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5'11" junior welterweight
Anne-Sophie Mathis was born on June 13, 1977. She lives in
Dombasle-Sur-Meurthe, Lorraine, France
where she trains at the Club
de Dombasle
under
coach René Cordier. Although her father had been
a boxer, Ann-Sophie did not know that until after
she won her first professional world title. She was raised
by her mother after her father died and says her mother told her about
her father's boxing only after she had won her own title. Anne-Sophie
says that she was not initially attracted to the sport but accompanied
her ex-boyfriend, who was a kickboxer, to his gym workouts
then was invited to attend classes rather than waiting on the
bench.
After Anne-Sophie found that she was attracted to combat sports, she won amateur titles in both kickboxing and the French
sport of savate. By the time she
decided that she preferred to use only her fists, she had fought for small purses, and
that prevented her from having a career as an amateur boxer.
She made her pro boxing debut
at age 18 in Eger, Hungary on October 21, 1995, winning by a
first-round TKO over Erika Szegedi of Szerencs, Hungary who fell to 1-4.
Marischa Sjauw rocks Anne
Sophie Mathis, November 1995
Photo courtesy Marcel Niessen
On November 18, 1995 at
Landgraaf in The Netherlands, Anne-Sophie was TKO'd in
the fifth round by the experienced Dutch boxer Marischa
Sjauw
in a bout for the WIBF European Super Welterweight title. Marischa
Sjauw dropped her three times on the way to
the fifth-round TKO and improved her record to 6-0-1 with this win.
On December 11, 1999 in a savate
competition in Paris, France:
Anne-Sophie defeated former world boxing champion Sandra Geiger on points.
On November 21, 2003 at Loures
Pavilion in Lisbon, Portugal, over 3000 people
saw WAKO pro world 64-kg champion Dina Pedro of Portugal win a
five-round
majority decision over Anne-Sophie.
 On
December 6, 2003 in Dombasle, France Anne-Sophie returned to pro boxing
in earnest, and won by a second-round TKO over Katalin Csehi
of Békéscsaba, Hungary, who fell to 3-4-0 (0 KO).
On February 27, 2004 in
Hyeres, France, Anne-Sophie (139¾ lbs) won a six-round
decision over Larisa Berezenko (140 lbs) of the Ukraine, who fell to
0-2 with
this loss.
On April 17, 2004 in
Gravelines, France
Anne-Sophie (140¾ lbs) TKO'd pro debuter Daniela David (136¼ lbs) of
France in the final round of
a scheduled six-rounder.
On May 26, 2004 in Matoury,
France, Anne-Sophie (139 lbs) repeated the
sixth-round TKO win in a rematch with Daniela David (139 lbs).
On June 11, 2004 in Nancy,
France, Anne-Sophie (139 lbs) won by a first-round
TKO over pro debuter Alexandra Vajdova (5'9", 139 lbs) of Nitra,
Slovakia in a
scheduled six-rounder.
On November 27, 2004 in
Hussigny, France, Anne-Sophie (139½ lbs) won by a
sixth-round TKO over Borislava Goranova (5'6", 139 lbs) of Sofia,
Bulgaria, who
fell to 3-9-0 (0 KO's) with the loss.
On March 19, 2005 in Metz,
France, Anne-Sophie TKO'd Larisa Berezenko in the
fifth round of a scheduled six-rounder. Berezenko fell to 0-5 as a pro
boxer
with this second loss to Mathis.
Anne-Sophie attacks Nathalie Toro, October 2005
Photo: Dombasle-Boxe.com
On October 29, 2005 in
Dombasle, France,
Anne-Sophie (139¼ lbs) won by a ninth round TKO over previously undefeated Nathalie
Toro (137¼ lbs) of Luik, Belgium in a scheduled ten-rounder
for Toro's EBU
European Junior Welterweight title.
A
WBAN insider said that the fight
was "an incredible all-action bout between the two
boxers, with the
crowd standing throughout. The bout was considered one of the best
fights on the
card. Nathalie had been hit hard in the second and third rounds, but
stayed
standing. She recovered, knowing she was behind on points.
Toro came back
with her own artillery in the later rounds, hitting her hard in 6, 7, 8
round.
