Martha Salazar

Born on February 2, 1970, Martha Salazar is a professional boxer from California and is the WIBF world heavy weight champion. Known to fans and opponents as ‘the Shadow’ Salazar made her professional debut as a female boxer on March 25, 2001, defeating Denis Callahan with a four-round unanimous decision. She followed this up with two back to back wins, beating Carley Presente two times, both by four round unanimous decisions in Tacoma, Washington.

She defeated Kisha Snow in 2002 and in 2003 fought her first Las Vegas fight. This was her first career defeat in the hands of Vonda Ward, who improved to sixteen victories and no losses after this victory.

However, this loss was soon forgotten when Salazar defeated Presente in their third fight with her first KO in the first round. She went after the IBA world heavyweight title on June 11, 2003 and lost by a ten round decision to Vonda Ward in their rematch in Canton, Ohio. This was followed by another defeat by Marsha Valley by a six round split decision in March.

She met Valley again in October in Oakland, where the two fought for the WBE's world super heavyweight title, a title that is only recognized by the amateur women’s boxing association and several other boxing associations. Salazar came out the winner this time, defeating Valley with an eight round unanimous decision.

She later went on to compete for the world heavyweight championship for the second time when she was offered a match with Pamela London for the WIBF vacant world Heavyweight title. She again met London in Guyana in 2004 where she claimed the WIBF world Heavyweight title after beating London with a KO after nine rounds.