Ivana Habazin (born 22 October 1989) is a Croatian

professional boxer Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional bouts are supervised by a regulatory autho ...

. She is a former two-weight world champion, having held the

IBF The International Boxing Federation (IBF) is one of four major organizations recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) which sanctions professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing Counci ...

female

welterweight Welterweight is a weight class in combat sports. Originally the term "welterweight" was used only in boxing, but other combat sports like Muay Thai, taekwondo, and mixed martial arts also use it for their own weight division system to classify the ...

title in 2014 and the IBO female

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 2018.

Early life

Habazin was born on 22 October 1989 in

Zlatar, Croatia Zlatar is a town and municipality in Krapina-Zagorje County in Croatia. In the 2011 census, there were 6,096 inhabitants in the following settlements: * Belec, population 356 * Borkovec, population 225 * Cetinovec, population 129 * Donja Batin ...

. A

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

, Habazin wanted to enter a

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...

at the age of 14, but later decided to pursue a career in boxing, which she began training at the age of 19. She was inspired to begin boxing by the movie ''

Rocky ''Rocky'' is a 1976 American sports drama film directed by John G. Avildsen and written by and starring Sylvester Stallone. It is the first installment in the ''Rocky'' franchise and stars Talia Shire, Burt Young, Carl Weathers, and Burgess M ...

''. She holds a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

and attends the Dag Hammarskjöld college for a

specialist degree The specialist degree is an academic degree conferred by a college or university. The degree is formatted differently worldwide and may be either a five-year program or a doctoral level graduate program that occurs after a master's degree but befo ...

in International Relations and Diplomacy.

Professional career

Habazin made her professional debut in June 2010, against Edit Szigeti, whom she defeated by a first round TKO. Habazin kept her undefeated record over her next nine fights, achieving stoppage victories against Emeke Halas, Ava Kovacs and twice against Daniela Bickei, as well as decision victories against Edita Karabeg twice, Marija Vuković and twice against Suzana Radovanović. Her 10 fight winning streak earned her the chance to fight Eva Bajic for the vacant IBF female welterweight title. Bajic won the fight by unanimous decision. Habazin rebounded from this loss with two decision victories, defeating Teodora Georgieva and Borislava Goranova. She once against challenged for the IBF female welterweight title against Sabrina Giuliani in March 2014. Habazin won the fight by split decision. She afterwards scheduled to defend her IBF title against

Cecilia Brækhus Cecilia Carmen Linda Brækhus (born 28 September 1981) is a Norwegian professional boxer and former kickboxer. In boxing she reigned as the undisputed female welterweight champion from 2014 to 2020, and is the first woman in any weight class to h ...

, who was the defending WBO, WBA and WBC champion. Brækhus won the fight by unanimous decision. She once again rebounded from this loss with two victories, a decision against Galina Gyumliyska and a first round stoppage of Dajana Bukva. These two victories gave Habazin the chance to fight

Mikaela Laurén Mikaela Laurén (born 20 January 1976) is a Swedish professional boxer and former national team swimmer. In boxing she held the WBC female light middleweight title from 2014 to 2016, and has challenged once for the undisputed female welterweigh ...

for the WBC female light middleweight title. Laurén won the fight by a third round TKO. Following this loss, Habazin would win her next two fights, winning unanimous decisions against Valentina Stanković and Sanja Ristić. She was scheduled to fight Elene Sikmashvili for the vacant IBO female middleweight title. Habazin defeated Sikmashvili by a fifth round TKO. Habazin was scheduled to defend her IBO title six months later against Gifty Amanua Ankrah. Habazin won the fight by unanimous decision. Three months later, Habazin fought a rematch with Eva Bajic, winning the fight by unanimous decision. Habazin was scheduled to defend her title for the second time against

Claressa Shields Claressa Maria Shields (born March 17, 1995) is an American professional boxer and mixed martial artist. She has held multiple world championships in three weight classes, including the undisputed female light middleweight title since March 2021 ...

in January 2020. This was the third time this fight was scheduled, with Shields pulling out the first time due to a knee injury, while the fight was cancelled the second time as Shields' brother Timothy Johnson assaulted Habazin's coach James Ali Bashir. Shields won the fight by unanimous decision. She was scheduled to fight

Layla McCarter Layla Eveleen McCarter (born April 19, 1979) is an American professional boxer. She has held multiple world titles across five weight divisions, having held the WIBF welterweight title since 2018 and previously the IFBA featherweight title in 2 ...

in March 2021. Habazin was later rescheduled to fight Nana Chakhvashvili in April 2021 for the

World Boxing Council The World Boxing Council (WBC) is an international professional boxing organization. It is among the four major organizations which sanction professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Association (WBA), International Boxing Federation ...

Middle East

Welterweight Welterweight is a weight class in combat sports. Originally the term "welterweight" was used only in boxing, but other combat sports like Muay Thai, taekwondo, and mixed martial arts also use it for their own weight division system to classify the ...

title. She won the fight by a second round TKO. Ms. McCarter also fought on the card.

Professional boxing record

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Habazin, Ivana 1989 births Living people Croatian women boxers People from Krapina-Zagorje County Middleweight boxers

Early life

Professional career

Professional boxing record

See also

References