Deejay Kriel (born June 20, 1995) is a South African
professional boxer who held the
IBF
The International Boxing Federation (IBF) is one of four major organizations recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) which sanctions professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing Counci ...
mini-flyweight title in 2019.
Professional career
Early career
Kriel made his professional debut against Colin Tloubatla on April 10, 2014. He lost the fight on points. Kriel rebounded from this loss by amassing a 11-1-1 record, before fighting Dexter Alimento for the vacant WBC International mini-flyweight title on July 23, 2017. He won the fight by unanimous decision. He fought twice more before he challenged for a world title, with one of this fights being a WBC International title defense.
IBF mini flyweight champion
Kriel was scheduled to challenge the reigning
IBF mini-flyweight champion
Carlos Licona on February 16, 2019 at the
Microsoft Theater
The Microsoft Theater (formerly Nokia Theatre L.A. Live) is a music and theater venue in downtown Los Angeles, California, at L.A. Live. The theater auditorium seats 7,100 and holds one of the largest indoor stages in the United States.
History ...
in
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
, United States. It was his first fight outside of
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
. He came into the fight as an underdog. Despite this, Kriel won the fight by a late twelfth-round knockout. Coming into the last round, Kriel was down on two of the judges scorecards who had Licona up 108-101, while the third judge had Kriel at 105-104. Kriel managed to knock his opponent out with a left hook, with just 44 seconds left in the bout. During the post-fight interview, Kriel stated his desire to fight the WBC strawweight champion
Wanheng Menayothin
Chayaphon Moonsri ( th, ชยพล มูลศรี; formerly: ''Saengsuree Moonsri''; แสงสุรีย์ มูลศรี; born 27 October 1985), known as Wanheng Menayothin (วันเฮง มีนะโยธิน) or Wanh ...
in a title unification fight.
Kriel was scheduled to face Jesus Fernando Aguirre in a non-title bout on November 30, 2019. He made quick work of his opponent, knocking Aguirre out in the first round. Kriel was afterwards ordered by the IBF to defend his title for a purse of $16 250. Unsatisfied with this, he opted to vacate the IBF title and move up to junior flyweight.
Move to light flyweight
Kriel was scheduled to challenge the reigning
IBF junior-flyweight champion
Felix Alvarado
Felix Pedro Alvarado Sanchez (born 15 February 1989) is a Nicaraguan professional boxer who held the IBF light flyweight title from 2018 to 2022. He previously challenged for the IBF flyweight title in 2022, the WBA (Regular) light flyweight ...
, in the latter's second title defense, on January 2, 2021 at the
American Airlines Center
The American Airlines Center (AAC) is a multi-purpose indoor arena located in the Victory Park neighborhood in downtown Dallas, Texas. The arena serves as the home of the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association and the Dallas S ...
in
Dallas, Texas
Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County w ...
. Alvardo knocked Kriel down in both the second and fourth rounds, before finishing him by technical knockout in the tenth round.
Kriel faced Thembelani Nxoshe on 9 December 2022, following a 23-month long absence from the sport. He won the fight by majority decision, with scores of 78–74, 77–75 and 76–76.
Professional boxing record
See also
*
List of mini-flyweight boxing champions
This is a list of world mini-flyweight boxing champions (also known as minimumweight or strawweight), as recognized by the four major sanctioning organizations in boxing:
* The World Boxing Association (WBA), established in 1921 as the National B ...
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kriel, Deejay
1995 births
Living people
Boxers from Johannesburg
South African male boxers
Mini-flyweight boxers
World mini-flyweight boxing champions
International Boxing Federation champions