In a sport where you hit each other in an attempt to render your opponent unconscious a nickname can mean a lot, with things such as "Destroyer" being perfectly apt and telling you what a fighter is. Sadly when you're named after a food item things can get a little bit ridiculous and that's what we had in the case of Orhan Delibas (25-2, 10).
Delibas was a former amateur stand out who was seen by many as one of the greatest ever Dutch based amateurs of all time. Although born in Turkey, Delibas forged his reputation in the Netherlands, a country he competed for as an amateur.
As an amateur Delibas was genuinely very good. He claimed a Silver medal at the 1992 Olympic games (beating future professional professional world champions Raul "El Diamante" and Robin Reid along the way) and a Silver medal at the European Championships (beating future professional world champion Bert Schenk along the way).
Following the 1995 World Military Championships Delibas turned professional and ran up a solid record winning his first 22 bouts and claimed the BeNeLux Light Middleweight title before suffering his first loss, a TKO8 loss to Mamadou Thiam in a bout for the European Light Middleweight title.
Sadly for Delibas he found his level just below European level and was again beaten in a European title contest 2 fights later, this time by Roman Karmazin in 3 rounds.
After losing to Karmazin, Delibas appeared to retire from the ring with a record of 23-2 (9) though surprisingly returned to the ring in 2008 for 2 more bouts (both wins) over very limited oppositions.
Sadly for Delibas, despite his amateur credentials and his solid, if unspectacular record, we were never going to include him on weird boxing for anything but his ridiculous nickname of "The Turkish Delight". A nickname that simply made it impossible to take Delibas too seriously despite his very credible skill level.
For those unaware of what Turkish delight's are, they are a type of gel based candy that are sold through out Europe, The British Commonwealth and even in Brazil (though is rarely found in the US). Whilst the nickname may have worked were it not for the candy, it's hard to take a fighter named after sweets too serious, just imagine a fighter's nickname like "Reeses Pieces" or "Chocolate Buttons"...
Delibas was a former amateur stand out who was seen by many as one of the greatest ever Dutch based amateurs of all time. Although born in Turkey, Delibas forged his reputation in the Netherlands, a country he competed for as an amateur.
As an amateur Delibas was genuinely very good. He claimed a Silver medal at the 1992 Olympic games (beating future professional professional world champions Raul "El Diamante" and Robin Reid along the way) and a Silver medal at the European Championships (beating future professional world champion Bert Schenk along the way).
Following the 1995 World Military Championships Delibas turned professional and ran up a solid record winning his first 22 bouts and claimed the BeNeLux Light Middleweight title before suffering his first loss, a TKO8 loss to Mamadou Thiam in a bout for the European Light Middleweight title.
Sadly for Delibas he found his level just below European level and was again beaten in a European title contest 2 fights later, this time by Roman Karmazin in 3 rounds.
After losing to Karmazin, Delibas appeared to retire from the ring with a record of 23-2 (9) though surprisingly returned to the ring in 2008 for 2 more bouts (both wins) over very limited oppositions.
Sadly for Delibas, despite his amateur credentials and his solid, if unspectacular record, we were never going to include him on weird boxing for anything but his ridiculous nickname of "The Turkish Delight". A nickname that simply made it impossible to take Delibas too seriously despite his very credible skill level.
For those unaware of what Turkish delight's are, they are a type of gel based candy that are sold through out Europe, The British Commonwealth and even in Brazil (though is rarely found in the US). Whilst the nickname may have worked were it not for the candy, it's hard to take a fighter named after sweets too serious, just imagine a fighter's nickname like "Reeses Pieces" or "Chocolate Buttons"...
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