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Photo
Credit: Dalia Duran/International Women's Boxing Hall of Fame Event,
Ft. Lauderdale, Florida - July 2014
5'3" Regina Halmich from Karlsruhe, Germany is
probably Europe's best-known female boxer.
Born on 22 November 1976 in Karlsruhe, Halmich gave up her job
as a lawyer's clerk to become a professional boxer in 1993 and competed in
the sport until announcing her retirement in 2007. She was trained by Torsten Schmitz
and managed by Klaus-Peter Kohl. She held the WIBF world Junior Flyweight, Flyweight and Junior
Bantamweight titles as well as the European
Junior Flyweight and Flyweight titles.
Regina maintained a typical pace of three to five fights a year against a mixture of serious
contenders ncluding the best in the sport at her eight, and some "soft" opponents.
She was a technical boxer with an aggressive style that made
her fights exciting to watch and also made her the emblem of women's boxing and a
national celebrity in Germany.
On March 4, 1994, in Karlsruhe, she won her debut with a
5-round unanimous decision over Holland's Fienie Klee
On April 22, 1994 in Karlsruhe she knocked out Birgit Veerle of
Belgium in the third round of a scheduled 4-rounder.
On June 17 1994 in Karlsruhe she won by first-round KO over Sonja
Silva of Portugal. On June 5, 1994 in Bruchsal, Germany and again on September 2 1994
in Karlsruhe she won six-round unanimous decisions over French
kickboxing champion Severine
Grandsire, in Grandsire's first two bouts as a pro boxer.
On November 25, 1994 she won the WIBF European Flyweight title with a 10-round decision over
Britain's Cheryl Robertson.
Robertson was making her pro boxing debut but later went on to become the WIBF world
Bantamweight champion.
On March 11, 1995 in Köln, Germany Regina won a six-round
unanimous decision over Paula Moreira of Portugal. On April 1 1995
in Aachen, Germany she won a 10-round unanimous decision over Italy's Maria
Rosa Tabbuso to defend the
WIBF European Flyweight title.
On April 20, 1995 at the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas she lost to Yvonne Trevino of Peoria, Arizona by
4th round TKO in a scheduled 10-rounder for the WIBF world Super Flyweight title. This bout was the Main Event on the WIBF
all-female
card.
Although Halmich knocked Trevino down early in the fight,
she could not match the punching power of her
American opponent. Halmich went to the canvas herself later in a fight in which she was
eventually badly bloodied by the hard-punching Trevino.
Halmich showed her toughness against Trevino in standing up to a strong
opponent. The fight was stopped in the fourth round when Halmich, unable to
defend a stream of Trevino's powerful rights, was badly battered around her left
eye.
Trevino improved to 2-1 as a pro boxer. On June 10, 1995 in Karslruhe she won a 10-round split
(2-1) decision over
American kickboxing star Kim Messer to take
the WIBF Flyweight title. This was Messer's first fight as a professional boxer.
On August 5, 1995 in Berlin, Germany she TKO'd Sónia Pereira
of Portugal in the seventh round defending the WIBF European Flyweight title. On September 23, 1995 in Aachen, Germany she TKO'd Brigitte Scherzinour
of France in the sixth round
defending the WIBF world Flyweight title (as far as I can tell, this was
Scherzinour's only pro fight!).
On November 4, 1995 in Köln she won a ten-round unanimous decision over Petrina
Phillips of Wales in defense of the WIBF European Flyweight title.
On December 2, 1995 in Karlsruhe she won a 10-round unanimous decision over
Texan junior flyweight Anissa Zamarron for the
WIBF world flyweight title.
Zamarron fell to 4-2 (1 KO). On February 10, 1996 in Cottbus,
Germany
she TKO'd Dagmar Richardson of Holland in the fourth round in
defense of the WIBF world flyweight title.
This was Richardson's debut. On April 13, 1996 in Hamburg she TKO'd Melinda Papp of Hungary in the fourth round
defending the WIBF world Flyweight title.
