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Stefania Bianchini (5'4", 110 lbs) was born in Milan, Italy on April 11, 1970.
Stefania established herself as one of Italy's combat sport stars and competed for world
titles in both boxing and kickboxing. She also competes in Muay Thai.
Her kickboxing career includes winning the WKA 50-kg (super flyweight) world title and
the ISKA world 50.5-kg title in 1996, and the WPKL 51.5-kg world title.
On April 22, 1996 in Milan, Italy Stefania defeated Stefania Proietti
of Rome to win the Italian women's 50-kg kickboxing title. On
May 3, 1997 in Legnano, Italy she won a four-round decision over Sabine
Ritter of Switzerland.
 On July 10, 1998 at Circus Krone in Munich, Germany, she weighed in at 110 lbs
and battled
Germany's Regina Halmich
(111 lbs)
for the WIBF World Flyweight boxing title.
Regina started strongly, catching the southpaw challenger with some
heavy rights,
but Stefania kept coming forward and still looked strong at the end of
the fight. Stepafania never stopped pressing the German champion and
hurt Halmich with a couple
of strong lefts in
the last two rounds, causing Regina to backpedal to keep herself out of
trouble. At the end of the fight Regina had done enough to convince the
judges
to hand her the win by a razor-thin 96-95, 96-95 and 97-95 margin.
Halmich ended this battle heavily marked across her nose and around
both eyes, as
she moved her own pro boxing record to 25-1. At this time, Bianchini's
combined record
(boxing and kickboxing) was 20-3-2 (3 KO's).
On May 4, 1999 in Copenhagen, Denmark,
Stefania won the WIBF European Flyweight (50.8-kg) boxing title
with a ten-round unanimous (100-92, 98-93 and 98-93) decision over Denmark's
Sengül Ôzokcu,
handing the Danish boxer her first loss.
Ôzokcu fell to 10-1 with this defeat.
On November 20, 1999 in Milan, Italy,
Stefania outpointed Lisa Houghton of Leeds, U.K. in
a kickboxing bout,
dropping the British fighter's kick record to 11-3-2.
On May 6, 2000 in Milan, she won the WPKL world Kickboxing 51.5-kg title with a points decision over Ilonka Goedhoop of
the Netherlands.
On November 4, 2000 in Milan, Stefania won a ten-round unanimous decision over Mary Hart of the U.K. for
the ISKA 50.5 kg Kickboxing World Title,
 Until February 2001, Bianchini, like all Italian female boxers, was unable to demonstrate her boxing skills in
professional bouts in her home
country, because women's boxing (but not kickboxing) was prohibited. Stefania boxed with a German license that allowed her
to fight in other countries until the Italian prohibition on female pro boxing was lifted.
On April 21, 2001 at Milan's Palovobis Stadium in the World GP 2001 Regional Tournament, Stefania won by a fourth-
round KO over Renata Fuskova of the Czech Republic to retain the ISKA 50.5-kg Kickboxing World Title.
On October 19, 2001 at Castel Mella in Trieste, Italy, Stefania won a four-round
boxing decision over Mariana Pampuk of
Budapest, Hungary, who fell to 0-10-1.
On November 10, 2001 in Milan, Stefania won by a third-round TKO of Viktoria Varga of Hungary in a scheduled
six-round boxing bout. Varga fell to 11-4 according to promoter information, 1-4 in fights confirmed to me.
On February 23, 2002 in Milan, Stefania won a four-round decision in a
boxing rematch with Mariana Pampuk of Hungary, who
fell to 0-12-1 with the loss.
On June 7, 2002 in Palazzolo, Italy, Stefania won a six-round decision
over Mária Naroszsnik.
On November 1, 2002 in Varese, Italy, Stefania won a six-round unanimous decision in
yet another boxing rematch with Mariana Pampuk. Perennial "opponent" Pampuk fell to 0-15-1.
 On April 5, 2003 in Varese,
Italy, Stefania (110Ľ lbs) won a ten-round unanimous decision over Reka Krempf (110Ľ lbs) of
Esztergom, Hungary for the European Flyweight (50.8-kg) boxing title. Krempf fell to 4-4-2 (1 KO).