But at the end of the ninth round, Toro got hit with a hard combination
of a
left/right, and she fell to the canvas. The ref counted her to nine,
and then
stopped the fight." Toro suffered her
first defeat as a pro boxer and fell to 14-1.
On October 14, 2006 at Salle
des Sports Roger Boileau
in Dombasle, France,
Anne-Sophie TKO'd Borislava Goranova of
Sofia, Bulgaria in the fifth round of a scheduled six-rounder to move
her record
to 10-1-1 (9 KOs).
“Anne-Sophie dominated her Bulgarian opponent,” reports
L'Est
Républicain,
“without
giving her the slightest chance.” Rather
than exploiting her reach, as she had initially planned, Mathis
reportedly made devastating use of the
uppercut.
Goranova fell to 3-15-0 (0 KOs).
On December 2, 2006 at the Palais Omnisport in
Bercy,
Paris, France, she TKO'd Myriam
Lamare of Marseille,
France in the seventh round to win the WBA and WIBF
Junior Welterweight
titles. As
described by WBAN correspondent Ewan
Whyte, the fight was "a real thriller, with Mathis – the more
accurate
puncher – generally in control and seeming on several occasions to have
Lamare
hurt, only for Lamare to counter-attack with a feral intensity, driving
the
gangling blonde backwards to restore the balance ... until the last
time.
Mathis had hurt her earlier in the seventh and Lamare had recovered,
throwing
her massive, looping left hook, (and missing), but you could see she
was
unsteady now on her feet; and as she shoved Mathis backwards to escape
from the
ropes, she was caught by a short right; then another a few seconds
later; then a
third – beaten to the punch as she threw the left for umpteenth time
without
connecting – and suddenly there was nothing! Mathis drove a left, a
right, and a
left through her guard; then a looping right round the outside that
caught her
on the side of the jaw, followed by a left a split-second later, and
the rout
was total: Lamare's dense, muscle-bound body began to go backwards,
slowly at
first, but then with gathering momentum, the way a car does when you
have to
bump-start it on a cold morning, as the blonde drove her backwards into
the
corner with a cruel, exultant, snarl. And just as the first commentator
was
correcting "Elle est fatiguée!" ("She's tired!") to "Elle est KO
debout!".
("She's out on her feet!") "… MYRIAM EST KO DEBOUT!!", the other cut in
with "Il
l'a arrêté!" (He's stopped it!). And indeed he had. And Mathis was the
new world
champion." Lamare fell
to 14-1-0 (7 KOs).
On June 29, 2007 at Palais des
Sports in Marseille,
Bouches du Rhone, France, 5,500 fans saw Mathis (139½ lbs) win a
ten-round majority (98-93,98-92,95-95) decision over Myriam Lamare (140 lbs) of
Marseille in a rematch for the WBA Junior Welterweight title.
The much shorter Lamare pressed the action early and scored well with
jabs on the way in and
with damaging hooks once inside. However, by the fourth round Lamare
began to tire from
what appeared to be an effort to knock Mathis ut early, and Mathis then
began to take
control of the bout with clinical precision. Lamare began to back out
of punishing exchanges,
but the hard-hitting Mathis was able to walk her down and dominate the
action with
her power and size advantage. Lamare fell to
to 14-2 (7 KO's), both losses coming to Mathis.
On December 8, 2007 at La
Palestre in Le Cannet, France, Anne-Sophie (141 lbs) TKO'd Jane Couch (143¼ lbs) of Bristol, U.K. in the
second round of a scheduled six-rounder. According to a
report
by WBAN correspondent Ewan Whyte, "(Couch) took a clobbering,
admittedly, in the first round, but the second was only 30 seconds old
when the referee decided he'd seen enough and sprang to her rescue,
sparing Couch an even more ignominious fate". Couch
protested the stoppage but Mathis opined that
"It's true the decision was a bit hard on her, but I was about to
finish her off anyway... She'd have gone down seconds later." Mathis
also said that she was disappointed the Englishwoman hadn't given her
more of a workout. "I need to fight," she said, "but
when you get a chance to finish a match, you finish it. …. What I can't
understand is how she lasted ten rounds with Clampitt."
