Rances Barthelemy (born 25 June 1986) is a Cuban

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 ...

. He 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 ...

junior lightweight Super featherweight, also known as junior lightweight, is a weight division in professional boxing, contested between and . The super featherweight division was established by the New York Walker Law in 1920, although first founded by the New Y ...

title in 2014, and the IBF

lightweight Lightweight is a weight class in combat sports and rowing. Boxing Professional boxing The lightweight division is over 130 pounds (59 kilograms) and up to 135 pounds (61.2 kilograms) weight class in the sport of boxing. Notable lightweight boxe ...

title from 2015 to 2016.

Amateur career

Barthelemy was a standout amateur, competing in more than 200 fights and winning a Cuban junior national championship. Barthelemy defected to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

prior to the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

. He left Cuba over frustration with how his brother Yan’s career was developing and the implications that it could have for his own future in the sport.

Professional career

Barthelemy defeated

Arash Usmanee Arash Usmanee (born March 8, 1982) is an Afghan-Canadian professional boxer. He has been ranked as high as 3rd by the WBA (World Boxing Association) and 10th by the IBF. Usmanee has been a featured fighter on ESPN's Friday Night Fights when he f ...

on 4 January 2013 by a controversial twelve-round

unanimous decision A unanimous decision (UD) is a winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts and other sports involving striking and submission in which all three judges agree on which fighter ...

which many observers thought Usmanee had won and became the #2 contender for the

title. Barthelemy would later become the #1 contender by defeating Fahsai Sakkreerin on 21 June 2013 by second-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 ...

. Barthelemy originally defeated

Argenis Mendez Argenis Alexander Méndez Zapata (born July 3, 1986) is a professional boxer best known for winning the silver medal at the junior world championships in 2004. He is a former International Boxing Federation Super Featherweight champion. Early ...

on 3 January 2014 to win the title, but the win was considered controversial, as Barthelemy knocked Mendez out seconds after the bell to signal the end of the second round came. Mendez and his team filled an appeal to the Minnesota Combative Sports Commission and IBF shortly after the fight, and after the appeal was successful on 30 January 2014, the result was changed to a no decision and Mendez was reinstated as the IBF junior lightweight champion. Barthelemy later defeated Mendez in a rematch on 10 July 2014 via unanimous decision to win the title. He vacated his title in February 2015 in anticipation of moving up in weight category. In his next contest, fighting in the super lightweight division against Antonio DeMarco at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

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, on 21 June 2015, Barthelemy gained a convincing victory. Barthelemy showed his versatility early, coming out orthodox before switching up to southpaw midway throughout the first round. Barthelemy scored a knockdown with a huge left in the fourth round, but DeMarco survived the round. Barthelemy lost a point in the ninth round for excessive low blows, but it wasn’t enough to affect the outcome as he won 99–89 on all three cards. On 20 May, 2017, Barthelemy fought Kiryl Relikh in a WBA eliminator. Both fighters exchanged knockdowns in the fight, The judges scored the fight in favor of Barthelemy, 117-109, 116-110 and 115-111 the decision was seen as controversial. Shortly after the fight, the WBA ordered a rematch. In the rematch, Relikh managed to get his revenge, clearly being the better man on the night, and getting the unanimous decision victory, while also winning the vacant WBA super lightweight title. On 27 April, 2019, Barthelemy fought Robert Easter Jr for the vacant WBA interim super lightweight title. In a very uneventful match, neither fighter looked like they deserve the win. The judges scored the fight as a split-draw, leaving both fighter without the secondary WBA belt.

Professional boxing record

References

External links

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Rances Barthelemy - Profile, News Archive & Current Rankings
a
Box.Live
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barthelemy, Rances 1986 births Living people Super-featherweight boxers Lightweight boxers Light-welterweight boxers World super-featherweight boxing champions World lightweight boxing champions International Boxing Federation champions Boxers from Havana Cuban male boxers Defecting sportspeople of Cuba

Amateur career

Professional career

Professional boxing record

See also

References

External links