Branko Šobot (born 12 January 1972 in

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slop ...

, Croatia) is a

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

n former professional

boxer Boxer most commonly refers to: * Boxer (boxing), a competitor in the sport of boxing *Boxer (dog), a breed of dog Boxer or boxers may also refer to: Animal kingdom * Boxer crab * Boxer shrimp, a small group of decapod crustaceans * Boxer snipe ee ...

, who 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 ...

Inter-Continental middleweight and super middleweight titles and challenged for the WBO World Super middleweight title, losing against

Joe Calzaghe Joseph William Calzaghe ( ; born 23 March 1972) is a Welsh former professional boxer who competed from 1993 to 2008. He held world championships in two weight classes, including the unified WBA (Undisputed), WBC, IBF, WBO, ''Ring'' magazine ...

by 3rd-round TKO.

Amateur

Šobot became Croatian amateur champion in 1994 defeating

Stjepan Božić Stjepan Božić (born October 23, 1974 in Brežice, Slovenia) is a Croatian super middleweight boxer. He won the title of World Boxing Foundation (WBFo) world champion on June 6, 2005 fighting against Australian Nader Hamdan. He successfully defe ...

by split decision.

Pro

Šobot's debut came on January 7, 1995, with a knockout of Bosnian, Savo Janković. On 1 March 1996, Šobot fought and defeated Orhan Ajvazoski for the German International middleweight title in

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

and went on to make two more successful defences in the city and later two more in Offenbach and

Oberhausen Oberhausen (, ) is a city on the river Emscher in the Ruhr Area, Germany, located between Duisburg and Essen ( ). The city hosts the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen and its Gasometer Oberhausen is an anchor point of the European Rout ...

. After nine wins, Šobot successfully fought for the IBF Inter-Continental middleweight title, defeating experienced title holder Salvador Yanez. Šobot's next major challenge came on January 25, 1997, when he faced future world champion

Hacine Cherifi Hacine "Billy" Cherifi (born 12 December 1967) is a French former professional boxer who competed from 1985 to 2005. He held the WBC middleweight title in 1998. He made two other attempts at world titles; the WBC super middleweight title in 199 ...

for 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. After a 12-round fight, the Frenchman defeated Šobot on points, Šobots only defeat after 11 wins. On the January 24, 1998, Šobot made his first and only World title challenge. Moving up to Super Middleweight, he faced

who was making his first defence since winning the

WBO The World Boxing Organization (WBO) is an organization which sanctions professional boxing bouts. It is recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) as one of the four major world championship groups, alongside the World Boxing ...

World super middleweight title off

Chris Eubank Christopher Livingstone Eubank (born 8 August 1966) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 1985 to 1998. He held the WBO middleweight and super-middleweight titles between 1990 and 1995, and is ranked by BoxRec as the thir ...

. Šobot was brought in as a late replacement for American Tarick Salmaci. Despite beating the count after getting knocked down in the third round, the Croatian came under renewed punishment, with the Welshman landing blows from all angles, prompting the referee to stop the fight, making it Šobot's first TKO loss. In November 1999, after two recovery wins back in Germany, Šobot faced unbeaten

Mario Veit Mario Veit (born 22 December 1973) is a German former professional boxer. He is a former European Boxing Union, European super middleweight champion and multiple time world title challenger. Professional career Veit went undefeated in his first ...

for the vacant German International super middleweight title, losing the ten round contest by unanimous decision. His next fight was more successful, as he won the IBF Inter-Continental super middleweight title in his home country with a sixth round stoppage over Francis Fofoh. This took his career record up to 17-3-0 at the turn of the millennium, although the rest of his career would be less victory filled. In his next nine fights he would win just twice, facing tough competition against the likes of Danilo Haussler, Arthur Abraham,

Mger Mkrtchyan Mger Mkrtchyan (born 12 November 1976 in Gyumri, Armenia) is an Armenian former professional boxer. He held the EBU Super Middleweight and the WBO Asia Pacific super middleweight titles. He contended for the 2004 WBO World Super middleweight ti ...

and Konni Konrad. On the 16 December 2004, Šobot fought his last bout, losing to undefeated and future WBO World super middleweight champion

Denis Inkin Denis Inkin (born 7 January 1978) russian: Инкин, Денис Анатольевич is a Russian former professional boxer who fought in Germany at super middleweight. Amateur career Before turning professional Inkin had an extensive career ...

by second-round TKO.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sobot, Branko 1972 births Living people Sportspeople from Zagreb Croatian male boxers Middleweight boxers