The 39-year-old Couch fell to
28-11-0 (9 KOs).
On March 8,
2008 at the Palais des Sports de Saint Symphorien in Metz, France,
Anne-Sophie added the UBC and WBC Junior Welterweight belts to her WBA
title with a third-round TKO of 40-year-old Ana Pascal of Panama.
According to
Christian
Chataignier of
WBA
Women´s Online, "After an initial round where
nothing happened, Pascal was quickly overwhelmed. In the second round,
an uppercut to the face sent the Panamanian down. A few moments later
she suffered another knockdown with a blow to the body. When the third
round began, it was clear that the end was near, and after a new series
blows from Mathis, the referee stopped the fight." Mathis
improved her record to 18-1-1 (16 KO's) while Pascal fell to 11-1-0 (5
KO's). Pascal has boxed professionally since 1998 but this was her
first bout outside Panama and Colombia.
On November 22, 2008 at Les Vielles Forges in Les Mazures, Ardennes,
France,
Ann-Sophie won a 10-round unanimous (98-92,96-94,97-93) decision over Belinda Laracuente of New
York for the WBC Junior Welterweight title. Mathis improved her record to
19-1-1 (16 KO's) while Laracuente fell to 23-23-3 (9 KO's).
On November 26, 2010 at the
Gymnase du Close de l'Arche
in Noisy-le-Grand, France, Ann-Sophie Mathis TKO'd Mihaela Dragan of
Cluj-Napoca, Romania in the first round of a scheduled
six-rounder. Dragan fell to 3-4-0 (2 KO's) with the loss.
On
December 4, 2010 at the Salle Roger Boileau in Dombasle, France,
Anne-Sophie Mathis TKO'd Russian-born Angel McKenzie in the
fourth
round of a scheduled six-rounder. The 37-year-old McKenzie, who now
fights out of London, England, fell to 4-22-0 (0 KO's)
with her fifth loss in six outings in 2010.
On February
11, 2011 at the Palais des Sports in Saint-Quentin,
France, Anne-Sophie Mathis TKO'd Diane Schwachhofer of
Quaregnon, Belgium in the second round of a scheduled eight-rounder.
Schwachhofer fell
to 5-4-1 (1 KO).
On April 29, 2011 at Espace
Roger Boisrame in Pontault Combault, Seine-et-Marne, France,
Anne-Sophie Mathis (145¼ lbs) TKO'd Serbian-born Duda
Yankovich (140¾ lbs) of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in the third
round of a scheduled ten-rounder for the vacant WBO European
welterweight title. Kamel Messani wrote
for BoxingScene.com: "From the beginning of the fight, Anne Sophie tried
to land a long left hand. Yankovich blocked most of those attempts and countered with hard right cross.
The second round started on a
high pace, with nice exchanges from both sides, but it
was Mathis who was always more accurate. The fight was
lively and fairly balanced but the French boxer has that little
something extra that makes champions: a punch! In this second
occasion, she touched Duda with a beautiful left hook to the liver
that nearly put the Serbian away but she was saved by
the bell. The third round started
strong as Yankovich seemed to have recovered
and start moving forward again, but this was short
lived as Mathis, again with a left hook to the liver, was able
to do serious damage. Following up with a right hand,
Yankovich went down and the ref jumped in to stop the fight." Yankovich
fell to 11-3-0 (5 KO's).
On June 23, 2011 at Salle Jean
Roure in Les Pennes-Mirabeau, Bouches-du-Rhône, France, Anne-Sophie
Mathis TKO'd Olivia Boudouma of Givisiez, Switzerland in the
fifth round of a scheduled ten-rounder for the vacant WIBA Welterweight
and WBF Welterweight titles. Boudouma fell to 8-1-0 (1 KO) with the
loss.
On
October 1, 2011 at Salle Mermoz in Yutz, France, Ann-Sophie Mathis (146
lbs) won a clear ten-round unanimous (100-90 x 3) decision over Cindy Serrano
(146 lbs) of New York defending the WIBA and WBF Welterweight titles.
