Ahmad "Babyface" Kaddour (born January 1, 1982,

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to Lebanon–Syria border, the north and east and Israel to Blue ...

) is a professional boxer.

Personal life

Born in

Tripoli, Lebanon Tripoli ( ar, طرابلس/ ALA-LC: ''Ṭarābulus'', Lebanese Arabic: ''Ṭrablus'') is the largest city in northern Lebanon and the second-largest city in the country. Situated north of the capital Beirut, it is the capital of the North Gove ...

, Kaddour's parents fled the 1982 Lebanon War and Ahmad grew up in Denmark where he got his start in boxing. He has moved back and forth between Europe and the United States since 2003.

Professional boxing career

The beginning

After winning the Danish National Amateur Championship in 2000, and his 2nd Nordic Amateur Championship (1999 and 2000), and much international amateur experience (Dual in England, Finland, Dual in Sweden, Home dual v Sweden, Germany), Kaddour turned pro. Kaddour started his career in Europe, fighting in Denmark, Wales, Hungary, Finland, Italy and Germany including a fight against

Alessio Furlan Alessio Furlan (born 16 October 1976) is an Italian professional boxer. He is a former IBF Mediterranean and Italian junior-middleweight champion.. Retrieved 27 January 2016. Debut and Kaddour fight Furlan boxed to national level as an amateur ...

Braunschweig Braunschweig () or Brunswick ( , from Low German ''Brunswiek'' , Braunschweig dialect: ''Bronswiek'') is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany, north of the Harz Mountains at the farthest navigable point of the river Oker, which connects it to the ...

, Germany. The fight went the full distance with Kaddour winning narrowly on points to inflict Furlan with the first defeat of his professional career. Soon after Kaddour moved to the United States to further his career.

USA and ''The Contender'' Series

In 2003–2004, Kaddour fought 4 out of 5 fights in the USA, the other in Germany, against opponents with winning records and won 3 of the 4 USA fights by stoppage, and was very confident at 18-0 when selected to participate on the reality TV show '' The Contender'', broadcast worldwide, and was placed on the East Coast team. While on the team, he got involved in a feud with

Ishe Smith Ishé Oluwa Kamau Ali Smith ( ; born July 22, 1978) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 2000 to 2019. He held the IBF junior middleweight title in 2013, and is the first boxer from Las Vegas to become a professional world ...

early on and they fought in the 3rd match. At the time Smith was world ranked by all 4 sanctioning organizations and held the USBA, the NABO, and the WBC Continental Americas titles. Kaddour gunned for an early KO but Smith weathered the storm and won by unanimous decision, calling it a "tough fight" afterwards. Kaddour was voted back into the quarterfinals after Juan de la Rosa pulled out – a tactic by

Jesse Brinkley Jesse Lee Brinkley (born November 14, 1976) is an American professional boxer. He challenged once for the IBF Super Middleweight title in 2010. Personal life Brinkley comes from the town of Yerington, Nevada, where he is an active hunter and ...

Anthony Bonsante Anthony "The Bullet" Bonsante (born October 28, 1970) is a professional boxer and competitor on reality TV show The Contender. He also works overnight as a supervisor at a distribution center. Personal life Bonsante is a father of two childre ...

Peter Manfredo Peter Manfredo Jr. (born November 26, 1980) is a former American professional boxer and former IBO middleweight champion. He has challenged twice for upper-level world titles, at middleweight and super middleweight, as well as having won the ...

, and Joey Gilbert designed to get under Smith's skin. The week after Smith lost a split decision to eventual Contender and WBC champion

Sergio Mora Sergio Mora (born December 4, 1980) is an American former professional boxer. He is a former WBC light middleweight champion, and twice challenged for the WBA (Regular) middleweight title. He was the first winner of NBC's '' The Contender'' s ...

, Ahmad was matched with Alfonso Gomez (who went on after the show to challenge for the WBA 147 lb and WBC 154 lb titles) by the same boxers who brought Kaddour back, with the hope that the two tough fighters would battle hard and the winner would be less ready for the semi-finals. Kaddour lost by 1 round on 1 card and 3 rounds on the other 2 cards. The first of the Contender contestants to fight again after the show's finale, Kaddour dominated through an 8-round unanimous decision against Maxell Taylor on July 22, 2005, on

Showtime Showtime or Show Time may refer to: Film * ''Showtime'' (film), a 2002 American action/comedy film * ''Showtime'' (video), a 1995 live concert video by Blur Television Networks and channels * Showtime Networks, a division of Paramount Global w ...

