Hanna Gabriel
Quick Facts
Biography
Hanna Gabriel Valle (Alajuela, Costa Rica, January 14, 1983) is a Costa Rican boxer, junior middleweight category, whose career has been highlighted by several international victories.
Gabriel is the daughter of Yolanda Valle Moreno and Lesslie Gabriel Binns, a promising boxer who qualified for the Olympic Games in Moscow 1980, but was unable to attend. She has one brother, Windell, who played football in the Costa Rican Primera División.
She debuted in the Gimnasio Nacional, San Jose, Costa Rica, on November 17, 2007, fighting Nicaraguan Aoska Xochilet Herrera and defeating her by KO.
On December 19, 2009 Gabriel won the World Boxing Organization (WBO) welterweight (147 pounds) World Championship against Argentine Gabriela Zapata by technical knockout during the fourth round. The fight took place in the Dennis Martinez stadium, Managua, Nicaragua and was part of an evening in posthumous tribute to triple world champion Alexis Arguello, El Flaco Explosivo, considered as one of the greatest boxers of all time.
On January 14, 2010, just over a month after that victory, she renounced the title after suffering several blackouts due to her diet. Her correct category is middleweight and for the aforementioned competition she'd had to lose weight by not eating carbs.
On May 29, 2010 Gabriel defeated the Dominican Gardy Pena in Bayamón, Puerto Rico to win the World Boxing Organization (WBO) junior middleweight (154 pounds) World Champion title in a fight that lasted only 11 seconds.
On January 11, 2011, Hanna won by TKO (Technical Knockout) to retain the World Championship Title against her rival, Melisenda Pérez. Her cousin Andrés Calderón was present for the fight and was noted as part of her motivation to win in a following interview.
On March 31, 2011, Hanna fought and defeated Melisenda Pérez once again while defending her World Championship Title during the inauguration acts of Costa Rica's new National Stadium in front of 14.000 attendees. It took Hanna seven rounds to defeat her rival by knockout.
On February 28, 2013 she lost her World Championship title to Oxandia Castillo by a knockout in the 2nd round.