Ahmad Kaddour

Ahmad Kaddour
Profile
Born	(1982-01-01) January 1, 1982
Birthplace	Lebanon
Nationality	Lebanese/Danish
Residence	Aarhus, Denmark
Height	6' 0.5" (181 cm)
Classification	Middleweight
Nickname	Babyface
Boxing Record
Fights	29
Wins (KOs)	26 (10)
Losses	2
Draws	1
Results on Contender
First Round	Lost to Smith on points
Quarter Finals	Lost to Gomez on points

Ahmad "Babyface" Kaddour (born January 1, 1982, Lebanon) is a professional boxer.

Personal life

Born in Tripoli, Lebanon, Kaddour's parents fled the 1982 Lebanon War and Ahmad grew up in Denmark where he got his start in boxing. He has moved back and forth between Europe and the United States since 2003, can speak Danish, Arabic, German, English, and French, and holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering.

Professional Boxing Career

The Beginning

After winning the Danish National Amateur Championship in 2000, and his 2nd Nordic Amateur Championship (1999 and 2000), and lots of international amateur experience (Dual in England, Finland, Dual in Sweden, Home dual v Sweden, Germany), Kaddour turned pro. Kaddour started his career in Europe, fighting in Denmark, Wales, Hungary, Finland, Italy and Germany including a fight against Alessio Furlan at Braunschweig, Germany. The fight went the full distance with Kaddour winning narrowly on points to inflict Furlan with the first defeat of his professional career. Soon after Kaddour moved to the United States to further his career.

USA and "The Contender" Series

In 2003-2004, Kaddour fought 4 out of 5 fights in the USA, the other in Germany, against opponents with winning records and won 3 of the 4 USA fights by stoppage, and was very confident when selected to participate on the reality TV show The Contender, broadcast worldwide, and was placed on the East Coast team. While on the team, he got involved in a feud with Ishe Smith early on and they fought in the 3rd match. At the time Smith was world ranked by all 4 sanctioning organizations and held the USBA, the NABO, and the WBC Continental Americas titles. Kaddour gunned for an early KO but Smith weathered the storm and won by unanimous decision, calling it a "tough fight" afterwards. Kaddour was voted back into the quarterfinals after Juan de la Rosa pulled out - a tactic by Jesse Brinkley, Anthony Bonsante, Peter Manfredo, and Joey Gilbert designed to get under Smith's skin. The week after Smith lost a split decision to eventual Contender and WBC champion Sergio Mora, Ahmad was matched with Alfonso Gomez (who went on after the show to challenge for the WBA 147 lb and WBC 154 lb titles) by the same boxers who brought Kaddour back, with the hope that the two tough fighters would battle hard and the winner would be less ready for the semi-finals. Kaddour beat Gomez's face badly (Gomez pointed to his face in a post fight interview saying this was his sacrifice) and came away relatively unscathed himself, even knocking Gomez backwards in the 4th, and buckling Gomez's legs and sending him 3 steps back into the ropes in the last round, but Gomez was busier overall and Kaddour lost by 1 round on 1 card and 3 rounds on the other 2 cards. Kaddour claimed that he would be back and wished Alfonso the best.

The first of the Contender contestants to fight again after the show's finale, Kaddour dominated through an 8-round unanimous decision against Maxell Taylor on July 22, 2005 on Showtime's Shobox. Months later he fought Jesus Felipe Valverde to a draw due to a recurring stamina problem. Two of the judges scored the fight even and the third had Kaddour winning by two rounds. Two months after this, in November 2006, Ahmad had a rematch against Valverde, which he won by split decision on Versus. Valverde, who had gone the distance with future world titlists Carlos Quintana, Kermit Cintron, and Yuri Foreman, as well as other top competition, was the busier fighter, but Kaddour was the more effective puncher. After the fight during an on camera interview when asked about his stamina in the final rounds, Kaddour explained that he had to drop weight from 192lbs to 148lbs, and that he had been born premature which might effect one of his lungs, and the combination may have taken away from his work rate.