's '' Shobox''. Months later he fought Jesus Felipe Valverde to a draw due to a recurring stamina problem. Two of the judges scored the fight even and the third had Kaddour winning by two rounds. Two months after this, in November 2006, Ahmad had a rematch against Valverde, which he won by split decision on Versus. Valverde, who had gone the distance with future world titlists Carlos Quintana,

Kermit Cintrón Kermit Cintrón (born October 22, 1979) is a Puerto Rican former professional boxer and online boxing writer. He held the IBF welterweight title from 2006 to 2008, and has challenged once for the WBC super welterweight title in 2011. Early and ...

, and

Yuri Foreman Yuri Foreman (born August 5, 1980) is an Israeli professional boxer who held the WBA super welterweight title from 2009 to 2010. He was born in Gomel, Belarus, but currently fights out of Brooklyn, New York. Foreman has also pursued Jewish reli ...

, as well as other top competition, was the busier fighter, but Kaddour was the more effective puncher. Ahmad's fiancé on the ''Contender'' series was Brandy Collins, an American who sponsored him for a fiancé visa. They were married after the Contender and had a son in 2006. Brandy later told him to leave their home in Houston. According to BoxingScene.com and a Houston Tribune article, Ahmad entered the home (still registered in both their names) without her permission in June 2007 and was charged with burglary. He pleaded guilty to Class A Misdemeanor

trespassing Trespass is an area of tort law broadly divided into three groups: trespass to the person, trespass to chattels, and trespass to land. Trespass to the person historically involved six separate trespasses: threats, assault, battery, wounding, ...

and was sentenced to 180 days in Harris County Jail in downtown Houston and Brandy withdrew her sponsorship of him with the INS, causing Kaddour to be transferred to immigration agents and deported to Denmark upon his release from federal custody in December 2007, and Collins obtained a divorce. Kaddour also reportedly had problems breathing through his nose and had surgery.

The Comeback

After an almost 3-year hiatus from boxing working a steady job, Kaddour appeared on the undercard of Danish Super middleweight

Mikkel Kessler Mikkel Kessler (born 1 March 1979) is a Danish former professional boxer who competed from 1998 to 2013. He held multiple super-middleweight world championships, including the WBA title three times between 2004 and 2013, and the WBC title twic ...

's defense of the WBA title at the

Messecenter Herning The MCH Messecenter Herning is an exhibition centre and entertainment complex in Herning, Denmark. The complex is the largest fair and exhibition center in Denmark– beating the Bella Center in Copenhagen. Located on , the complex hosts ma ...

, Denmark, September 12, 2009, winning a unanimous decision over the tough German, Mike Ermis. He returned to the United States and beat Jerome Ellis by unanimous decision on March 26, 2010, then back to Denmark, where on February 11, 2011, he beat Lee Noble on Denmark's TV2 "Fight Night". Kaddour trained with Greg Coverson at the "Detroit Boxing Jungle" before scoring a 5th-round TKO over Vance Garvey at the Motor City Casino on October 6. His next 3 fights were for Sauerland Events on

Viasat Viasat may refer to: *Viasat (American company) (founded 1986) * Viasat (Nordic television service) (founded 1991) * Danish 1st Division, officially Viasat Divisionen, second-highest football league in Denmark * Viasat Cup, 2006 Danish football to ...

's Nordic Fight Night series, with 2012 decisions over Britain's Gary Boulden and Max Maxwell and a September 2013 unanimous decision over Estonia's Aleksei Tsatiasvili.

Future Plans

In August 2012 World Boxing News spoke with both

and Alfonso Gomez about possible rematches with Kaddour, giving him the opportunity to avenge his only 2 losses. Smith ruled a rematch out in the immediate future as he was still trying to attain his first world title shot through

Golden Boy Promotions Golden Boy Promotions, Inc. is an American boxing promotional firm based in Los Angeles, California. The company was established in 2002 by eight-time world champion (in six divisions) Oscar De La Hoya, borrowing his nickname "Golden Boy." Histo ...