On June 20, 2003 at Magenta, Milan, Italy, Stefania (111Ľ lbs) won by a fourth-round TKO over Judit Palecianu
(109 lbs) of Romania (but now fighting out of Hungary), who
fell to 4-4-1 (2 KO).
 On December 17, 2003 at Palasport in Bergamo, Italy, Stefania
(in black in photo at right from Team Bianchini) won a controversial ten-round split decision over
the hard-charging Cathy Brown of Peckham, U.K. for the EBU Flyweight boxing title. Brown slipped to 10-5-0 (4 KO). [Video]
Note the use of headgear by both boxers in this EBU title fight.
Presently in Italy, women boxers are required by law to fight in headgear and 10-oz gloves, and
this protection must be used even when fighting outside Italy! Sonia Grande, WBAN’s correspondent
for Italian boxing, said, “Could you imagine Regina Halmich fighting
Stefania Bianchini in Germany with Bianchini using different protections?
Also ... all foreign fighters that come here to fight are subjected to these rules!”
On March 6, 2004 in Como, Italy, Stefania TKO'd
Dounia Tai of France in the second round of a scheduled five-round bout
for the WAKO 50-kg world title.
On July 16, 2004 at Comune di Toscolano Maderno, Italy,
Stefania (111 lbs) won a ten-round unanimous (99-93, 98-92, 98-92) decision over Réka
Krempf (111˝ lbs) of Esztergom, Hungary in a succesful defense of her EBU Flyweight
boxing title. Krempf fell to 5-7-2 (1 KO) with the loss. In a
full report
on this bout, WBAN correspondent Ewan Whyte comments on the use
of large gloves and headgear under the Italian women's pro rules: "Between
the shiny leather headguards and the balloon-sized gloves, the only females
endangered by Italian boxing are the cows ... with next to no chance of stopping
an opponent, the only interest of the women is to score points. The number, not
the force, of the blows is what counts. Punches are thrown from a distance;
there’s no follow-up on a good shot; seldom does either fighter throw more than
three punches in any one exchange ... Only towards the end, when both fighters
were tiring and began to brawl, did this look much like a fight. Bianchini ...
scored more often, and once, in the last round when she weaved to her left to
avoid an innocuous-looking jab and was able to roll her body with the answering
left hook, she managed to spin Krempf’s head to the side ... but for the most
part, her attacks lacked venom and there was never any question but that Krempf
would survive." On March 19, 2005 at City Sporthall in Tapolca,
Hungary Viktória Miló (110Ľ lbs) of Nyíregyháza,
Hungary won a controversial ten-round split (Vilhelm Vogel 97-94, Imre Nagy 96-94, Matteo Fratini
94-96) decision over Stefania (110ľ lbs) for the GBU Flyweight Title.
According to news sources the split decision "raised more than one eyebrow".
Viktória used her jab and short, two and three punch combinations to
keep a distance between herself and the aggressive Italian.
In the first half of the bout, Miló kept control, but as the fight
progressed, she was less and less successful avoiding Bianchini’s
attempts to get inside and tangle with the defending champion on the
ropes. The close and even battle divided the judges partly along
national lines. Miló improved to 13-4-0 (3 KOs) with the
win.
On August 7,
2005 at Pala Flaminio in Rimini, Italy Stefania
(110Ľ lbs)
won the vacant WBC World Flyweight title over Cathy Brown
(110Ľ lbs) of Peckham, U.K. by a unanimous 96-94,96-95,96-94 margin in a 10
round rematch of their previous closely-fought bout. Cathy
Brown fell to 12-7-0 (5 KOs) while Bianchini improved to 14-2-0 (2 KOs)
as a pro boxer.
Bianchini (left) was cut by a head butt against Shmoulefeld
On May 13, 2006 at
the Sports Hall in Rezzato, Italy, Stefania retained her
WBC Flyweight title with
a five-round technical decision over
Hagar Shmoulefeld of
Israel. The bout was stopped after Bianchini suffered a severe gash to her
right eye as the result of a head butt, while ahead on the judges'
scorecards. Bianchini had outworked Shmoulefeld and
shown a greater variety of punches in the battle of two southpaws.
Bianchini improved to 15-2 (2 KOs) while Shmoulefeld slipped to 8-4-3 (1
KO).
Zhang (L) vs Bianchini in November 2006
On November 4, 2006 at the Salle des Etoiles in Monte Carlo, Monaco, Stefania
retained the WBC Flyweight title with a split draw against Xiyan Zhang from
China. The fight was scored 96-94 for Zhang by Robin Dolpierre, 97-92 for
Bianchini by Fabian Guggenheim while Belgian judge Daniel Van de Wiele scored it
a 95-95 draw. Referee Richie Davies had his hands full to keep the fight going
as there was a lot of holding and clinching, particularly by Bianchini who had a
point deducted under the WBC cut-rule for an accidental head-butt in the seventh
round. According to WBAN's correspondent Ewan Whyte, Zhang was seeking
to land the big one throughout the fight while Bianchini clinched constantly and tried to
exploit her greater experience. The endless clinching apparently exhausted the
patience of neutrals in the crowd. The result was greeted with derisive whistles
when the scores were announced, driving the promoter to take the microphone and
appeal for the spectators to remain calm “out of respect for the fighters”. Zhang,
who was the 2002 and 2004 AIBA world 54-kg amateur gold medalist, moved her pro
record to 2-0-1
(she won the
vacant WIBA Bantamweight world title in just her second pro fight by defeating top-rated
New Yorker
Alicia Ashley).
Bianchini (L) vs Tabbuso in May 2007
On May 18, 2007 at Pala Carnera in Udine, Italy
Stefania (110Ľ lbs) won a 10-round unanimous decision over
Maria Rosa Tabusso (5'5", 109Ľ lbs) of Rome, Italy defending the WBC Flyweight title.
Tabusso fell to 11-3-2 (3 KO) while Bianchini improved to 16-2-1 (2 KOs).
Olszewski vs Bianchini in Spetember 2007
On September 14, 2007 at the Palasport in Rovigo,
Italy,
Stefania (110Ľ) retained
her WBC Flyweight title with a ten-round majority draw against
Eileen Olszewski
(110 lbs) of New York. The scorecards were 95-95, 95-95, and 97-93 for Bianchini.
Bianchini defended by holding on to
Olszewski a
lot during the fight. The 39-year-old Olszewski progressed to 4-0-1 (0 KOs) as a pro after a 31-4 career as
an amateur. 
On March 29, 2008 at Palasport Villa Romiti in Forli, Italy, Simona Galassi
of Santa Maria Nuova, Italy won a ten-round unanimous
(98-92,98-91,99-90) decision over Stefania for the WBC Flyweight title.
Galassi, a three-time world amateur champion with an 84-1 amateur
record who had been born in Forli, improved to 7-0-1 with the win. This
bout marked a changing of the guard at the top of Italian women's
professional boxing.
On June 21, 2008 at Piazza Roma, Palazzolo sull'Oglio, Italy, Stefania won a
six-round decision over Svetla Taskova of Sofia, Bulgaria who fell to 4-25-1 (1 KO). 
On October 24, 2008 at the PalaLido in Milan, Italy, Simona Galassi (111Ľ lbs) of Santa Maria Nuova, Italy
again won a clear ten-round unanimous (100-90,100-90,99-91) decision over
Stefania (111Ľ lbs) defending the WBC Flyweight title. Galassi improved her pro record to
9-0-1 (3 KO's) while dropping Stefania's to 17-4-3 (2 KO's).
The rematch with Simona Galassi in Milan in October 2008 was Stefania Bianchini's last appearance as a professional boxer.
More Stefania Bianchini Links
To check out fight reports, complete up-to-date boxing records, with huge digital photos you can go to
the WBAN Records Member Site
Page last updated:
Thursday April 16, 2009 |
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