Widad Bertal is a one of the top Moroccan female amateur boxers who
solidified her place at the pinnacle of global sports by winning
the gold medal at the 2025 IBA Women’s World Boxing
Championships.
She
was born on
August 31, 1999, in Casablanca, Morocco, Bertal competes in the bantamweight (54 kg) division. Alongside
her elite athletic career, she works as a qualified
multi-specialty nurse, balancing intensive training under
national and Cuban coaching staff with demanding medical shifts.
Bertal's rise through the amateur ranks was shaped by persistent
development following early international setbacks:
She missed out on the Tokyo 2020 Olympics during the African
qualifiers and faced a first-round exit at the 2022 World
Championships in Istanbul.
·She rapidly rebounded to sweep major regional competitions,
securing gold at the 2023 Arab Games in Algiers, the 2023
African Championships in Yaoundé, and the 2023 African Games in
Accra.
·
Widad maintained her continental supremacy by winning another gold
medal at the 2024 African Championships in Kinshasa.
Bertal earned her spot on the world’s biggest sports stage at
the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, where she competed in the women's
54kg division. She demonstrated her world-class capabilities
during the tournament by defeating Thailand’s Jutamas Jitpong in
the preliminary rounds before bowing out in the quarterfinal
stage. The high-pressure experience in Paris served as the
ultimate stepping stone for her impending global breakthrough.
In March 2025, Bertal achieved her career-defining triumph at
the IBA Women's World Boxing Championships in Niš, Serbia.
Competing in the 52–54 kg bantamweight division, she navigated a
grueling draw to secure the world title:
·
The Semifinal:
Outpointed home-crowd favorite Sara Ćirković of Serbia in a
tight 4–3 decision.
·
The Final:
Faced Turkey's Hatice Akbaş—the 2022 World Champion and Paris
2024 Olympic silver medalist.
·Despite dropping the first round 5–0, Bertal adjusted her
tactical approach to dominate the remainder of the bout, winning
the gold medal with a definitive 5–2 victory.
With this victory, Bertal became only the second Moroccan woman
in history to win a World Championship boxing gold medal,
trailing her iconic compatriot
Khadija El-Mardi.
Outside of the ring, Bertal is highly celebrated for her dual
life as a healthcare professional, having earned her
multi-specialty nursing degree in 2023. She credits boxing with
giving her immense self-confidence and moral grounding to handle
her exhausting schedule. Backed fully by her parents, Fatima and
Mohammed, Bertal has formally transitioned her focus toward
international training camps with her sights set on capturing
gold at the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games.
