Fighter Profile - Roman “Made In Hell” Karmazin

Karmazin hasn’t entered the ring since he shocked then champion Kassim Ouma, a fighter many felt was destined for greatness, in a punishing performance that resulted in a lopsided unanimous decision win for the IBF junior middleweight championship in Las Vegas on July 14.The win was made sweeter by the fact that Ouma is promoted by Oscar De La Hoya, who sat stunned at ringside while Karmazin dominated one of his top world champions. Karmazin was scheduled to face De La Hoya in 2001 before "The Golden Boy" suffered an injury a month before the match, scuttling the encounter.

While the win against Ouma was the high point of his career, Karmazin can be proud of his many wins on the European stage and his performance on April 2, 2005, against two-time World Boxing Council middleweight champion Keith Holmes in Worcester, Mass. Karmazin stalked Holmes for much of the fight and nearly knocked him out in the 11th and 12th rounds before winning a majority decision.Karmazin claims his "Made in Hell" moniker came from where he comes from—the gritty streets of Russia—where he was brought up poor on the streets of St. Petersburg.