On August 17 1996 in Frankfurt she won a 10-round decision over
Diane Berry of England defending the WIBF world flyweight title.
This was Berry's pro boxing debut. On November 2, 1996 in
Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany she TKO'd Michelle Sutcliffe of England
in the second round defending the WIBF world Flyweight title. This was
Sutcliffe's pro boxing debut.
On December 12, 1996 in Frankfurt she won another 10-round
unanimous decision over
Cheryl Robertson of England for the WIBF world
flyweight title, dropping Robertson to 0-2 as a pro boxer. On March 8th, 1997 in Köln she won a
10-round unanimous (97-94,98-94,96-95)
10-round
decision over Miyoki Nojima of Japan for the WIBF world Flyweight title.
Nojima (a.k.a. "Sugar Miyuki") was 1-1 as a pro boxer. On June 27, 1997 in Offenburg, Germany she won a 10-round
unanimous decision over Lisa Houghton of Leeds, England for the WIBF world Flyweight
title. This was Houghton's pro boxing debut.
On September 20, 1997 in Aachen she won a
10-round decision over Viktoria Pataki
of Hungary, who fell to 13-1-0. On November 29, 1997 in Karlsruhe she
weighed in at 112 lbs and won a clear
10-round unanimous decision over Franchesca Lupo (107 lbs) of Italy for the WIBF
Flyweight title.
Halmich held Lupo at a distance with her jab and
landed telling right hooks at every opportunity. However, even right-left
combinations didn't stop Francesca Lupo from coming forward, but landed few
solid shots punches herself. Two
of the three judges had her winning all ten rounds. "Everything worked out perfectly. Regina held to our fighting tactics all
to the end" said Regina's trainer Torsten Schmitz.
On March 7, 1998 in Köln, she retained the WIBF Flyweight title by
again defeating Lisa Houghton on points over 10 rounds; Houghton was a late
replacement for the USA's Pam Barker, and fell to 0-3 as a pro boxer with this
loss. On April 18, 1998 in Aachen, Germany , Regina moved her record to 25-1
with 8 KO's by TKO'ing Italy's Maria Rosa Tabbuso in the 6th round to
take the WIBF Super Flyweight title. Regina
worked Tabbuso's body early in this fight and a standing eight was called
on Tabbuso midway through Round Three.
On July 10, 1998 in Munich, she weighed in at 111 lbs and defended her WIBF
world Flyweight title with a close (96-95,96-95,97-95) ten round decision
over world champion kickboxer Stefania Bianchini (110 lbs)
from Milan, Italy.
Regina started well, catching the southpaw challenger with some heavy rights,
but Bianchini kept coming forward and still looked strong at the end of
the fight. Despite always being behind on points, Bianchini never
stopped pressing and hurt Halmich with a couple of strong lefts in
the last two rounds, causing the champion to backpedal to stay out of
trouble. Regina was heavily marked across her nose and around both eyes when
the bout was over.
On October 3, 1998 at the Prinz-Garden-Halle in Augsburg, Germany, she
again defeated Anissa Zamarron of Austin, Texas, this time
by 10-round unanimous (96-95,97-92,98-96)
decision to retain the WIBF world Flyweight title.
On December 5, 1998 in Kiev, Ukraine, a crowd estimated at 12,000
saw Regina (107 lbs) outpoint Hungary's Viktoria Pataki (108 lbs) for the second time in her
career, over 10 rounds in defense of the WIBF world flyweight title.
Regina knocked the Hungarian down in the opening minutes and dominated
the rest of the fight. Pataki slipped to 17-2 (both losses coming to the
German champion).
On March 27, 1999 at Sartory Säle in Köln, Germany,
Regina scored a devastating first-minute KO of Lourdes Gonzalez de Ocampo of
Argentina. Gonzales went to the canvas after a left hook followed by a right
to the solar plexus and another right to the
head. She remained down for several minutes and was taken to a hospital for examination. Halmich
said afterwards that she was shocked when Gonzalez stayed on the canvas so long.