Mathis also picked up the vacant WIBF Welterweight belt with this win
which moved her record to 25-1-0 (21 KO's). The game but
over-matched Serrano fell to 15-4-1 (7 KO's) with the loss. On
December 2, 2011 at the Route 66 Casino west of Albuquerque, New
Mexico, Anne-Sophie Mathis (145½ lbs) faced local favorite Holly Holm
(145¾ lbs) in
a much anticipated showdown for the IBA and WBAN Welterweight
belts. Both boxers were undefeated since 2004 and were
at the top of WBAN's world rankings at their usual
weights. Holm had fought at junior welterweight since
2009 but had previously won world titles as high as junior
middleweight. She had never before faced Mathis's
mix of reach, power and
pressure. Unlike most of Holm's earlier opponents, Mathis also
spent two and a half weeks in New Mexico to
acclimate to the dry climate and mile-high altitude
before the scheduled ten
rounder. Holm had previously used quick ring movement
and fitness to make her opponents chase her and tire before
she closed with them later. 
Holm trading with Mathis before the KO
© Copyrighted photo taken by Sue TL Fox
This plan worked for the early
rounds but Holm got into trouble when she began to slug it out
with Mathis as early as the third. Mathis, who never flinched
from Holm's punches, then began to punish Holm with
quick,
powerful shots. Holm told her corner she was hurt in the
fifth then was knocked down cleanly in the sixth
(although the referee ruled a slip). Holm looked beaten
between the sixth and seventh but chose to fight
on, only to
be demolished against the ropes in the second half
of the seventh.
The referee intervened when Holm's arm
became entangled in the ropes (keeping her from
falling to the canvas after a powerful shot from
Mathis) then let the fight go on although
Holm looked defenseless and out on her feet. 
Mathis about to put Holm away in the seventh
© Copyrighted photo taken by Sue TL Fox
Two savage
rights to the head then came close
to knocking Holm completely out of the ring through the
lower ropes to end it by KO at 1:38 in the seventh.
The card was titled "World Dominance" and Anne-Sophie Mathis left
no
doubt about who had dominated as Holm fell to 30-2-3 (9
KO's) while Mathis improved to 26-1 (22 KO's).  Anne-Sophie Mathis after receiving her WBAN
title belt from Sue TL Fox (at right)
Photo by SteveSnowden.com
The Holm-Mathis contract called for a mandatory rematch
but Holm is unlikely to want to be Mathis's next opponent, so
the rematch will be deferred. Anne-Sophie's main remaining rival now appears
to be Norway's unbeaten Cecilia Braekhus. Mathis is now
taking her place on the
world boxing stage as perhaps the most dominant force in the women's
sport
since Lucia Rijker.
Anne-Sophie
Mathis was named WBAN Fighter of the Year for 2011, as well as
co-winner (with Cecilia Braekhus) of WBAN's Top European Fighter of the
Year. Her KO of Holly Holm was named one of the Top Three KO's of
2011 and the Holm-Mathis fight one of the year's Top Five Fights. Asked about another rematch
with Myriam Lamare, Mathis says
"Everyone
fantasizes about this fight. Except me. I do not think in
terms
of a media stunt. I have reached saturation. The
fight to
bring in the television, I have already given Lamare. She
would
have everything to gain if successful. Personally, I really want to box
other girls but without a title or "premium", it is difficult." Her early idol was French world kickboxing and boxing champion Valerie Henin Wiet, of whom she says "I've
always been fascinated by her approach to the fight, her boxing and her
desire to win. She is a great lady of boxing and if she was still
of our
time, she would certainly be at the top instead of Myriam
Lamare. I talk a lot with her and her advice is always
invaluable. It's a little more compared to my coach René
(Cordier)."
Ann-Sophie Mathis prefers to train with men, saying "I do not really know why, but men are much more technical, their body
language is more beautiful. The girls are certainly more vicious and
aggressive, but they lack a little consistency ..." In April 2010 she published an autobiography "Je me bats dans la vie comme sur le ring" ("I fight in life as in the ring"), co-written with Valérie Rodrigue.
To check out fight reports,
complete up-to-date boxing records, with huge digital photos you can go
to
the WBAN Records
Member Site
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last updated: Sunday, January 1, 2012
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