Malik Zinad ( ar, مالك زناد; born 19 November 1993) is a Libyan professional boxer who has held the

WBC WBC may stand for: Business *Westinghouse Broadcasting Company, a former large India broadcaster now folded into CBS *Westpac (New Delhi Exchange code: WBC), a multinational Financial services company *Wholesale Broadband Connect, BT Wholesale's ...

Mediterranean WBA Continental Champion, IBO Continental Champion

light heavyweight Light heavyweight, also referred to as junior cruiserweight or light cruiserweight, is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional In professional boxing, the division is above and up to , falling between super middleweight and cruise ...

title.

Early life

Zinad was born on 19 November 1993 in

Tripoli, Libya Tripoli (; ar, طرابلس الغرب, translit= Ṭarābulus al-Gharb , translation=Western Tripoli) is the capital and largest city of Libya, with a population of about 1.1 million people in 2019. It is located in the northwest of Libya o ...

. His father, a former boxer himself, began training him in the sport when he was five, though they practised in the basement of their home due to

Muammar Gaddafi Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi, . Due to the lack of standardization of transcribing written and regionally pronounced Arabic, Gaddafi's name has been romanized in various ways. A 1986 column by ''The Straight Dope'' lists 32 spellin ...

's ban on boxing. However, Zinad left his country in 2013 due to the unrest following Gaddafi's death, eventually settling in the island nation of

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

after his father encouraged him to follow his dreams. Zinad had about 25 bouts in his amateur career, eight of which took place in Malta.

Professional career

Zinad made his professional debut on 30 October 2015, defeating Bogoljub Borišev via second-round

technical knockout A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, muay thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving striking, a ...

(TKO) in Attard, Malta. After signing former world champion Donny Lalonde as his manager, he captured the vacant WBF International

title in his sixth fight, stopping Attila Palko on 24 September 2016. He defended the belt three months later, knocking out Beka Aduashvili in the German town of Bielefeld to retain. Zinad won the light heavyweight title on 25 March 2017, stopping Bosnian journeyman Aleksandar Kuvac in just over a minute. He then upset

Jermaine Asare Jermaine Robert Asare (born 22 September 1983) is a Welsh professional boxer. He represented Great Britain at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, winning a bronze medal. He turned professional in 2013 and unsuccessfully challenged for the Wels ...

two months later, knocking him out in the first round of their fight at the Motorpoint Arena in

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

. Zinad made his London debut on 12 October 2019, dominating Michal Gazdik in two rounds at

York Hall The York Hall, officially known as York Hall Leisure Centre, is a multi-purpose indoor arena and leisure complex in Bethnal Green, London, and is situated on Old Ford Road. The building opened in 1929 with a capacity of 1,200 and is now an inter ...

. After compiling a 16–0 record, Zinad beat Russian prospect Timur Nikarkhoev in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

on 28 March 2021 to collect the vacant IBO Inter-Continental light heavyweight title. In his next fight that August, he scored a third-round TKO over Almir Škrijelj for the vacant

Mediterranean light heavyweight title.

Professional boxing record

Notes

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Zinad, Malik Living people 1993 births Libyan male boxers Light-heavyweight boxers Sportspeople from Tripoli, Libya