Sunday, November 15, 2009

Jewish boxer takes title

A Jewish boxer who is studying to become a rabbi captured the world super welterweight championship boxing title.

Yuri Foreman of Brooklyn defeated by judge's decision sitting champion Daniel Santos of Puerto Rico in Las Vegas Saturday night to win the World Boxing Associations 154-pound championship.

With his victory, Foreman, 29, became the first Israeli fighter to win a world boxing championship.

The fighter spent the 25 hours before the matchup observing the Sabbath in his hotel room. Israeli politicians and diplomats traveled from Israel to see the fight, according to the New York Times.

Foreman was born in the city of Gomel in present-day Belarus, then part of the Soviet Union, and moved to Israel at 9. Foreman relocated to Brooklyn in 2001 to pursue his boxing career.

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