Former title challenger Viviane Obenauf was sentenced to 16 years in jail after being discovered responsible of homicide.
Obenauf beforehand stood trial for the violent act, greater than two years after she was positioned below arrest in reference to the October 2020 demise of her 61-year-old husband, who was solely recognized as “Thomas” as a consequence of Swiss safety regulation. The incident in query passed off six days previous to the boxer’s thirty fourth birthday, with a police investigation reporting that she struck her sufferer 19 occasions within the head with a baseball bat at their house in Interlaken, Switzerland.
Obenauf, now 36, was arrested in early December 2020 in reference to the brutal homicide. The previous boxer maintained her innocence all through her arrest and the trial. Prosecutors have been capable of present proof past an inexpensive doubt, together with blood samples obtained from clothes worn by each Obenauf and the sufferer.
In line with Swiss publication Blick, it was recommended throughout the trial that the couple was at odds over information of Obenauf’s being pregnant. The lukewarm response from Thomas to Obenauf carrying a child by synthetic insemination was believed to be the motive for the boxer’s mindless and brutal act.
Obenauf as soon as represented her native Brazil within the Olympics as a gymnast earlier than turning to boxing. She fought as a professional from 2014 by 2019, having relocated to Switzerland from Brazil upon retiring with a document of 14-6 (9KOs). She and Thomas—who owned Des Alpes restaurant in Lucerne—wed in January 2020 in Switzerland. Obenauf labored within the meals and beverage business after her retirement from boxing, although the game remained part of her life as she opened her personal fitness center later that yr.
A previous report from Blick on the time of Obenauf’s arrest in reference to this crime, revealed that she was beforehand arrested in a home dispute. The previous contender was apprehended in a London nightclub after punching a male patron in retaliation to allegedly being groped throughout what was her thirtieth birthday celebration in October 2016. Obenauf was finally launched.
The identical publication additionally quoted an ex-boyfriend of Obenauf whom alleged that the previous boxer has a historical past of violence. The ex-boyfriend—a weightlifter on the time of their relationship—claimed {that a} drunken dispute between the 2 resulted in his being punched a number of occasions and his slapping her, although failing to specify or affirm the order of occasions.
Efforts to have Obenauf arrested and convicted in reference to that incident ended shortly after the passing of her mom.
Throughout her professional profession, Obenauf challenged one of the best of her technology. Her largest achievement got here in August 2018 when she scored a surprising 4th spherical knockout of 2012 Olympian and then-unbeaten Natasha Jonas, who has since unified three main titles within the 154-pound junior middleweight division.
The win got here only one combat after a December 2017 sixth-round knockout defeat to Chantelle Cameron, who was 4-0 on the time however who has since emerged because the regining undisputed junior welterweight champion. Obenauf additionally beforehand suffered defeats to Katie Taylor—on the time in her second professional combat and effectively earlier than turning into undisputed light-weight queen—and Ewa Brodnicka prior the Polish boxer would declare the WBO junior light-weight title.
Obenauf dropped a December 2018 unanimous choice to still-reigning IBF 130-pound titlist Maiva Hamadouche in her lone profession title bid. She claimed a confidence-restoring six-round win in her adopted hometown of Interlaken in April 2019. The win was her final as a professional, which got here seven months earlier than a November 2019 lopsided factors loss to Terri Harper, who was unbeaten and would seize the WBC junior light-weight title one combat later.
Jake Donovan is a senior author for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox