Choijiljavyn "Choi" Tseveenpürev ( mn, Чойжилжавын Цэвээнпүрэв; born 6 October 1971 in

Ulan Bator Ulaanbaatar (; mn, Улаанбаатар, , "Red Hero"), previously anglicized as Ulan Bator, is the capital and most populous city of Mongolia. It is the coldest capital city in the world, on average. The municipality is located in north ce ...

Mongolia Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, ...

) is a Mongolian

featherweight Featherweight is a weight class in the combat sports of boxing, kickboxing, mixed martial arts, and Greco-Roman wrestling. Boxing Professional boxing History A featherweight boxer weighs in at a limit of . In the early days of the division, t ...

boxer Boxer most commonly refers to: * Boxer (boxing), a competitor in the sport of boxing *Boxer (dog), a breed of dog Boxer or boxers may also refer to: Animal kingdom * Boxer crab * Boxer shrimp, a small group of decapod crustaceans * Boxer snipe ee ...

based in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. Tseveenpurev won the

Prizefighter series The Prizefighter series was a professional boxing tournament created by boxing promoter Barry Hearn and aired on Sky Sports. The format has an initial eight fighters, who compete in four quarter-finals of rounds (number and length of the rounds i ...

Featherweights tournament on 29 October 2011, the same month that he passed 40. This followed a ten-round victory on 18 June 2011 over former IBO featherweight champion Jackson Asiku – a fight nominated for the British boxing fight of the year.

Career

Tseveenpurev, known as the Mongol Warrior, began his career with ten-rounders as an away fighter in South Korea and Thailand fighting legendary former and future world champion

Veeraphol Sahaprom Veerapol Sahaprom or Veerapol Nakornloung ( th, วีระพล สหพรหม, วีระพล นครหลวงโปรโมชั่น; born November 16, 1968) is one of the best boxers from Thailand a former WBC and WBA Ban ...

in only his third contest. This is one of only 7 defeats, all by points verdicts. His boxing career saw him travel to Finland, Russia, South Korea, Thailand, Indonesia and China before settling in the UK in 2000. Tseveenpurev is currently trained by promoter Spencer Fearon, having previously worked with Jack Doughty and Lee Wilkins. On 6 June 2008, he was awarded with the title of 'State Honoured Athlete' by the

n President,

Nambaryn Enkhbayar Nambaryn Enkhbayar ( mn, Намбарын Энхбаяр; born 1 June 1958) is a Mongolian politician. He served as the Prime Minister of Mongolia from 2000 to 2004, as Speaker of the Parliament from 2004 to 2005, and as President of Mongoli ...

. He won the vacant World Boxing Foundation (WBFo) title by knocking out David Kiilu in the third round. Tseveenpurev defended the title twice before becoming the

WBU The World Boxing Union (WBU) was a boxing sanctioning body. The original WBU was founded in January 1995 by IBF European representative, boxing journalist, actor and former holder of the title of Britain's heaviest man Jon W. Robinson. It sa ...

Featherweight champion with a destructive win over

Derry Mathews Derry Mathews (born 23 September 1983) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 2003 to 2017. He held the WBA interim lightweight title in 2015 and has challenged, twice, for lightweight world championships, the WBO title in 2 ...

Bolton Bolton (, locally ) is a large town in Greater Manchester in North West England, formerly a part of Lancashire. A former mill town, Bolton has been a production centre for textiles since Flemish weavers settled in the area in the 14th ...

on 5 April 2008,. During the bout, Tseveenpurev was described as "Britain's answer to

Manny Pacquiao Emmanuel Dapidran Pacquiao Sr. (; born December17, 1978) is a Filipino politician and former professional boxer. Nicknamed "PacMan", he is regarded as one of the greatest professional boxers of all time. He served as a Senator of the Phil ...

" by boxing commentator John Rawling. With his unrelenting style and similar trademark ponytail, Choi has also been compared to Hall of Fame boxer

Kostya Tszyu Konstantin Borisovich "Kostya" Tszyu (; rus, Константин Борисович «Костя» Цзю, , kənstɐnʲˈtʲin bɐˈrisəvʲɪtɕ ˈkosʲtʲə ˈdzːʲu; born 19 September 1969) is a Russian Australian former professional b ...

. Tseveenpurev himself lists Tszyu as his idol, along with

Roberto Durán Roberto Durán Samaniego (born June 16, 1951) is a Panamanian former professional boxer who competed from 1968 to 2001. He held world championships in four weight classes: lightweight, welterweight, light middleweight and middleweight, as w ...

. There followed a 15-month period of inactivity described as "criminal" by UK publication Boxing News which led him to briefly to retire, before returning to the ring with Spencer Fearon's Hard Knocks Boxing Promotions in June 2009. In his first fight under the Hard Knocks banner, Tseveenpurev beat Lubos Prehradnik in three rounds on 11 July, his country's Independence Day in front of many of his countrymen who were earlier at London's Naadam celebrations. The crowd was described by boxing pundit

Steve Bunce Steve Bunce (born 3 December 1962 in Camden Town, London), nicknamed "Buncey", is a British freelance television and radio sport pundit and newspaper columnist. Career He has regularly appeared as a pundit on the BBC sports programme '' Insi ...

as the most passionate in British boxing for 30 years. As of March 23, 2012, he holds the WBC International Silver Title belt, after knocking out Bastien Rozeaux in the eighth round, to claim the vacant WBC Silver Featherweight title In May 2012

Daud Yordan Daud "Cino" Yordan (born 10 June 1987) is an Indonesian professional boxer and former IBO Featherweight and Lightweight Champion. Early life and family Yordan was born in Ketapang, West Borneo, Indonesia on 10 June 1987. He is the fifth child o ...

claimed the IBO Featherweight World Championship title. Tseveenpurev lost by a decision to Yordan in a championship fight on November 9, 2012, in a decision.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tseveenpurev, Choi 1971 births Living people Sportspeople from Ulaanbaatar Prizefighter contestants Mongolian emigrants to the United Kingdom Mongolian male boxers Featherweight boxers 21st-century Mongolian people 20th-century Mongolian people