She also reaffirmed her wish to fight again in the United States. Gonzalez's record
fell to a claimed 10-3 with this loss; she had won 5 of her fights by KO.
On July 10, 1999 at the Sporthalle in Augsburg, Germany, in her 20th world title bout,
Regina weighed in at 108 lbs and defended the WIBF world Junior Flyweight (renamed from Flyweight)
title before a near capacity crowd of 2800 with a TKO
of Hungarian Erzsébet Borosi (105½ lbs)
at 1:25 of the eighth round. Halmich
dominated the whole fight and landed clear shots to the head before
referee Daniel van de Wiele called a halt to it.
According to a press release by Fabian Weber,
Regina stated "I took the fight very seriously, because it's my great
aim to fight in the US this year, I want a big fight against Jane Mathews
(presumably Jill Matthews ... Dee),
Jolene Blackshear or Yvonne Trevino". Halmich also stated that she wanted more
money from promoter Universum when her
contract expired at the end of the year. Borosi suffered her first loss
in 15 fights, dropping to 14-1 (3 KO´s) according to Universum ...
however Borosi had competed in the Feenix Box Cup amateur
tournament as recently as May 1999 so it is likely that the quoted
record was her amateur record. Neither the promoter's representatives
nor a WIBF official gave clear responses to questions about
Borosi's record, and modern sources (including WBAN) list tis bout with
Halmich as Borosi's only pro fight.
On September 18, 1999 at the Alte Reithalle in Stuttgart, Germany:
Regina weighed in at 108 lbs and retained the WIBF Junior Flyweight title with
a hard-fought 10-round unanimous decision
over former IWBF and IFBA Junior Flyweight champion Jill Matthews (108 lbs) of New York City.
The judges' scorecards were 98-95, 97-93 and 99-92 in favor
of Halmich, but this was a tough fight for the German
star. Matthews fell to 7-4-1 with the loss.
On February 19, 2000 at the Estrel Convention Centre in Berlin, Germany,
Regina moved her pro record to 31-1 and defended her WIBF Junior Flyweight
title with a fifth-round TKO of Hungary's Viktoria Varga,
who fell to 9-1.
The German champion hurt Varga with a series of body punches in
the fourth and fifth rounds and Varga took two standing eight counts.
Referee Daniel van der Wiele stopped the fight when Varga turned away
from Halmich after taking more shots to the body, at 1:15 in the
fifth.
On May 13, 2000 at Sartory Säle in Cologne, Germany,
Regina weighed in at 111 lbs and moved her record to 32-1 in a hard-fought
ten round battle with Delia Gonzalez (109 lbs) of Chamberino, New Mexico.
Halmich won by a majority (98-95,96-94,96-96) decision. Gonzalez was very
aggressive and Halmich needed all her boxing skills and speed to keep her at bay.
The fight turned into a war in the later rounds, and Gonzalez was cut over her left
eye in round eight, but this did not stop her coming forward to challenge Regina
until the final bell of an excellent and hard-fought bout (read the detailed fight report from correspondent Jon Fox).
Gonzalez fell to 10-5-3 with the loss.
On October 7, 2000 at the Estrel Convention Centre in Berlin, Germany,
Regina weighed in at 107½ lbs and retained her title by a ten-round majority
decision over WBF Women's Flyweight champion Michelle Sutcliffe (108 lbs) of the
U.K. The scores were 98-95, 97-94, and 95-95.
Sutcliffe was cut by an accidental head butt but
beat Halmich to the punch repeatedly. Halmich kept going
forward for the whole bout but did not look her best in this fight
and took much more punishment than in her previous title defenses.
Halmich told German media:
"This isn't meant as an excuse, but in the course of moving from
Hamburg to ... Berlin, my trainer, Torsten Schmitz, and I have
had a lot of extraneous matters to attend to in the last few weeks",
adding "I aim to be a lot more convincing in my
next fight". Sutcliffe fell to 4-4 with the loss.
