Germany’s Nikki Adler is the old and new WBC Female World Super Middleweight Champion after beating Szilvia Szabados from Hungary by unanimous decision Friday night in front of 1,000 fans at MHP Arena in Ludwigsburg, Germany. After ten hard fought rounds judge Massimo Barrovecchio (Italy) scored the bout 98-90, Francisco Alloza Rosa (Spain) and Giuseppe Quartarone (Italy) both had it 99-89, all in favor of Adler.
Despite the very clear result Szabados proved to be a worthy title challenger from the opening to the final bell throwing tons of punches and keeping high pressure on the champion. However, Adler used her technical and tactical skills to keep the Hungarian at distance. The German showed decent counter punching and landed some fine jabs as well as good combinations.
With the bell that ended round 2 Szabados suffered a cut from an accidental head clash. Referee Anssi Perajoki (Finland) deducted one point from the uncut Adler according to the WBC Rules. In round 6 Perajoki also took a point from challenger Szabados after repeatedly warning her for throwing punches after the “break” commando.
In the later rounds Adler landed a lot of hard shots to the head of Szabados who refused to go down or even back up. Even though she was bleeding heavily from the nose and the cut above her right eye, the gutsy Hungarian kept coming forward and fighting back until the final bell.
“I am proud of Nikki but I also have huge respect for Szilvia Szabados. She showed tremendous heart. This is what boxing is about – never backing up”, said Adler’s trainer Alexander Haan after the fight.
