Raúl Horacio Balbi

Raul Horacio Balbi
Raul Horacio Balbi
Born	Raul Horacio Balbi; 7 October 1973 (age 50); Buenos Aires, Argentina
Nationality	Argentine
Other names	Pepe
	Statistics
Weight(s)	Light Welterweight ; Lightweight
Height	5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)
Stance	Orthodox
	Boxing record
Total fights	68
Wins	55
Wins by KO	38
Losses	11
Draws	2

Raul Horacio Balbi (born October 7, 1973) is an Argentine professional boxer. Although Balbi currently competes in the light welterweight division, he is most notable for having won the WBA world lightweight title.

Professional career

Balbi made his professional debut on November 19, 1993 in Mercedes, Corrientes, Argentina. Balbi made a victorious start to his career by knocking out Juan Bautista Sosa in the first round. One of the highlights of Balbi's early career came on June 3, 1995 when he beat Simon Canache to claim the South American lightweight title. The first loss of Balbi's career came on September 9, 1995 when he lost to Manuel Alberto Billalba via a ten round points decision, Balbi avenged this defeat later on in his career by beating Billalba twice.

On February 22, 1997 Balbi travelled to Hamburg, Germany to challenge the Uzbek champion Artur Grigorian for the WBO lightweight title. Balbi's challenge proved to be unsuccessful, as Grigorian scored an eleventh round technical knockout. After the fight Balbi returned to Argentina, where he put together a run of five wins before losing a split decision to Walter Hugo Rodriguez.^[1]

Balbi remained undefeated over his next sixteen bouts, earning him a chance to fight Alberto Esteban Sicurella in a WBA title eliminator. Balbi won the fight by tenth round technical knockout, which led to a world title challenge against the French champion Julien Lorcy on October 8, 2001 in Paris. In the third round of the contest Balbi was able to open a large cut above the champion's right eye and had further success when he knocked Lorcy down in the seventh. The fight lasted the twelve round distance and Balbi was announced as the winner via a majority decision.^[2]

The first defence of Balbi's title took place on January 5, 2002 against Leonard Dorin in San Antonio, Texas. After a toe-to-toe battle which lasted the full twelve rounds, the Romanian challenger Dorin was announced the winner by split decision. After the fight a surprised Balbi claimed that he was "robbed".^[3] A rematch occurred five months later, this time in Bucharest, Romania. On this occasion Dorin won a unanimous decision with scores of: 118-111, 117-112 and 118-110.^[4]

A run of six consecutive wins earned Balbi another shot at the WBA title, this time for the vacant light welterweight belt. The fight took place in Bolton, United Kingdom on September 2, 2006, against the Frenchman Souleymane M'baye. Balbi was knocked down twice en route to a fourth round loss via technical knockout, thus handing the title to M'baye.^[5] Since his light welterweight title challenge Balbi has lost three times. His most recent match, a draw against Bolivian boxer Franklin Mamani, took place on May 28, 2010.^[1]

Professional boxing record

55 Wins (38 knockouts), 11 Losses (4 knockouts), 2 Draws^[1]
Res.	Record	Opponent	Type	Round Time	Date	Location	Notes
Draw	55–11–2	Franklin Mamani	TD	3 (9) 2:55	2010–05–28	Coliseo Julio Borelli Viteritto, La Paz, La Paz	For vacant WBA Fedebol Welterweight title.
Loss	55–11–1	Guillermo de Jesus Paz	UD	6	2009–09–11	Estado José María Gatica, Villa Domínico, Buenos Aires
Loss	55–10–1	Denis Shafikov	TD	6 (8) 0:28	2008–11–28	Hartwall Areena, Helsinki, Uusimaa
Loss	55–9–1	Ionuţ Dan Ion	KO	3 (10) 1:45	2008–04–19	Polyvalent Hall, Bucharest	For WBA NABA Light welterweight title.
Win	55–8–1	Diego Ponce	KO	2 (8) 1:03	2007–10–27	Ce. De. M. No. 2, Caseros, Buenos Aires
Loss	54–8–1	Souleymane M'baye	TKO	4 (12)	2006–09–02	Bolton Arena, Bolton, Greater Manchester	For WBA Light welterweight title.
Win	54–7–1	Jorge Luis Noriega Medrano	TKO	2 (12) 1:28	2005–12–02	Luna Park, Buenos Aires	For WBA Fedelatin Lightweight title.
Win	53–7–1	Walter Diaz	TKO	6 (10) 0:31	2005–10–07	Luna Park, Buenos Aires	Won WBA Fedelatin Lightweight title.
Win	52–7–1	Guillermo de Jesus Paz	UD	10	2005–09–03	Ce. De. M. No. 2, Caseros, Buenos Aires
Win	51–7–1	Carlos Donquiz	KO	5 (10) 1:11	2005–05–26	Luna Park, Buenos Aires
Win	50–7–1	Carlos Adán Jerez	UD	10	2005–04–30	Estadio Aldo Cantoni, San Juan, San Juan
Win	49–7–1	Norberto Acosta	KO	2 (8) 0:45	2005–03–12	Ce. De. M. No. 2, Caseros, Buenos Aires
Loss	48–7–1	Jose Rosa Gomez	KO	8 (10)	2003–03–08	Ce. De. M. No. 2, Caseros, Buenos Aires
Loss	48–6–1	Leonard Dorin	UD	12	2002–05–31	Polyvalent Hall, Bucharest	For WBA Lightweight title.
Loss	48–5–1	Leonard Dorin	SD	12	2002–01–05	Freeman Coliseum, San Antonio, Texas	Lost WBA Lightweight title.
Win	48–4–1	Julien Lorcy	MD	12	2001–10–08	Palais des Sports, Paris	Won WBA Lightweight title.
Win	47–4–1	Vincent Howard	KO	3 (10)	2001–07–14	Ce. De. M. No. 2, Caseros, Buenos Aires
Win	46–4–1	Alberto Sicurella	TKO	10 (12)	2001–03–17	Ce. De. M. No. 2, Caseros, Buenos Aires
Win	45–4–1	Justo Martinez	RTD	10 (12)	2000–08–26	Salon Tattersall, San Isidro, Buenos Aires	For South American Lightweight title.
Win	44–4–1	Ariel Aparicio	KO	1 (10)	2000–06–08	San Justo, Buenos Aires
Win	43–4–1	Walter Rodriguez	RTD	8 (12)	2000–04–22	Club Los Indios, Moreno, Buenos Aires	Won South American Lightweight title.
Win	42–4–1	Ruben Oliva	TKO	5 (10)	1999–12–18	Club Argentino de Quilmes, Quilmes, Buenos Aires
Win	41–4–1	Santos Rebolledo	UD	12	1999–11–17	Hotel El Panamá, Panama City, Panamá	Won WBA Fedelatin Lightweight title.
Win	40–4–1	Roberto Ortega	UD	10	1999–07–31	Villa Domínico, Buenos Aires
Win	39–4–1	Luis Sosa	UD	10	1999–05–08	Club Argentino de Quilmes, Quilmes, Buenos Aires
Win	38–4–1	Jorge David Gomez	TKO	2 (10) 1:09	1999–02–26	Club Atlético Quilmes, Mar del Plata, Buenos Aires
Win	37–4–1	Carlos Vilches	KO	2 (10)	1998–11–28	Buenos Aires
Draw	36–4–1	Ruben Oliva	PTS	8	1998–10–10	Buenos Aires