(since won a majority decision over ''

The Contender 2 ''The Contender 2'' is a reality television show based on the sport of boxing, but with an element of the (welterweight) competitor's lives and relationships with each other within the show's living quarters, based in Pasadena, California. Filmed ...

'' bronze medalist

Cornelius Bundrage Cornelius Bundrage (born April 25, 1973) is an American professional boxer. He is a two-time former world champion, having held the IBF junior middleweight title twice between 2010 and 2015. In 2006 he was a contestant on season two of the '' ...

for the

IBF The International Boxing Federation (IBF) is one of four major organizations recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) which sanctions professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing Counci ...

154 lb title 2/23/13), but Gomez expressed interest and promised to "beat him worse this time". February 2013, Kaddour stated he holds no ill will toward Smith from their Contender days despite the taunting that led to their old rivalry, but he still very much wants a rematch with Smith. In August 2013, Smith said "Beating Ahmed was right up there" with his best fights before winning the IBF title.

Professional boxing record

, align="center" colspan=8, 27 Wins (10 knockouts, 16 decisions), 2 Losses ( 2 by decision), 1 Draw Ahmad Kaddour's Professional Boxing Record – BoxRec.com
/ref> , - , align="center" style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3", Res. , align="center" style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3", Opponent , align="center" style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3", Opp Rec , align="center" style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3", Type , align="center" style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3", Rd , align="center" style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3", Date , align="center" style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3", Location , align="center" style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3", Notes , -align=center , -align=center , , , align=left, Aleksei Tsatiasvili , , 4-4 , , , 6 , , , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , , , align=left, Max Maxwell , , 16-11-3 , , , 8, , , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , , , align=left, Gary Boulden , , 6-3-2 , , , 8 , , , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , , , align=left, Vance Garvey , , 8-34-6 , , , 5 (8) , , , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , , , align=left, Lee Noble , , 12-16-2 , , , 6 , , , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , , , align=left, Jerome Ellis , , 12-10-2 , , , 8 , , , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , , , align=left, Cagri Ermis , , 6-7-2 , , , 6 , , , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , , , align=left, Jesus Felipe Valverde , , 21-12-1 , , , 8 , , , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , style="background: #B0C4DE", , , align=left, Jesus Felipe Valverde , , 21-12 , , , 8 , , , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , , , align=left, Maxell Taylor , , 12-1 , , , 8 , , , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , , , align=left, Alfonso Gomez , , 11-2-1 , , , 5 , , , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , , , align=left,

, , 14-0 , , , 5 , , , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , , , align=left, Fontaine Cabell , , 22-4-1 , , , 1 (10), , , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , , , align=left, Juan Carlos Garcia , , 7-2 , , , 4 (8), , , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , , , align=left, Lorant Szabo , , 20-14 , , , 6 , , , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , , , align=left, Leo Edwards , , 14-12-2 , , , 1 (8), , , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , , , align=left, Wilmer Mejia , , 13-3-2 , , , 8 , , , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , , , align=left, Alban Mothie , , 9-7-1 , , , 6 , , , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , , , align=left, Louis Mimoune , , 14-16 , , , 3 (6), , , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , , , align=left, Cyril Terrones , , 21-14-1 , , , 6 , , , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , , , align=left, Francesco Cioffi , , 9-23-8 , , , 2 (6), , , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , , , align=left,

, , 3-0-2 , , , 6 , , , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , , , align=left, Rachid Ouafi , , 3-0 , , , 2 (6), , , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , , , align=left, Michel Ventura , , 5-6-1 , , , 6 , , , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , , , align=left, Hamit Riahi , , 8-21-1 , , , 1 , , , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , , , align=left, Florin Oanea , , 4-11-3 , , , 6 , , , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , , , align=left, David White , , 0-4-1 , , , 4 , , , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , , , align=left, Antonio Postigo , , 2-7-1 , , , 4 , , , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , , , align=left, Abdelilah Benabbou , , 0-0-1 , , , 1 , , , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , , , align=left, Attila Kiss , , 0-2 , , , 4 , , , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Kaddour, Ahmad Sportspeople from Beirut 1982 births The Contender (TV series) participants Living people Lebanese male boxers Lebanese emigrants to Denmark Danish male boxers Middleweight boxers