On December 16, 2000 at Gruga-Halle, in Essen, Germany, 8000 spectators saw Regina (106½ lbs)
retain the WIBF world Junior Flyweight title with a 10-round strangely-split (100-90,98-94,93-97) decision
over European Junior Flyweight champion Alina Shaternikova (108 lbs) of
the Ukraine, who fell to 12-1 (2 KO's).
On February 24, 2001 at Sporthalle Wandsbek in Hamburg, Germany, Regina weighed in at 107 lbs and
won by a TKO at 1:50 of the third round over Szilvia Csicsely (106 lbs) of Hungary in another
defense of the WIBF Junior Flyweight title. Halmich pursued the overmatched Hungarian fighter relentlessly
until referee Daniel van de Wiele stopped the lop-sided contest. Csicsely's record fell
to 11-1 according to Universum, but I suspect that this included amateur bouts.
On April 7, 2001 at Universum Gym in Hamburg, Germany, she moved her pro record to 36-1 (13 KO's) in a successful
defense of the WIBF Junior Flyweight title when she TKO'd Andrea Blevins of Missouri at 1:35 in the fifth round. Blevins
fell to 4-2 (1 KO) fighting her second ten-rounder, and looked badly overmatched.
On July 21, 2001 at Tivoli Eissporthalle in Aachen, Germany, she again defended the WIBF Junior Flyweight title and moved
to 37-1 (13 KO's) with a hard fought ten-round unanimous (98-96,97-95,96-94) decision in a rematch with Ukrainian southpaw Alina Shaternikova. Shaternikova, who fell to 9-2 (2 KO's), pressed Halmich hard
throughout an intensely competitive rematch of their December 2000 bout.
On November 24, 2001 at Universum Gym in Hamburg, Germany, Regina (107 lbs) defended the WIBF Junior Flyweight world
title with a 99-92,98-93,98-92 decision over Svetla Taskova (104 lbs) of Bulgaria. Marcel Niessen told me
"Southpaw Svetla started
the fight strong with a wild and rough style that seemed to surprise Halmich and the first two rounds were for Svetla with
the second and third being very close, in my book even. After that Svetla appeared to run run out of gas and the lack of a
jab turned the tide in Regina's favor. Regina picked up the pace in the middle and later rounds and cruised to a 98-94
victory on my card." Halmich, who turned 25 two days before the fight, advanced to is now 38-1 (13 KOs) with the win while
Taskova fell to 2-4 according to my records (but her two wins over Emilia Iakimova in Bulgaria have been questioned by one
correspondent.) Marcel Niessen writes that Regina said it was a hard fight and even though the media didn't write too
positively about the last minute replacement, she noted that you can never underestimate an opponent, adding
"that way you
might all of a sudden lose the title one day". She ended the interview by saying that the opposition wouldn't be weaker in
the future.
On April 20, 2002 at Stoczniowiec Olivia, Gdansk (Danzig), Poland, Halmich advanced to 39-1-0 (14 KO) with a
meaningless win over Ance Moise of Romania who fell to 0-4. This bout, a bad mismatch
by any measure, was
all the more absurd for being sanctioned by the WIBF as a defense of Halmich's WIBF world Junior Flyweight title.
On August 17, 2002 at Estrel Convention Center, in Berlin, Germany, Halmich (107½ lbs) defended her WIBF Junior
Flyweight world title with a controversial 10-round majority decision over Yvonne Caples
(106¼ lbs) of Berkeley, California, ranked #3 in the division by Female Boxing Results and Records. The scorecards
were 97-95 (incorrectly announced at the fight as 97-93) and 96-94 for Halmich, with Humberto Furgoni scoring it a 95-95
draw. The result was greeted by boos and whistles as many at ringside considered that Caples had done enough to hand
Halmich her second pro loss. Caples slipped to 6-4-1 (1 KO). Halmich had trained for the bout by sparring with Puerto
Rican bantamweight Ada Velez.
