Mustafa Hamsho

Mustafa Hamsho
Data
Birth Name	Mustafa Hamsho
Weight class	medium weight
nationality	Syrian
birthday	October 10, 1953
place of birth	Latakia
style	Southpaw
size	1.73 m
Combat Statistics
Struggles	51
Victories	44
Knockout victories	28
Defeats	5
draw	2
Profile in the BoxRec database

Mustafa Hamsho (born October 10, 1953 in Latakia ) is a former Syrian professional boxer of Aramaic descent. He was one of the top middleweight boxers in the mid-1970s and 1980s. In 1981 and 1984 he boxed twice unsuccessfully for the world championship against Marvin Hagler .

Career

At the age of 15 he was Syrian light middleweight champion and dreamed of a boxing career in the USA. In 1973 he reached New York as a sailor on a Greek ship and moved to the Arab community of Brooklyn . In the Gramercy Gym of Manhattan , he was discovered by Paddy Flood for the sport and punched especially early in his career under stage name like "Mike Estafire" or "Rocky Estafire".

His career began unspectacularly. He lost his professional debut in 1975 on points against Pat Cuillo. Two months later there was a draw with Danny McNevin. After five consecutive wins, he reached another draw in 1976 against Reggie Jones. However, he then won 27 fights in a row, 17 of them prematurely. He achieved impressive victories against Rocky Mosley, Bobby Watts, Wilford Scypion, Rudy Robles and Alan Minter, among others . He also defeated Reggie Jones in a rematch.

On October 3, 1981, he boxed in Cook County for the world championship of the WBA and WBC middleweight against Marvin Hagler , but suffered a defeat against the best middleweight in the world at the time. He was taken out of the fight by the referee in the eleventh round due to several cuts. His injuries had to be stitched with 53 stitches.

He was able to defeat his next six opponents again, including well-known names such as Bobby Czyz and Wilfred Benitez . As a result, he received another World Cup chance against Hagler on October 19, 1984 in Madison Square Garden , this time for the unrestricted world championship (WBA, WBC, IBF) in the middleweight division. Hamsho had to accept the first precipitation of his professional career and lost through tKo in the third round. After six more fights, including two defeats to Donny Lalonde and Graciano Rocchigiani , he ended his boxer career in 1989. He then became a US citizen and was inducted into the New York State Boxing Hall of Fame in 2014 .

Web links

• BoxRec
• Newsday.com