Eleven years and 36 fights into his professional career, Frenchman Michel Mothmora was very much the epitome of a journeyman in November 2011. His record stood at a less than stellar 15-21, and there were no real signs that anything was going to change what appeared to be his destiny in boxing.
While he had pulled off an upset and defeated Mehdi Nekaies (15-4) a year earlier, three losses had followed and he was brought in for the rematch so that Nekaies could rectify the “mistake” in his hometown of Toulon. However, Mothmora had not read the script and this time he stopped the local man in five rounds.
Also winning the rematch with Nekaies started a major upswing in the career of Mothmora, and over the course of the next year he won five more bouts to line up a shot at the French Middleweight title this past January, held by Karim Achour who had just gone ten hard rounds with the world class Martin Murray in England.
Unfortunately Achour proved too big a handful for Mothmora on the night, but he made a good account of himself in his losing effort. He has since come back with two victories, and now with a positive win-lose record of 23-22 (8) he is ready for another crack at a championship. On November 16 in his hometown Gien, Mothmora will face undefeated reigning Czech national champion Stepan Horvath (11-0, 3 KOs) for the vacant World Boxing Federation (WBF) International Middleweight title.
In a remarkable twist, the former journeyman is now the hometown favorite, while the undefeated opponent is the underdog. Having won eight of his last nine bouts to turn his career around, Michel Mothmora can now take the final step and complete a real fairytale story by winning the WBF title.
However, despite the recent run of good results for Mothmora, Horvath will probably look at his opponent’s statistics and fancy his chances. The Michel Mothmora vs. Stepan Horvath WBF International Middleweight title fight will be promoted by Michel Chagnoux and Ring Giennois.