Sam Soliman (Courtesy Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Sam Soliman (born 13 November 1973) is an Australian boxer of Coptic Egyptian descent. Soliman began his boxing career after studying multiple forms of martial arts, such as Tae Kwon Do, Karate, and Kick-Boxing.

Martial arts career

Soliman is a former ISNA and WAKA kickboxing champion.

Amateur boxing career

Soliman compiled an Amateur Record consisting of 84 fights, with 11 losses.

Professional boxing career

Soliman turned pro at the Cruiserweight level in 1997 at the age of 23. Soliman fought 12 rounds for the Australian Cruiserweight Championship in only his second fight. He gained a worldwide audience when he defeated Raymond Joval by a twelve round Unanimous Decision, on 17 July 2004.

A rematch with fellow Australian Anthony Mundine, who Soliman suffered a split decision loss to earlier in his career, ended in a ninth round TKO loss for Soliman. Soliman moved up from his normal 160 lb middleweight division to take on Mundine in the Super Middleweight division, for the vacant WBA Super Middleweight Title. After suffering a knockdown in round 2, Mundine ended the fight in the 9th round.

He was one of the boxers featured on the 3rd season of the boxing reality TV series, The Contender, which premiered 4 September 2007 on ESPN. On the Contender, Soliman captured third place after defeating Wayne Johnsen. Solimans only loss was in a competitive Unanimous Decision loss to Sakio Bika, the eventual third season Contender Champion.

Since 2009, when Sam and his management decided to campaign at his natural weight of middleweight, Sam Soliman is undefeated with 7 consecutive victories against notable challengers like Garth Wood, Eromosele Albert & most notably IBF number 6 world middleweight contendor in Giovanni Lorenzo, all of the last three by unanimous decision. He is managed by David Stanley. Soliman is a strong social worker who gives a lot of time to causes he believes in. He is a lead facilitator for a program titled Choices: Good, Bad and Ugly. This is a game format educational program to teach young men better decision making processes and that they are responsible for their choices and actions.

The recent success of Sam Soliman has now made him the IBF Middleweight mandatory challenger to fellow Australian, Daniel Geale for the IBF Middleweight World Title. Soliman has also been linked in discussions with Dmitry Pirog for the WBO World Title, Felix Sturm regarding a challenge for his #1 IBF mandatory, and, Gennady Golovkin the current WBA Champion.

Recent fight history

• 2007-11-06 : Contender Arena, Boston, United States: Sam Soliman beat Wayne Johnsen by unanimous decision (bronze medal winner of the Contender Season 3) round 6 of 6.
• 2007  : Contender Arena, Soliman loses in a rematch to Sakio Bika in a 8 round decision
• 2007-09-18 : Contender Arena, Los Angeles, California, United States: Sam Soliman beat Max Alexander by Unanimous Decision in round 5 of 5
• 2007-03-07 : Entertainment Centre, Sydney, NSW, Australia: Anthony Mundine beat Sam Soliman by KO in round 9 of 12
• 2006-11-17 : Soboba Casino, San Jacinto, CA, USA: Sam Soliman beat Enrique Ornelas by Majority Decision in round 10 of 10
• 2005-12-10 : Mohegan Sun Casino, Uncasville, Connecticut, US: Winky Wright beat Sam Soliman by Unanimous Decision in round 14 of 15.

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