On January 18, 2003 at Grugahalle in Essen, Germany, Halmich (110
lbs) easily retained her WIBF Flyweight title with a
ten-round unanimous (98-92,100-90,99-91) decision over Nadja Loritz
(108 lbs) of Koblenz, Germany. Loritz was able to withstand a barrage from
Halmich, who became very aggressive in the later rounds, but she lacked the
skills and speed to test the veteran champion and was outclassed by her.
Loritz fell to 13-1-2 (9 KO). Nadja Loritz was simply outclassed by Regina
Halmich
On April 26, 2003 at Sport-und-Kongresshalle, Schwerin, Germany, Regina (110½ lbs) won a ten-round unanimous
(98-92,97-95,97-94) decision over Cathy Brown (111 lbs)
of Peckham, U.K. After a slow start by both
fighters in the opening round, Cathy Brown became more
aggressive and showed she was clearly the harder puncher. Brown was cut on her forehead by an accidental head-butt midway
through the second round, but it did not appear to cause her much trouble.
Brown
caught Regina off balance and sent her to the
canvas with a straight right to the shoulder with 36 seconds left in
the third round, but Halmich was never in any
real trouble
from this surprising trip to the canvas. Halmich's boxing skills,
conditioning and experience turned the fight her way in the second
half of the bout as she was able to keep her distance from Brown, who
was
evidently tired and swinging more wildly in the later
rounds. Halmich avoided Brown's rushes and landed some effective
counters in the
closing rounds, but both were exhausted and rarely landed much that was
solid as
the fight wound down. The scoring was 98-92 by Werner Kasimir of
Germany (perhaps unduly
favoring Halmich), a more realistic 97-95 by Guido Cavalleri of Italy
and 97-94
by Béla Florian of Hungary. Halmich progressed to 42-1-0 (14
KO) and retained her world title with this hard-earned win. On July 12, 2003 at Wilhelm-Dopatka-Halle in Leverkusen, Germany, Regina (108¼ lbs) won a sixth-round
TKO over unranked Svetla Taskova (102½ lbs) of Bulgaria. Taskova fell to a
reported 3-8-0 (1 KO)
... but the
authenticity of two of her wins is unclear. This was Halmich's second win over
the Bulgarian southpaw.
On January 17, 2004 at dm-Arena in Karlsruhe, Germany, Regina (110¾ lbs) won a convincing 10-round
unanimous (98-92,99-91,99-94) decision over challenger Johanna Peña Álvarez
(112 lbs) from the Dominican Republic for the WIBF world Flyweight title. Peña Álvarez
fell to 14-2-1 (10 KO)
On May 29, 2004 at Ostseehalle in Kiel, Germany, Regina
comfortably won a ten-round
unanimous (96-94,97-93,96-94) decision over Daisy Lang of Bulgaria for the
vacant IWBF Junior Bantamweight title. Lang fell to 18-3-1 with the loss.
Halmich dominated the taller Lang with a more aggressive offense, and landed
more solidly throughout the fight.
Halmich apologized for the fact that the fight
was unexciting, and blamed Lang for not wanting to fight. Halmich,
who had gone up two weight classes to make the match, progressed to 45-1-0 (15
KO) with this win.
On September 11, 2004 at
DM Arena in Karlsruhe, Germany, Regina
(111¾ lbs) battled Elena Reid (111¾ lbs) of Phoenix,
Arizona, USA to a draw over ten-rounds to retain her WIBF Flyweight title.
The scoring of this bout was highly controversial, Judge Oliver Evers of Germany
logging it as 98-94 for Halmich, Judge Leszek Jankowiak of Poland assessing it
as a 97-97 draw, while Judge Roger Tillerman of Belgium had it 97-93 for Reid.
More observers of this fight appear to agree with the Belgian judge's assessment
than with either the draw or the tally by the German judge. Halmich moved
her record to 45-1-1 (15 KOs) with the draw, while Reid progressed to 14-1-5 (4
KO).
