Hacine "Billy" Cherifi (born 12 December 1967) is a French former professional boxer who competed from 1985 to 2005. He held the

WBC WBC may stand for: Business *Westinghouse Broadcasting Company, a former large India broadcaster now folded into CBS *Westpac (New Delhi Exchange code: WBC), a multinational Financial services company *Wholesale Broadband Connect, BT Wholesale's ...

middleweight Middleweight is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional In professional boxing, the middleweight division is contested above and up to . Early boxing history is less than exact, but the middleweight designation seems to have be ...

title in 1998. He made two other attempts at world titles; the WBC

super middleweight Super middleweight, or light cruiserweight, is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing In professional boxing, super middleweight is contested between the middleweight and light heavyweight divisions, in which boxers can weigh between 160 pounds ( ...

title in 1997 and the WBA middleweight title in 2000. At regional level, he twice held the French middleweight title, firstly from 1995 to 1996 and again from 2002 to 2003. He also held the

EBU The European Broadcasting Union (EBU; french: Union européenne de radio-télévision, links=no, UER) is an alliance of public service media organisations whose countries are within the European Broadcasting Area or who are members of the Co ...

European middleweight title from 1996 to 1997. Cherifi, known as "Billy", began his pro career in 1989 and challenged for the WBC super middleweight title in 1997 against Robin Reid, losing

split decision A split decision (SD) is a winning criterion in boxing, most commonly in full-contact combat sports, in which two of the three judges score one particular competitor as the winner, while the third judge scores for the other competitor. A split dec ...

. After the loss, he dropped down in weight and took on WBC middleweight champion, Keith Holmes, winning a decision, although he was dropped in the ninth round. In 1999, he lost the belt in his first defense to Holmes in a rematch via seventh-round

knockout A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, muay thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving striking, a ...

. In 2000 he got a shot at WBA middleweight champion William Joppy. Cherifi was dominated and knocked down in Rounds 8 and 9, and lost by decision. In 2001 he took on Harry Simon for the interim WBO middleweight title and lost a decision in what would be his last shot at a major title. He retired in 2005 after suffering a

TKO TKO may refer to: Sports * Technical knockout, a professional fighting term * Total Knock Out, a professional wrestling move Music Artists * TKO (band), a rock band from Seattle, Washington * TKO, a pop group led by Katie White Albums * ''TKO ...

loss to Rudy Markussen.

External links

* 1967 births Living people French sportspeople of Algerian descent French male boxers Middleweight boxers Algerian male boxers {{france-boxing-bio-stub