21 years old, and considered the number-one female middleweight in the world, Christina Hammer is making her third defense of the World Boxing Federation World title on Thursday April 5 at the Vodova Arena in Brno, Czech Republic.
Hammer, 11-0 (7), is taking on South African challenger Julie “Queen” Tshabalala, 4-1-1 (1), on a show promoted by SES Boxing that also features a championship fight between local hero Lukas Konecny and Frenchman Salim Larbi.
Born in Novodolinka, Kazakhstan, the nationalized German has become something of a Globetrotting champion, winning the WBF World title in Slovenia in February 2011 and defending it in the Czech Republic three months later before returning to Germany for her second defense last October. Now she will go back to the Czech Republic for the Tshabalala encounter.
Julie Tshabalala from Johannesburg is the reigning South African Middleweight Champion. Making her professional debut in August 2008, she captured the national title almost exactly a year later with a ten-round unanimous decision over Bomkazi Klaas. She defended the title the following year in a rematch with Klaas, and again last summer with a stoppage over Lilian Molala.
While Hammer has five more professional bouts than Tshabalala, and been in four title fights compared to the South Africans three, the champion will do herself a favor by not underestimating her challenger who is known for her fighting spirit and determination. The Christina Hammer vs. Julie Tshabalala WBF Women’s World Middleweight title fight will be streamed live and exclusively to the world via www.bild.de from 8 PM local time.
www.worldboxingfederation.net