On January 15, 2005 at Bördelandhalle in Magdeburg, Germany, Regina (111¼ lbs)
won a ten-round unanimous
(100-91,100-92,100-92) decision over
Marylín Hernández (111½ lbs) of the Dominican Republic defending the WIBF
Flyweight title in a fight that was broadcast live on ZDF-TV.
Hernández's boxing record is a matter of
some dispute, but her verified record with FightFax after this bout was 3-4-0.
Halmich, who was setting down on her punches more than in her controversial draw
with Elena Reid, improved to
46-1-1 (15 KOs) with the win.
On April 16, 2005 at Bördelandhalle in Magdeburg, Germany, Regina (111¼
lbs) won a comfortable (98-92,99-91,99-91) ten-round unanimous decision over
WIBA
Minimumweight champion Hollie Dunaway (110¾
lbs) of Van Buren, Arkansas, USA defending her WIBF Flyweight Title.
Dunaway started aggressively and Halmich seemed wary of her punching power at
first, but Halmich began to take over the fight in the third round and began to
ook confident countering Dunaway's energetic but often inaccurate punching
style.
Halmich scored repeatedly with her left hook in the fifth and knocked Dunaway's
mouthpiece out. Halmich went on to dominate the later rounds as Dunaway tired,
but the American tried to make a fight of it in the ninth and tenth, only to be
frustrated by the more experienced German's skills and effective late-round
punching. Dunaway fell to
13-4-0 (8 KO) with the loss.
WBAN named Regina as its Fighter of the Month in May 2005.
On September 10, 2005 in Karlsruhe, Germany,
Regina (111 lbs) won a 10-round split (94-96,98-92,96-94) decision over
María Jesús Rosa (111½
lbs) of Magarinos, Spain
defending her WIBF Flyweight Title.
On December 3, 2005 at the Bördelandhalle in Magdeburg, Germany, Regina (111
lbs), won a 10-round unanimous decision over Elena Reid
(110½ lbs) of Phoenix, Arizona to retain her WIBF Flyweight title. The outcome
of this rematch was not without controversy as the American team and some
ringside observers again claimed that they had been robbed by the judges,
but Halmich had clearly learned more from their previous drawn bout which most
observers felt she had lost.
On May 6, 2006 at Burg-Wächter-Castello
in Dusseldorf, Germany Regina (111¼ lbs) scored her 50th professional
win with a ten-round unanimous decision over Viktoria Milo (
5'6", 110¾ lbs) of Nyíregyháza, Hungary, defending her WIBF Flyweight title. The
judges' scorecards (98-92,99-92,97-93). Milo, who held the GBU flyweight belt and was
ranked #3 at flyweight by WBAN, fell to 15-6-0 (4 KOs), while Regina
improved to 50-1-1 (15 KOs).
On September 9, 2006 at
Bördelandhalle, Magdeburg, Germany, Regina (111½ lbs) TKO’d Ria Ramnarine (110½ lbs) of Trinidad and Tobago at
0:54 seconds in the sixth round in a scheduled 10 Main Event for Halmich's WIBF
Flyweight title. Ramnarine fell to 10-5 (1 KO) with the loss.
On January 13, 2007 at the Brandberge
Arena in Halle/Saale, Germany, Regina (111½ lbs) won a convincing
10-round unanimous (99-92,98-93,99-91) decision over WIBF Junior
Bantamweight champion Reka Krempf (111¼ lbs) of Esztergom, Hungary
defending her WIBF Flyweight title. Krempf was a relatively late substitute
for American Mary Ortega who had been placed on suspension in Nevada for
failing a banned substance test. According to the fight
report from WBAN correspondent Torben L., "Halmich came forward in
her usual style and used her superior ring craft to control the fight
throughout the 10 rounds. Although Krempf fought gallantly and occasionally
managed to deliver telling punches, she did not have the tools to counter
Halmich's persistent attacks." Halmich had stated that she would
fight twice more before she retires in 2007, and that Terri Cruz is one
fighter she would like to face before she hangs up her gloves. Halmich
improved to 52-1-1 (16 KOs) while Krempf
fell to 13-8-3 (5 KOs).
