By the
summer of 2011 Rances had improved to 12-0 (10),
and deemed ready for his first championship
fight.
So on
July 29, at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas in Las
Vegas, he was matched with Mexican-born Gerardo
Robles (14-9) from Kansas City for the vacant
UBO International Lightweight title.
On the
same card, promoted by Warriors Boxing and
televised by ESPN, fought such notables as
Sergey Kovalev, Lamont Peterson, Badou Jack and
Edison Miranda.
Robles,
who had won his last five outings going in, was
not one to just come and lay down, and made a
good fight of it. But Barthelemy was the better
man, and won a deserved, if not thrilling,
unanimous decision.
Five
months later, also televised by ESPN, Barthelemy
successfully defended the UBO title, scoring
another unanimous decision over undefeated Hylon
Williams Jr. (15-0).
In 2014
he won the IBF World Super Featherweight title
with a victory over Argenis Mendez (21-2-1), and
the following year he beat Denis Shafikov
(36-1-1) to capture the IBF World Lightweight
crown.
Last time
out, in April of 2019, he drew with Robert
Easter Jr. (21-1) for the vacant WBA and IBO
World Lightweight titles, and, now 34 years old,
his current record stands at 27-1-1 (14).
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