Boxing: Shooting-victim set for ‘dream return’

Halabi was gunned down by her step-father, former manager after she terminated his management contract.

ULM: Germany’s former boxing world champion Rola El Halabi is set to fulfil her dream in January to box again, nearly two years after she was gunned down by her step-father and former manager in a vicious attack after she terminated his management contract. The 27-year-old, who won the women’s IBA and IBF lightweight titles in 2009, will climb into the ring on January 13 when she takes on Italy’s Lucia Morelli in Ulm for the vacant IBA lightweight title. El-Halabi says her dream is to become a world champion again, but she is happy just to climb into the ring once more. “The relief is enormous,” said the boxer. “This has been my dream and I wanted to live it again. It’s like a second birth, I didn’t want to say goodbye to this great sport. I just want to be a world champion again.”

Published in The Express Tribune, November 8^th, 2012.