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Courtesy New Mexico Boxing/Chris Cozzone

“Biggest thing that was hurt was my pride and my ego,” a tearful Holly Holm stated at the post fight press conference Friday after being knocked out by the new IBA-WBAN welterweight champion Anne-Sophie Mathis.

The match between the two top ranked fighters took place at the Route 66 Casino in Albuquerque, NM. After a solid start for Holm in the first two rounds, Mathis was able to gain momentum in the third and a huge exchange between the two in the fourth. Holm would bounce back in the fifth round with some solid shots.

In the sixth, Mathis was able to knock Holm down, but Holm was saved by the bell. After 1:38 in the seventh, Holm was knocked out cold by Mathis in front of a stunned crowd.

Holm would leave the ring under her own power, with a cut under her left eye. She didn’t blame anybody but herself in the loss.

“I had great training. The corner told be the right things to do. I lost this fight,” Holly Holm expressed tearfully.  ”I told my corner ‘she got me’ after round 5. But I wanted to fight through.”

“I didn’t want my corner to thrown in the towel [after round 6].”

Mathis stated that maybe the ref should have stopped the fight after the knockdown in the 6th round;  but she understood fighting through adversity during this fight.

“Deep inside I didn’t know if (I had it in me) in the early rounds (when Holm was winning),” Mathis pointed out.

There is a rematch clause in the contract, and if there they were to fight again, it would be back at the Route 66 Casino. Both agreed that they were in for a rematch, but don’t expect this to happen right away. Mathis is going to take a small vacation from the sport to enjoy some time with her daughter. There is no word on Holm future plans; but she does have a thriving MMA career in addition to boxing.

When asked what it was like to hold the IBA-WBAN title; Mathis was modest.

“The belt didn’t mean anything. I just wanted to face Holly Holm – the best in the world.”

The fight is going to air in France next week. No word on whether there will be a U.S. broadcast of the match.

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