By Ruslan Chikov
Rola El-Halabi (11-0, 6KOs) is set to return on January 12 in Ulm, Germany. She will fight Lucia Morelli for the vacant WIBA Women's International Boxing Association lightweight title. Last year she was shot at close range by her stepfather and it almost left her paralyzed.
She was set to fight Morelli on April 1, 2011. El-Halabi was waiting in the dressing room when her stepfather and former manager Roy El-Halabi shot her in her hand, knee and both feet, angry that his management contract was terminated in January 2011. He also shot two security guards before being arrested.
In November a judge sentenced her stepfather to six years in prison. El-Halabi spent two months in a wheelchair and had to undergo nine operations. Doctors initially doubted she could ever walk normally again. The physical result of the incident is reduced to 12 scars all over her body.
