Kentikian vs. Ortega On Saturday

By Jim Dower: WIBF Women’s International Boxing Federation and WBA Female flyweight champion Susi Kentikian (20-0, 15 KOs) will arguably be facing her stiffest test of her early career when she faces American Mary Ortega (29-4-2, 8 KOs) in a scheduled 10-round championship bout on Saturday night at the Brandberge Arena, Halle an der Saale, in Saschsen-Anhalt, Germany. Kentikian, now 20, originally from Armenia but has since moved to Germany, will be making her sixth defense of her Woman’s WBA title and her 2nd defense of the prestigious WIBF title against the 27 year-old Ortega.

Kentikian, though only 20, has already surged to the top of the Woman’s flyweight division where she has dominated her opposition thus far since winning the vacant WBA title with a 9th round TKO of Carolina Alvarez in February 2007. Since then, Kentikian has breezed through her opposition, beating Maria Jose Nunez, Nadia Hokmi, Shawnee Martin and Sarah Goodson. Of them, only Hokmi gave her a competitive fight. Their first fight, fought on March 25th, 2007, saw Kentikian win by a narrow split decision. However, Kentikian not one to leave things unfinished, gave Hokmi a rematch in December 2007, this time beating Hokmi by a 10-round unanimous decision, winning by the scores 97-95, 96-94 and 96-94.

In Kentikian’s most recent bout, she blew out American Sarah Goodson in the third round in a fight that was never remotely competitive from the start. Showing her power and speed from the beginning, Kentikian took the fight to her smaller opponent, pounding her at will with blistering combinations and heat-seeking right hands to the head. Goodson attempted to attack Kentikian with her own power shots, but was foiled due to Kentikian’s air-tight defense and nifty footwork. The end came in the third round, after Kentikian hurt Goodson with a right to the body, causing her to double over in pain. The action continued as Kentikian battered a near defenseless Goodson with brutal head shots without much effort by Goodson to block the blows. The fight was thus stopped at that point, giving Kentikian another win.

Alvarez looks to have her work cut out for her against Kentikian, for Alvarez has fought much less-skilled opposition in her career than Kentikian and it will amount to a major step up for her in terms of competition. While Alvarez, who is noted for her good power and excellent combinations, has slightly more experience than Kentikian, she has failed when stepping it up against top opposition. In the past two years, she’s lost to both Elena Reid and Hollie Dunaway by unanimous decision. Neither Dunaway or Reid match up to the skills that Kentikian brings into the ring, which means that unless Alvarez has improved a great deal in the last two years, she’s in for a tough time against Kentikian on Saturday night.

Since turning professional in January 2005, Kentikian has speedily rose to the top of Woman’s boxing, and along the way has become one of the biggest sports stars in her adopted country of Germany. In December, Kentikian won the WIBF Women’s International Federation title, which had previously been held by Germany’s most popular female boxer Regina Halmich, who had previously held the title for 12 years, from 1995 to 2007. Along with the title, Kentikian took over the number one spot as being top female boxer in the country.