Alphonse Halimi

Alphonse Halimi
Data
Birth Name	Alphonse Halimi
Weight class	Bantamweight
nationality	French
birthday	February 18, 1932
place of birth	Constantine , Algeria
Date of death	November 12, 2006
Place of death	Paris
style	Left-hand boom
size	1.60 meters
Combat Statistics
Struggles	51
Victories	42
Knockout victories	21st
Defeats	8th
draw	1

Alphonse Halimi (born February 18, 1932 in Constantine , Algeria , † November 12, 2006 in Paris ) was a French boxer . He was world champion in the bantamweight professional boxer .

Career

Alphonse Halimi grew up in a large Sephardic - Jewish family in Constantine. As a child, he liked to swim and started training as a tailor at the age of 12. His teacher Dianoux was a boxing fan and brought him to boxing. He trained under the direction of Dianoux in the Mouloudia gym and developed into a top French boxer in the amateur field.

During his professional career, Alphonse Halimi moved to Vincennes and ran a Castle Avenue bar there . When he was no longer economically well after his boxer career, he got a job as a boxing and swimming trainer from the French national sports institute INSEP . In the last years of his life, which were marked by poverty, he suffered from Alzheimer's disease . He is buried in the Cimitière parisien de Pantin cemetery.

Career as an amateur boxer

Alphonse Halimi was a total of three times French bantamweight amateur boxer champion in 1953, 1954 and 1955. He represented France in 1954 and 1955 in several international matches and defeated u. a. Gerner Thomsen from Denmark, Janusz Kasperczak from Poland and Wolfgang Schwarz from Germany . In June 1955 he took part in the European Amateur Championships in Berlin. In the bantamweight he was already defeated in his first fight against Boris Stepanow from the Soviet Union on points (1: 4 judges' votes). He finished 9th at this European Championship. In June 1955 he won the 2nd Mediterranean Games in Barcelona. On the way to this success he won the bantamweight against Abdel Al Fikri Adrid, Egypt by disqualification in the 2nd round and against Giuseppe Velitti from Italy by abandonment in the 2nd round.

In total, he played 189 fights as an amateur boxer.

Career as a professional boxer

Alphonse Halimi became a professional boxer after the Mediterranean Games in 1955. He entered the "boxing stable" of Philippe Filippi in Paris, who was also manager, trainer and supervisor. He fought his first fight in Paris and won over his compatriot Georges Lafage by knockout in the first round. He also won the following 17 fights, most of which he fought in Paris, and thus fought for one of the top places in the bantamweight world rankings. In the NBA world rankings from March 1957 he was z. B. led behind the world champion Raul Macias from Mexico and behind the WBA world champion Mario D'Agata in second place, ahead of Leo Espinosa from the Philippines and Billy Peacock from the United States, whom he defeated on March 16, 1956 in Paris. His nickname "The Little Terror", which he acquired at the time, says a lot about his courageous fighting style. On April 1, 1957, he played his first title fight in Paris. The French promoter Gilbert Benaim had brought this fight against all opposition from North America to Paris. It was about the WBA world bantamweight title. He defeated the Italian defending champion Mario D'Agata over 15 rounds unanimously on points. On November 6, 1957 Alphonse Halimi defeated on the "Wrigley Field" in Los Angeles in front of 20,000 spectators, most of whom were set against him, by a narrow 2-1 point victory also the Mexican Raul "Raton" Macias , who is from the NBA was led by North America as world champion and was thus the undisputed bantamweight world champion.

Then Alphonse Halimi defeated strong opponents in Paris, in fights that were not for the world title, such as his compatriot Dante Bini , the Scots Peter Keenan and the Belgian Pierre Cossemyns . On July 8, 1959, he defended the world title at the Memorial Colosseum in Los Angeles against the Mexican José Becerra . Becerra proved too strong for him and sent him down twice in the eighth round. Alphonse Halimi was counted during the second rainfall. He lost the world title to Becerra. Also in the revenge, which took place on February 4, 1960, again in Los Angeles, Alphonse Halimi lost by knockout, this time in the 9th round. But already on October 25, 1960 he got the chance to become world champion again because José Becerra had resigned in the meantime. Alphonse Halimi took advantage of this chance and was bantamweight world champion again in the Empire Pool in Wembley with a points win after 15 rounds over the Northern Irishman Freddie Gilroy .

In the first title defense, which took place on March 30, 1961 in Wembley, Alphonse Halimi had to surrender the world title again, because he lost that day against Johnny Caldwell , another Northern Irishman, after 15 rounds on points. On October 31, 1961, the revenge between these two boxers took place in Wembley, which was again about the world title in bantamweight. Johnny Caldwell won it again on points after 15 laps.

On June 26, 1962, Alphonse Halimi won the EBU European Championship title in Tel Aviv in the first professional boxing event that took place in Israel with a point victory over the Italian Piero Rollo . On October 28, 1962 he lost this title in Cagliari against the same boxer, against whom he lost after 15 rounds on points.

Alphonso Halimi then fought with varying successes for two years. His last fight, in which he lost on points against Victor Cano from Colombia, he played on November 27, 1964 in Bogota.

Explanations

• NBA = National Boxing Association
• WBA = World Boxing Association
• EBU = European Boxing Union

literature

• Box Sport magazine
• The Ring trade journal

Web links

• Alphonse Halimi in the BoxRec database
• Excerpts from the world championship fight of Alphonse Halimi (black pants) against José Becerra in 1959
• www.amateur-boxing.strefa.pl