It wasn’t that long ago that Ibrahim Balla’s career was on the ropes.
Two savage knockout losses at featherweight in a two-year span left the 2012 Olympian’s world championship ambitions in tatters.
But a four-year hiatus from the sport and a jump up to lightweight has suddenly rejuvenated his career.
Now 33, the Werribee native was once one of the most highly-touted prospects in Australia. He took up the gloves at a young age, following in the footsteps of his Albanian father Nuri, who won a Victorian state championship in the amateurs, while his uncle Mitat went one better and won the national crown in the unpaid ranks. At the age of just 11, Balla had won his first Australian junior title.
The accolades kept flowing and by 2012, he had won five Australian titles and a silver medal at the 2008 Commonwealth Youth Games in Pune, India. Victory in the Australian and Oceania titles in 2012 earned him a place in the Australian Olympic team.
Balla was part of the same squad that included reigning Ring cruiserweight champion and IBF tiltist Jai Opetaia, Manny Pacquiao conqueror Jeff Horn, and team captain Luke Jackson. He lost a close fight in the second round to Bulgarian Detelin Dalakliev by scores of 14–10 before deciding to turn pro the following year after racking up an impressive 84 wins in 101 amateur contests.
He got off to a flyer in the pros, too. Nine fights for nine wins with six knockouts against the usual suspects. That was until he met then-once beaten Filipino Neil John Tabanao at the Bendigo Basketball Stadium in June 2016.
Balla, who started his career at super bantamweight and had won the national crown at featherweight in his previous fight, missed weight for the 126-pound regional title fight by two-and-a-half pounds. The bout ended badly. A pair of ferocious uppercuts from the Tabanao dropped Balla twice in the third, prompting experienced referee Ignatius Missailidis to call a halt to the contest at the 1:47 mark of the round.
Balla shook off the loss and rebounded with four consecutive wins in less than a year, including a victory over former world title challenger Silvester Lopez. Balla was making weight and boxing beautifully. Everything was back on track again.
But disaster struck for a second time when he was matched with Jessie Cris Rosales of the Philippines at Grand Star Receptions in Altona North in March 2018. Rosales, who was 21-1-1 with nine knockouts at the time, was coming off a second-round knockout loss to former WBO bantamweight and WBC featherweight titleholder Jhonny Gonzalez in Mexico eight months earlier. He stepped in as a late replacement for Norasing Kokietgym after the Thai injured his hand less than a fortnight out from the bout.
Balla poses with his WBA Oceania title. Photo / Steve Dilks-SAAImaging
The Rosales fight very closely mimicked the Tabanao bout. A war from the very start, both boxers were trading bombs until Rosales landed a crunching short right hand to Balla’s chin that crumpled him to the canvas and left him out cold. Referee Tony Marretta immediately waved off the contest at 1:38 of the second round with Balla lying motionless on the mat.
Balla was helped to his corner stool where he recovered before returning to the locker room under his own steam, but the loss was hard to take. He vanished from the boxing scene for four years.
“I’m not going to lie, it was a tough time,” said Balla (17-2, 7 KOs) to The Ring. “But I’ve got a good support group around me with my brothers and my father. Most importantly, it was just my belief in myself, that I’ve still got it, and they bring that out in me.
“I would’ve been back in the ring earlier, but obviously, coronavirus stopped competition for a while. But I think everything happens for a reason and it was just the right time for me to come back after a few years on the sidelines.
“I feel like I’m where I’m meant to be with my progress with the boxing game at the moment. I’ve been training with my dad and I just feel like the team is back together and I’m heading in the right direction.”
That direction has taken him interstate for his past two bouts to face undefeated fighters in their hometowns, both on nationally televised cards, after stringing together a pair of six-round wins over low-level opposition in 2022.
The first real test of this second stage of his career came last December when he travelled to Sydney to take on lightweight Youssef Dib at The Star casino. Dib, the younger brother of ex-IBF featherweight beltholder Billy Dib, held an unblemished record of 20-0 at the time with 10 knockouts. Balla proved too classy for Dib, winning a majority decision over 10 rounds that many felt should have been unanimous. Judges Leanne Reid and Brad Vocale both scored the bout a clear-cut win for Balla by scores of 100-90 and 97-93, respectively, while judge John Cauchi turned in a baffling scorecard of 95-95.
Next up for Balla was a trip to the Gold Coast in Queensland, but this was for anything but a holiday. Paired with hot prospect Jalen Tait, he was again the underdog against the 23-year-old Townsville southpaw who likes to fashion his style after the late, great Pernell Whitaker. The unbeaten Tait got off to a good start, but eventually, it was the age and experience of Balla that overcame the youthful exuberance of the Queenslander, earning him a majority decision victory with scores of 97-93, 96-94 and 95-95. The loss moved Tait’s record to 15-1 with eight knockouts.
Both victories illustrated that Balla still has plenty left to give in his career.
“I would say Jalen was probably the better competition, so I would rate the win over Jalen more highly,” said Balla.
“It’s always a bit difficult when you walk into someone’s backyard. You’re always up against a little bit of favoritism. I’m just there to do my job. I was comfortable in both fights in that I knew I had the decision.”
The hardest thing about the Tait fight, says Balla, was finding suitable sparring in camp.
“We went into the fight knowing it was very hard to catch his rhythm,” he said. “Once I was able to do that, I was able to sway the fight my way. I think that had a lot to do with my preparation as well.
“I only had my brother [Qamil] as my sparring partner. He’s obviously an orthodox fighter, but he was switching stance to help me get ready for a southpaw. I didn’t have any other sparring that really prepared me to get off to a good start and I think Jalen starts off really good in all his fights.”
Balla was in good spirits for this interview. And why wouldn’t he be? In less than 12 months, he has revived his career and is clearly in a good space both mentally and physically after years of draining his five-foot-eight frame down to the 126-pound featherweight limit.
Success breeds confidence and confidence breeds success. Balla says he is not prepared to give up on his dreams of a world championship shot just yet.
“I’m looking to move up the world ratings. I’d like to fight anyone with a title, I don’t even mind who it is. I want to win a world title, and that’s my goal,” he said.
“There’s a lot of good fighters out there in my weight division, it’s stacked with a lot of great talent. You’ve got [Vasiliy] Lomachenko, you’ve got [Gervonta] ‘Tank’ Davis, Shakur Stevenson, and a lot of other great fighters coming through. I think it’s one of the healthier weight divisions, and it builds for healthy competition, so it just gives me more motivation to get better and better and build on from that.”
Balla still has more work to do to position himself for a shot at one of the sanctioning body titles, but he’s off to a good start. One domestic matchup that could help progress his chances would be against former title challenger Liam Wilson (14-3, 8 KOs), who knocked out Dib with his patented left hook in his last fight on the undercard of super bantamweight contender Sam Goodman’s victory over Chainoi Worawut in Wollongong on July 10.
“Yeah, sure. Why not?” said Balla of the proposed matchup. “I mean, at the end of the day, we’re fighters. So if the right money and circumstances came along, I think we would take any opportunity we can get like that. So yeah, definitely.”
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