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A court in Argentina has sentenced former welterweight world boxing champion Carlos Baldomir to 18 years in prison.

Baldomir, 48, was found guilty of the repeated sexual abuse of a child.

The court heard that the abuse began when the girl was seven years old and lasted for two years.

Baldomir was World Boxing Council champion for 10 months in 2006 .

He defended his title against Arturo Gatti before losing it to Floyd Mayweather in November 2006. The boxer retired in 2014 and became a trainer.

Baldomir had already spent almost three years in pre-trial detention in the province of Santa Fe after his arrest in November 2016.

He denied the charges and his lawyer described the sentence as "very high and excessive". When he arrived in court last week at the start of his trial, he was defiant, raising his fists and showing the middle finger to journalists.

Prosecutors had asked for a sentence of 20 years in prison.