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5'6" lightweight / junior
welterweight Rola El-Halabi from Ulm, Baden-Württemberg, Germany, was born on April
8, 1985 in Beirut, Lebanon. She came to Ulm with her family when she
was eight months old. When El-Halabi turned nine, her father took
her along to Thai boxing training. She trained exclusively with males
as a young girl.
At the age of 13, she had her first
fight, against the then European Champion Mandy Serafin
(GER). The result was a draw. Between the ages of 13
to 18 she fought at various Thai and Kick boxing events; she continued with Thai and Kickboxing until 2005.
El-Halabi was the runner up at
the World Championships as well as the
European Championships in Kick boxing. She was also the Triple German
Champion in Thai Boxing and World Cup winner in Kick Boxing.
At the age of 15, she also
tried her hand at amateur boxing. However,
it was difficult to find opponents as she was still in the
junior division.
At 18 years old, El-Halabi
participated at the first German
Women's Amateur Boxing Championships held in Meppen, in 2003. She won
the German Championship in the 66 kg (145 lbs) division, as the
youngest champion that year. From then on, she was predominant in the
63 kg to 66 kg divisions in German amateur boxing.
El-Halabi added two further
German Championship titles in the years
2004 and 2006.
When the German Women's National amateur boxing team saw the light of day in
2005, El-Halabi became a member and the first captain of the team. On October 28, 2006, El-Halabi fought Gitte Haenen of Belgium in a four-rounder, winning by decision.
On June 9, 2007, El-Halabi (132¾ lbs) made her pro debut in Ulm, and won her first fight by TKO in the first
round against Charlotte von Baumgarten (134½ lbs), another pro debuter.
El-Halabi's second pro bout
took place at Marktplatz in Karlsruhe, Germany on August
4, 2007, El-Halabi (135¼ lbs) KO'd debut fighter Sabrina Stegner (134¼
lbs) of Germany in the first round of a scheduled
four-rounder. Regina Halmich was a special guest at the event.
On September 30, 2007 at the Blautal Center in Ulm, El-Halabi
(135 lbs) won a ten-round unanimous (100-90 x 3) decision over Galina
Gumliiska (135 lbs) of Sofia, Bulgaria for the vacant
WIBF Intercontinental
(European) Lightweight Title. Alesia -Tamara Graf of
Stuttgart was a guest of honor at the event. Gumliiska fell to 8-10 (1 KO) with the loss. [Video]
On December 4, 2007, El-Halabi
was invited to box on a
Spotlight Boxing card at Freizeit Arena in Sölden, Austria.
She weighed in at 136¾ lbs and won a four-round unanimous (40-36
x 3) decision over Borislava Goranova (141¾ lbs) of Sofia,
Bulgaria, who fell to 2-23-1. [Video] On
February 9, 2008 at Rheinstetten, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. El-Halabi
(139¾ lbs) KO'd debut fighter Elisabejta Suerica (140 lbs) of
Romania 0:22 into the first round of a scheduled four-rounder. On
July 26, 2008 at Laubach, Baden-Württemberg, Germany, El-Halabi (133½
lbs) won a ten-round unanimous decision over Marina Kohlgruber (131¼
lbs) of Cologne, Germany for the vacant WIBF European Lightweight
title. Kohlgruber fell to 1-2-2 (1 KO) with the loss. 
Rola El-Halabi vs Eva Santa Halasi in November 2008
On
November 16, 2008 at the Blautal Center in Ulm, Germany, El-Halabi
(138½ lbs) KO'd debut pro boxer Eva Santa Halasi (136¼ lbs) of Senta,
Serbia in the fifth round of a scheduled six-rounder.
Correspondent Uwe Bekker told WBAN: "Rola El Halabi faced the experienced kickboxer Eva Santa Halasi from Serbia,
who made her professional debut as a boxer. El Halabi, clearly the
better boxer, dominated the fight but had problems to find the
distance and missed a couple of times and hit the air. In the fifth
round, El Halabi landed a crushing right hook and Halasi was
brutally knocked out. She remained unconscious on the canvas for
long, worrying minutes until she managed to get up again." [Video] On June 5, 2009 at Edwin-Scharff-Haus
in Neu-Ulm, Bayern, Germany, El-Halabi won a ten-round split
(98-95,96-98,98-95) decision over Loli Munoz of Barcelona, Spain for
the vacant WIBA and WIBF Lightweight titles. Munoz fell to 8-6-1 (5
KO's). [Video] On September 4, 2009 in Zenica,
Bosnia-Herzegovina, El-Halabi TKO'd Agnese Boza of Riga, Latvia in the
fifth round of a scheduled eight-rounder. Boza fell to 4-2 (2
KO's). 
Rola El-Halabi vs Mia St. John in March 2010
On March 20, 2010 at Kuhberg Halle in Ulm, Germany, Rola El-Halabi (135 lbs) stopped American veteran Mia St.John (5'6", 137¼ lbs) of Oxnard, California, by TKO at 0:43 in the fifth round of a
scheduled 10-rounder defending the WIBA and WIBF Lightweight titles. St.John
announced her retirement after this fight, with a record standing at
45-11-2 (18 KO's). [Video] On June 4, 2010 at Karl
Eckel Halle in Hattersheim am Main, Hessen, Germany, El-Halabi (135
lbs) won a six-round unanimous decision over Olga Bojare (134¾ lbs) of
Riga, Latvia, who fell to 3-11-1 (1 KO). El-Halabi's pro record
improved to a perfect 11-0 (6 KO's) with this win. On
April 1, 2011 El-Halabi was scheduled to fight Irma Balijagic
Adler of
Bosnia for the vacant IBF Lightweight title at Digibet Pferdesportpark
in Lichtenberg, Berlin, Germany. However, shortly before she was
scheduled to fight, El-Halabi and two security guards were shot by a man identified as El-Halabi's step-father.
WBAN's Sue TL Fox interviewed photojournalist Uwe Betker who was at the arena when the shooting occurred to learn details of this outrageous attack. An article in the German daily Bild reports that El-Halabi was shot in the hand, a knee and in both feet.
Other Rola El-Halabi links
To check out fight reports, complete up-to-date boxing records, with
huge digital photos you can go to
the WBAN Records
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last updated: Friday, April 8, 2011
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