NAME:
Maselino Francis Masoe
BIRTHPLACE:
Apia, Samoa
KNOWN FOR:
A former WBA World Middleweight Champion, who represented his native Samoa at 3 Olympics from 1988-1996 before turning pro in 1997.
SHORT BIO / CAREER HIGHLIGHTS:
All of Masoe’s amateur fights were in American Samoa where he had 86 bouts winning both South Pacific and Oceania titles. He represented his native Samoa 3 times at the Olympics in 1988, 1992 and 1996. It was good friend David Tua, who pushed him to turn professional, and in 1996 Masoe ended his amateur boxing and moved from Samoa to New Zealand in 1997.
Masoe had fought the best that the South Pacific had to offer, and so he took his boxing career to the U.S, fighting three times as part of the under-card bouts to fellow Samoan and friend, David Tua’s boxing fights. Masoe had eight fights in the US, in total, prior to his title shot and had won six of the eight.
In 2004 and at 38 years old, Masoe got a shot at the WBA World Middleweight title when he fought Evans Ashira. After 44 seconds of round two there was a new WBA World Middleweight Champion, Maselino Masoe. Masoe eventually lost the WBA World Middleweight title in 2006 to Felix Strum. He continued boxing through to 2009 with his last opponent being Karoly Balzsay.
After an almost two-year absence, in 2011 Masoe returned to the ring to take part in David Tua’s: Back Yard Brawl, to fight Kashif Mumtaz. In his late-40′s, Masoe’s record stands at: Won: 30 (K.O 28) + Lost: 6 (K.O 4) + Drawn: 0
- Represented Samoa at the Olympics in 1988, 1992 & 1996
- Winner of the WBA World Middleweight Champion title in 2004