Women Boxing Archive Network

August 17, 2002

Halmich Wins by Decision

By Peter Geudens

At the Estrel Convention Center, in Berlin, Germany, Regina Halmich, now 40-1-0 (14KO), won a majority decision over Yvonne Caples, now 6-4-1 (1KO)…Halmich retained her WIBF Flyweight title.

ROUND 1 –A rather tentative start by both fighters. Yvonne manages to get a few left jabs through Regina’s defence. She clearly takes the opening round.

ROUND 2 –Both fighters hesitate in the first part of this round, then Halmich takes the initiative, but Caples counters effectively and also takes this round.

ROUND 3 –The action starts immediately this time. Regina is more active, but Yvonne keeps countering effectively, making good use of her left jab and her reach advantage. Regina’s face looks a bit marked after this round.

ROUND 4 – Regina looks somewhat amateurish at times, wildly swinging and constantly missing. What Yvonne brings in looks a lot more solid: she is faster and more precise and has won every round so far on my card.

ROUND 5 – Regina takes the initiative and tries to land some body shots, but Yvonne is more successful with her right jabs. Towards the end of the round Regina hits her with a very good left hook, though. A pretty even round.

ROUND 6 – Regina gets more into the fight now. Both ladies move around a lot and they both have their moments. Yvonne doesn’t dominate so clearly anymore.

ROUND 7 –A wild start by Yvonne. She tries in vain to corner Regina, but in every exchange she shows that she is technically superior. Regina ends strongly, though.

ROUND 8 –Yvonne really fights beautifully. She avoids Regina’s blows while hitting her with her jabs over and over again. Whatever Regina tries, she just can’t reach her.

ROUND 9 – Regina shows a lot of heart, she keeps trying and trying to turn the tables, but always runs into Yvonne’s right jabs.

ROUND 10 –A hard-fought round with many fierce exchanges. Regina moves around a lot but when it comes to punching she doesn’t really take the upper hand.

At the end of the fight, they both raise their arms in victory. Yvonne’s team seem to be very confident they have it. Then we get the biggest surprise of the night: Regina is declared winner by split decision:

The Belgian judge scored it 97-93 for Halmich, the French judge calls it a draw (95-95) and the German judge 96-96 for Halmich.

The decision is booed by the public and Yvonne gets tears in her eyes when she hears it. Just imagine: you train hard for weeks, go all the way to Germany, dominate the whole fight and the only thing you get is a loss on your record.

It is painful to see a good fight turned into a joke by those judges. This is another black eye for women’s boxing. Even though Halmich is a big star in Germany , the public clearly acknowledged Yvonne’s superiority. I would have scored the fight 98-92 for Yvonne. She proved to be the better fighter in all respects.

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