness with counter uppercuts, but was met by a flush McMorrow right cross to punctuate the first round. McMorrow found success upstairs at well to the head, particularly in round four as her Joe Frazier-like bobbing and weaving opened up opportunities for her overhand right. Raoui, whose lone previous defeat came via a split decision to Kentikian in 2010, landed good right hand counters in round five but, without significant power, they failed to halt the momentum of the incumbent champion. McMorrow continued to press the action for the remainder of the ten-round bout."  McMorrow, who scarcely took a backward step during the entire fight, improved her record to 9-3-3 (1 KO) while Raoui fell to 5-2-1 (13 KO's).

Other Nadia Raoui links

• Nadia Raoui web site

Page last updated: Wednesday, April 16 2014

WBAN Boxer Bio by Dee Williams

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