Moussa Gholam (born 10 June 1995) is a Moroccan

professional boxer Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional fights are supervised by a regulatory auth ...

who has held the

WBO The World Boxing Organization (WBO) is an organization which sanctions professional boxing bouts. It is recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) as one of the four major world championship groups, alongside the World Boxin ...

Inter-Continental

super featherweight Super featherweight, also known as junior lightweight, is a weight division in professional boxing, contested between and . The super featherweight division was established by the New York Walker Law in 1920, although first founded by the New ...

title since 2019.

Early life

Gholam was born on 10 June 1995 in

Larache Larache () is a city in northwestern Morocco. It is on the Moroccan coast, where the Loukkos River meets the Atlantic Ocean. Larache is one of the most important cities of the Tanger-Tetouan-Al Hoceima region. Many civilisations and cultures have ...

, Morocco, where he grew up with his grandmother. He moved to

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

at the age of seven to join his parents, who had been living and working in

Ceuta Ceuta (, , ; ) is an Autonomous communities of Spain#Autonomous cities, autonomous city of Spain on the North African coast. Bordered by Morocco, it lies along the boundary between the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. Ceuta is one of th ...

before that. Growing up in a tough neighborhood where he suffered from bullying, he began boxing to learn how to defend himself. He has been with Gallego Prada club since he started when he was eleven years old.

Professional career

Gholam made his professional debut on 1 April 2016, defeating Reynaldo Maravillas via

unanimous decision A unanimous decision (UD) is a winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts and other sports involving striking and submission in which all three judges agree on which fighte ...

(UD) at the Pabellón de la Vall d'Hebron in

. After a 10–0 start, he picked up the vacant WBC Youth Silver

title on 2 February 2019 by beating

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

n prospect Alex Rat (8–3–2, 3 KO), who did not answer the bell for the sixth round. Less than ten months later, on 30 November, he faced Thai veteran

Chonlatarn Piriyapinyo Suriya Tatakhun, who boxes as Chonlatarn Piriyapinyo (nickname: ''klang'' (กลาง); born in Amnat Charoen District (presently: Amnat Charoen Province), Ubon Ratchathani Province, Thailand) is a Thai professional boxer who fights at feather ...

(61–5, 41 KO) for the vacant

Inter-Continental super featherweight title, stopping him by

technical knockout A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving striking, a ...

(TKO) in the tenth round of their 10-round bout for his second title belt. This entered him into the top 15 of the WBO rankings, placing him at #12. He was named the best foreign boxer in Spain of 2019 by Espabox.com after winning all five of his fights and two titles. He was scheduled to face

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

n rival Otto Gámez in March 2020, but the event was cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

Professional boxing record

Personal life

Although he has lived in Spain continuously since he was a kid, he has not been able to become a Spanish citizen. Growing up playing

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

in the streets of Barcelona, Gholam is naturally a fan of

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly known as FC Barcelona and colloquially as Barça (), is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of ...

and he has cited

Ronaldinho Ronaldo de Assis Moreira (born 21 March 1980), commonly known as Ronaldinho Gaúcho () or simply Ronaldinho, is a Brazilian former professional Association football, footballer who played as an attacking midfielder or left winger. Widely reg ...

as his favorite footballer. Apart from boxing he also works as an

ambulance An ambulance is a medically-equipped vehicle used to transport patients to treatment facilities, such as hospitals. Typically, out-of-hospital medical care is provided to the patient during the transport. Ambulances are used to respond to ...

driver.

References

External links

*
Gallego Prada bio
(in Spanish) {{DEFAULTSORT:Gholam, Moussa Living people 1995 births Moroccan male boxers Super-featherweight boxers Moroccan emigrants to Spain People from Larache Sportspeople from Tanger-Tetouan-Al Hoceima Boxers from Barcelona Sportspeople from L'Hospitalet de Llobregat 21st-century Moroccan sportsmen