Ahmad's fiance on the Contender series was Brandy Collins, an American who sponsored him for a fiance visa. They were married after the Contender and had a son in 2006. Brandy later told him to leave her home in Houston. According to BoxingScene.com and a Houston Tribune article, Ahmad entered the home without her permission in June 2007 and was charged with burglary. He pled guilty to Class A Misdemeanor trespassing and was sentenced to 180 days in Harris County Jail in downtown Houston and Brandy withdrew her sponsorship of him with the INS, causing Kaddour to be transferred to immigration agents and deported to Denmark upon his release from federal custody in December 2007, and Collins obtained a divorce. Kaddour also reportedly had problems breathing through his nose and had surgery.

The Comeback

After an almost 3 year hiatus from boxing working a steady job, Kaddour appeared on the undercard of Danish Super middleweight Mikkel Kessler's defense of the WBA title at the Messecenter Herning, Denmark, September 12, 2009. On one of the judge's score cards, Kaddour won all six rounds and only gave one and two rounds on the other two cards, respectively, winning a unanimous decision. Even though Kaddour took the fight on short notice, throughout the fight he landed left hooks and right uppercuts on the tough German, Mike Ermis, who had not been stopped in 16 pro fights.

Kaddour returned to the United States and beat Jerome Ellis by unanimous decision 80-72, and 79-73(x2) on a card in New Jersey on March 26, 2010. On February 11, 2011 Kaddour beat Lee Noble by unanimous decision, not giving any rounds away, and even getting three 10-8 rounds on one card, due to his dominance. It was televised on Denmark's TV2 "Fight Night". In May 2011, Kaddour moved to the Detroit area and trained with Greg Coverson at the "Detroit Boxing Jungle" before scoring a 5th round TKO over Vance Garvey at the Motor City Casino on October 6. On June 2, 2012, after training in Karsten Roewer´s gym in Berlin, Germany, for Team Sauerland, Kaddour fought at the Messecenter Herning, Denmark, televised on TV3/Viasat (Denmark), TV10 (Sweden) and Viasat Norway as part of a "Nordic Fight Night" series Sauerland contracted to promote Scandinavian boxers. The fight was considered a trial with promotor Sauerland Events for Kaddour for possible further appearances in the series. Kaddour beat Britain's Gary Bouldon (6-3-2) with wide margins on 2 cards 79-73, 78-74, but scored a draw on the 3rd card 76-76, for an 8 round majority decision. After the fight, he moved from #3 to #2 in the IBF Intercontinental rankings, and earned a spot in the next Nordic Fight Night card held at Nord Arena in Frederikshavn on September 22, 2012, against Jamaican born British fighter, Max Maxwell, who had lost a 12 round British title fight on points 6 months earlier. Kaddour started fast in the first 2 but started to breathe deeply in the 3rd. Maxwell fought back in 4 and 5 but Kaddour outworked him in 6 and 7, forcing Maxwell to charge forward and throw "haymakers", desperate for a last round knockout in the 8th that never came. Kaddour won 5 of the 8 rounds on all 3 cards (77-75) for a unanimous decision.

Future Plans

In August 2012 World Boxing News spoke with both Ishe Smith and Alfonso Gomez about possible rematches with Kaddour, giving him the opportunity to avenge his only 2 losses. Smith ruled a rematch out in the immediate future as he was still trying to attain his first world title shot through Golden Boy Promotions (since won a majority decision over The Contender 2 bronze medalist Cornelius Bundrage for the IBF 154 lb title 2/23/13), but Gomez expressed interest and promised to "beat him worse this time". February 2013, Kaddour stated he holds no ill will toward Smith from their Contender days despite the taunting that led to their old rivalry, but he still very much wants a rematch with Smith.

Nisse Sauerland announced April 5, 2013 that he matched Kaddour in a 10 round battle with Kenyan-born English light middleweight champ Erick "the Eagle" Ochieng (13-1) on the undercard of the Mikkel Kessler-Carl Froch rematch for the WBA and IBF super middleweight titles May 25, 2013 in London. Kaddour's last requirement (5 of last 10 fights in Europe) to appear in the European rankings would be satisfied with a win over Ochieng, who is currently ranked #19 by the EBU and a step up in class from Kaddour's previous 6 opponents. 2 days after the Kaddour-Ochieng fight was announced, almost 6 weeks before the fight was to take place, Kaddour said he had a problem with his right hand and shoulder which would not allow him to train and he would have to cancel.

