Thursday, November 26, 2009

Hungary, land of the female super middleweights

By Mark L. Elwood
11-26-09 @ www.womenboxing.com


Hungary ranks as the 83rd-largest country in the world in terms of population, so it seems unlikely that it would boast seven of the 20 active female super middleweight boxers, but that is the case. Over the past two years a crop of seven Hungarian super middles and a light-heavyweight have put together a bit of a round robin tournament amongst themselves in that Central European nation.
Southpaw Borbala Kocsis of Budapest currently tops the list with a 6-0 record, having defeated compatriots Eva Nemeth, light-heavy Izabella Torok, Terez Skripek twice and Marianna Nagy twice. She just turned 20 years old.



Former kickboxing star Zita Zatyko, 29, of Szeged, is just a step back at 5-0-1, having beaten Nemeth, Skripek, Torok, Nagy and Diana Kiss. The lone blemish on her log is a draw with Kiss in a rematch.
Supremacy in the group may be determined Sunday when Kocsis and Zatyko square off in Budapest.
Kiss is third with a 2-1-1 log, but has faced only Zatyko among the other six. She stopped debutant countrywomen Alexandra Rozmuller (0-1) and junior middleweight Katalin Arany, in addition to the bouts with Zatyko. She is scheduled to face first-timer Mihaela Dragan of Romania in the same card as Kocsis-Zatyko on Sunday.
Torok, age 20, of Szekszard, is 3-2 overall, and has wins over Nemeth, Skripek and Nagy. Her losses were to Kocsis and Zatyko.
Nemeth is 2-3, with victories over Nagy and Skripek sandwiched around losses to Zatyko, Torok and Kocsis. She is 29, and lives in Budapest.
The trialhorses of the early going are Nagy and Skripek, both of whom are winless, but have not yet faced each other. Nagy, 21, of Budapest, is 0-5, but was only stopped by Zatyko.
Skripek, 24, is also 0-5 and of Budapest. She was stopped by Kocsis and Zatyko.
Zatyko is the power puncher of the lot with three KO wins. Kiss is next with two stoppages, followed by Kocsis and Nemeth with one each.
The world champion of the division lives not far away in Germany. Natascha Ragosina, 33, is 21-0 with 12 KOs. Two more German super middles, Daria Albers and Manon Rohrbach, both 0-2, may also eventually figure into the European round robin mix of opponents.
Most of the other world-rated super middles live outside Europe, and Ragosina has beaten two -- Iva Weston (10-5) of Trinidad and Tobago, and Laura Ramsey (9-4) of Florida, in title defenses. Having cleaned out most of the division over the course of her career, Ragosina faces only Ijeoma Egbunine (16-2) of Nigeria, now living in the United States, and Leatitia Robinson (15-1) of Chicago before the Hungarians could become the next challengers.
While it is interesting to note the proliferation of fighters from a single nation in a fairly new weight division, what happens next becomes even more so. Will Zatyko or Kocsis triumph? Will Rozmuller, Arany, Dragan, Albers or Rohrbach become part of the picture? Will bouts between Kiss and Kocsis or Torok help clear up the scene? Will one or more of them gain Ragosina’s attention?
It will be interesting to see if any of them emerge as a world title contender soon. Stay tuned.

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