Win	36–4	Hector Martinez	KO	1 (10)	1998–07–25	Canal 9 Studios, Buenos Aires
Win	35–4	Daniel Zielinski	UD	10	1998–05–23	Buenos Aires
Win	34–4	Marcelo Cesar	KO	1 (10)	1998–04–04	Buenos Aires
Win	33–4	Victor Hugo Sanchez	TKO	2 (10)	1998–02–28	Buenos Aires
Win	32–4	Angel Vera	KO	2 (10)	1998–01–24	Canal 9 Studios, Buenos Aires
Win	31–4	Hector Martinez	TKO	4 (10)	1997–12–20	Canal 9 Studios, Buenos Aires
Loss	30–4	Walter Rodriguez	SD	10	1997–11–22	Buenos Aires
Win	30–3	Manuel Billalba	PTS	10	1997–10–04	Buenos Aires
Win	29–3	Raul Cardenas	KO	3 (10)	1997–08–16	Buenos Aires
Win	28–3	Victor Hugo Sanchez	DQ	5 (8)	1997–07–19	Villa Gesell, Buenos Aires
Win	27–3	Angel Vera	RTD	7 (10)	1997–06–07	Canal 9 Studios, Buenos Aires
Win	26–3	Ramon Collado	PTS	10	1997–05–10	Estadio F. A. B., Buenos Aires
Loss	25–3	Artur Grigorian	TKO	11 (12) 1:10	1997–02–22	Sporthalle, Hamburg	For WBO Lightweight title.
Win	25–2	Rildo Jose Oliveira	KO	2 (12)	1996–12–25	Buenos Aires	Won WBO Latino Lightweight title.
Loss	24–2	Alberto Roda	PTS	10	1996–08–17	Buenos Aires
Win	24–1	Ramon Collado	RTD	5 (10)	1996–07–27	Estadio F. A. B., Buenos Aires
Win	23–1	Manuel Billalba	PTS	10	1996–05–25	Estadio F. A. B., Buenos Aires
Win	22–1	Sergio Atilio Martinez	TKO	8 (10)	1996–04–13	Buenos Aires
Win	21–1	Ricardo Vega	KO	2 (10)	1996–03–09	Buenos Aires
Win	20–1	Simon Canache	UD	12	1995–10–28	Canal 9 Studios, Buenos Aires	For South American Lightweight title.
Loss	19–1	Manuel Billalba	PTS	10	1995–09–09	Buenos Aires
Win	19–0	Philippe Binante	PTS	8	1995–07–25	Saint-Jean-de-Luz, Pyrénées-Atlantiques
Win	18–0	Faustino Martires Barrios	PTS	10	1995–07–15	Buenos Aires
Win	17–0	Simon Canache	DQ	5 (12)	1995–06–03	Buenos Aires	Won South American Lightweight title.
Win	16–0	Daniel Zielinski	TKO	5 (8)	1995–05–13	Estadio F. A. B., Buenos Aires
Win	15–0	Pedro Villegas	TKO	3 (8)	1995–04–07	La Rioja, La Rioja
Win	14–0	Ruben Astorga	KO	6 (8)	1995–04–01	Buenos Aires
Win	13–0	Fabian Bazan	TKO	3 (8)	1995–03–03	La Rioja, La Rioja
Win	12–0	Marco Antonio Dos Santos	TKO	2 (8)	1995–01–21	Canal 9 Studios, Buenos Aires
Win	11–0	Rene Adelqui Collado	TKO	5 (8)	1994–12–28	Buenos Aires
Win	10–0	Omar Victoriano Alegre	TKO	2 (8)	1994–12–03	Estadio Delmi, Salta, Salta
Win	9–0	Daniel Zielinski	PTS	8	1994–11–19	Buenos Aires
Win	8–0	Stephan Galtier	TKO	1 (8)	1994–10–01	Arena de Cosets, Carpentras, Vaucluse
Win	7–0	Marcelo Gutierrez	TKO	4 (6)	1994–08–27	Estadio F. A. B., Buenos Aires
Win	6–0	Gustavo Cuello	KO	1 (6) 2:09	1994–07–02	Estadio F. A. B., Buenos Aires
Win	5–0	Raul Notti	KO	1 (6)	1994–06–25	Buenos Aires
Win	4–0	Philippe Mohammed Udofe	KO	5 (6)	1994–05–21	Estadio F. A. B., Buenos Aires
Win	3–0	Jorge Carballo	DQ	3 (6)	1994–04–21	Club Nolting, Ciudadela, Buenos Aires
Win	2–0	Leonardo Tissera	KO	1 (6)	1993–12–04	Estadio F. A. B., Buenos Aires
Win	1–0	Juan Bautista Sosa	KO	1 (6)	1993–11–19	Mercedes, Corrientes