Iman Barlow vs. Sofia Olofsson, Who is the best bantam weight female fighter in the world?
Iman Barlow is a 24-year-old British thaiboxer from Leicester. She started training muaythai when she was only 4 years old. Before becoming a Thai professional, she had nearly 100 junior / amateur matches. She had her first professional match in Thailand at the age of 12. Iman instructs Muaythai classes for both men and women at her father’s gym.
Iman is 165 cm, fights in the -54 kg class and has taken part in 99 matches in total, 91 of which have been won and 30 by way of knock out. She has only 5 losses and 3 draws.
Her credentials are probably longer than any other female fighter in the world. She has been with the best besides Sofia Olofsson, whom she has not yet met. Among the defeated opponents are names such as Therese Gunnarsson, Maria Lobo, Fatima Pinto, Samantha van Doorn, Johanna Rydberg and Teresa Wintermyr.
| Titles and Merits: | |
| 2016 | Muay Thai Grand Prix Bantamweight World Champion, 53.5kg |
| 2016 & 2017 | Lion Fight Super Bantamweight Muay Thai World Champion (1 defence) |
| 2013 & 2016 | Enfusion World Champion, 54kg (4 defences) |
| 2012 – | European Champion |
| 2009 | WMPF World Champion (Adult Title won at age 17) |
| 2009 | WKA Pro-Am World Champion (Adult Title won at age 17) |
| 2009 | Amateur Kickboxing Champion (Adult Title won at age 16) |
| 2009 | Amateur K1 World Champion (Adult Title won at age 16) |
| 2008 | S1 World Champion (Adult Title won at age 16) |
| 2002 | IKF Junior Amateur Full Contact European Middleweight Champion |
| 2002 | IKF Junior Amateur Muay Thai British Featherweight Champion |
| Junior World Champion x2 | |
| Junior European Champion x3 | |
| Junior British Champion x12 | |
Iman Barlow has so far in 2017 had 2 fights, 5 fights in 2016 and 6 fights in 2015. She has won all and comes to Gothenburg with 15 straight wins. In the match against Sofia Olofsson it is difficult to pick a favorite. Iman Barlow has significantly more match experience as a professional and has won titles from most professional organisations. She is very big in the world and, according to those who have followed her career, she appears to be unbeatable.
SOFIA OLOFSSON
The 28-year-old Täbyjejen, Sofia Olofsson, has taken over the Thai world by storm. She started with muaythai when she was 18 years old.
Before that she played handball in Täby’s team. Sofia was put forward for the Swedish Muaythai championships for the first time in 2012 and was then satisfied with a silver.
In 2013 she got back and won SM. A title she has won annually since then.
She has so far had 45 fights of which she has won 39, 19 through knockouts and lost 6. She comes to Gothenburg with 18 straight wins. In 2017 she took part in 5 bouts, 8 bouts in 2016 and 8 bouts in 2015.
| Titles and Merits: | ||
| 2016-11-25 | WMC Bantam weight World Title | Stockholm |
| 2016-09-03 | WMC Bantam weight European Title | Varberg |
| 2017-07-30 | IWGA World Games -54 kg gold medallist | Poland |
| 2016-05-28 | IFMA World Championship gold medallist | Sweden |
| 2015-08-22 | IFMA Royal World Cup gold medallist | Thailand |
| 2014 | IFMA European championship gold medallist | Poland |
| 2012 & 2015 | IFMA Nordic Championship gold medallist | Finland |
| 2013-2017 | SMTF 5 x Swedish Muaythai Champion | Sweden |
| Additional Awards | ||
| 2017 | IWGA Best female boxer 2017 World Games | Poland |
| 2017 | IWGA Athlete of the year 2016 World Games award winner | Denmark |
| 2016 | IFMA World Championship Best female boxer | Jonkoping |
| 2015 | IFMA World Cup – Best female boxer award winner | Bangkok |
Sofia Olofsson took the WMC bantamweight title under Rumble of the Kings Galan 2016 (ROK 18) last year and the match against Iman Barlow becomes her first title defense as well as the toughest match of her career.