Professional boxing record

26 Wins (10 knockouts, 16 decisions), 2 Losses ( 2 by decision), 1 Draw
Res.	Opponent	Opp Rec	Type	Rd	Date	Location	Notes
Win	Max Maxwell	16-11-3	UD	8	2012-09-22	Arena Nord, Frederikshavn, Denmark	77-75, 77-75, 77-75
Win	Gary Boulden	6-3-2	MD	8	2012-06-02	Herning Kongrescenter, Herning, Denmark	79-73, 78-74, 76-76
Win	Vance Garvey	8-34-6	TKO	5	2011-10-06	Motor City Casino, Detroit, Michigan, United States	video garvey down in 2nd, right eye closed
Win	Lee Noble	12-16-2	UD	6	2011-02-12	Herning Kongrescenter, Herning, Denmark	video 60-51, 60-54, 60-54
Win	Jerome Ellis	12-10-2	UD	8	2010-03-27	Hamilton Manor, Hamilton Township, New Jersey, United States	video 79-73, 79-73, 80-72
Win	Cagri Ermis	6-7-2	UD	6	2009-09-12	MCH Messecenter Herning, Herning, Denmark	video 60-54, 59-55, 58-57 after 2 year 10 month layoff
Win	Jesus Felipe Valverde	21-12-1	SD	8	2006-11-02	Chevrolet Centre, Youngstown, Ohio, United States	77-75, 77-75, 75-77
Draw	Jesus Felipe Valverde	21-12	Draw	8	2006-09-14	Orleans Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada, United States	78-74, 76-76, 76-76
Win	Maxell Taylor	12-1	UD	8	2005-07-22	Orleans Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada, United States	79-73, 78-74, 80-72
Loss	Alfonso Gomez	11-2-1	UD	5	2004-09-15	Pasadena, California, United States	videoNBC's The Contender (TV series)
Loss	Ishe Smith	14-0	UD	5	2004-08-24	Pasadena, California, United States	video NBC's The Contender (TV series)
Win	Fontaine Cabell	22-4-1	TKO	1	2004-07-17	Baysox Stadium, Bowie, Maryland, United States
Win	Juan Carlos Garcia	7-2	KO	4	2004-04-24	Staples Center, Los Angeles, California, United States	garcia down in 1 & 4, stopped before start of 5th
Win	Lorant Szabo	20-14	UD	6	2003-12-20	Ostseehalle, Kiel, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany	video
Win	Leo Edwards	14-12-2	KO	1	2003-10-23	Princess Chateau, Lodi, New Jersey, United States	video
Win	Wilmer Mejia	13-3-2	MD	8	2003-09-25	Michael's Eighth Avenue, Glen Burnie, Maryland, United States	video 77-74, 77-75, 76-76
Win	Alban Mothie	9-7-1	MD	6	2002-11-16	Baltic Hall, Mariehamn, Finland	59-56, 58-58, 60-55
Win	Louis Mimoune	14-16	TKO	3	2002-06-15	Gubbio, Umbria, Italy
Win	Cyril Terrones	21-14-1	UD	6	2002-04-06	Cirkusbygningen, Copenhagen, Denmark	58-55, 59-55, 59-54
Win	Francesco Cioffi	9-23-8	KO	2	2002-02-23	Skive Hallerne, Skive, Denmark
Win	Alessio Furlan	3-0-2	UD	6	2002-02-08	Volkswagenhalle, Braunschweig, Niedersachsen, Germany	video
Win	Rachid Ouafi	3-0	KO	2	2001-11-24	Vejen Idraetscenter, Vejen, Denmark
Win	Michel Ventura	5-6-1	KO	6	2001-11-03	Hansehalle, Luebeck, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany
Win	Hamit Riahi	8-21-1	TKO	1	2001-10-07	Universum Gym, Wandsbek, Hamburg, Germany
Win	Florin Oanea	4-11-3	UD	6	2001-06-08	Imperial Gym, Budapest, Hungary
Win	David White	0-4-1	UD	4	2001-04-28	International Arena, Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom	ref scores 39-36
Win	Antonio Postigo	2-7-1	UD	4	2001-02-04	Sporthalle, Alsterdorf, Hamburg, Germany
Win	Abdelilah Benabbou	0-0-1	KO	1	2001-02-10	Estrel Convention Center, Neukoelln, Berlin, Germany
Win	Attila Kiss	0-2	UD	4	2000-010-07	Estrel Convention Center, Neukoelln, Berlin, Germany	Ahmad's professional debut.

External links

• Facebook profile
• Interview with About.com