On July 28, 2007 at
Burg-Wächter-Castello in Dusseldorf, Germany Regina retained her WIBF
Flyweight title with a 10-round unanimous (98-93,
98 93, 96-95.) decision over
Wendy Rodriguez of Los Angeles, California.
Rodriguez fell to 18-4-3 (3 KOs).
On November 30, 2007 at the DM-Arena in Karlsruhe, the 31-year-old
Halmich claimed a final ten-round decision against Hagar Shmoulefeld
Finer of Israel to finish her boxing career with a 54-1-1 (16 KOs) record
after holding her world title for a decade and making 45 title defenses.
Halmich was tested hard by Finer, the reigning WIBF Junior Bantamweight
champion, and came away with a hard won majority (97-94,95-95,96-94)
decision to a standing ovation from the capacity crowd of 7500 who attended
the fight. Finer, who had fought well but angered some fans by raising her
hands in triumph after almost every round, dropped to 14-4-3.
"I have the right to step down now. It was a wonderful career," said
Halmich, who wants to pursue work as a television commentator.
In January 2008 WBAN recognized Halmich's long career with its "Highest
Achievement of the Year 2007" award. Sue TL Fox wrote "Regina
Halmich has been chosen for the second year with WBAN as obtaining the
highest achievements that a female boxer has accomplished in 2007 in the
sport ... Regina has displayed grace, and pristine sportsmanship throughout
her career---and she has been a good business woman who has been able to
financially achieve something from the sport."
Many women's boxing fans
were eager to see Halmich compete in the USA again
before she retired. After her May 13, 2000 bout with Delia
Gonzalez, Women's Boxing Page correspondent Jon Fox asked Regina whether she was willing to fight Kim Messer.
"Absolutely, I'd like to fight her in America. But the money has to be right", replied Halmich.
Regina was said to have turned down $20,000 for a match in the USA with former IFBA flyweight champion Jolene Blackshear. After her November 24, 2001 bout, Regina
also gave an interview in which she was asked
if she still wanted bigger and better things in the USA by fighting some big fights there. Halmich
said it was not necessary since she would be fighting for ZDF television channel
in starting in 2002 and they would have a bigger budget available to show her
fighting the better female boxers in Germany instead of in the USA.
The economics of why Halmich never fought outside Germany in her later
years were made crystal clear her final bout with Hagar Shmoulefeld Finer.
According to the
AP report in the International Herald Tribune, the fight was
watched on European television by eight million people, with an audience share
of nearly 40 percent, a ratings higher than all but the biggest men's fights in
Germany. Halmich also reportedly won €500,000 (US$731,000) in prize money
for the appearance, making her the highest-paid performer in women's boxing
history. She is said to have made about
€10 million over her entire boxing career, thanks largely to the
media popularity for women's boxing that she herself had created in Germany.
Only Laila Ali came close to Halmich's success in capturing the attention, and
financial rewards, of a large boxing community for the female sport. Halmich has
also paved the way for a new generation of younger fighters to follow her
footsteps in Germany, obtaining good financial rewards for their efforts.
Halmich's career has been criticized for some friendly (favorable) decisions, as
in her first bout with Elena Reid, but she leaves a legacy for the sport in
Europe that can only be envied by women boxers in other countries.
Regina saw action as a pro kickboxer early in her career. She suffered
a tough defeat in Tokyo, Japan against Naoko Kumagai
in DESTINY-IX, an all-women's card on October 14, 1994. Regina was knocked out in
an uneven match, Naoko punished Regina with lateral kicks to the midsection before a powerful left hand
to the liver sent her to the canvas, where Halmich was counted out at 1:17 of the first round.
In 2014, Regina Halmich was inducted into the International Women's Boxing Hall
of Fame [IWBHF]. She traveled from Germany to receive her award in Ft.
Lauderdale, Florida, presented by Sue TL Fox, founder and President of the IWBHF.
For more details go to www.iwbhf.com
Page last updated:
Thursday, 08 June 2023 |
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