Zack Mwekassa (born 20 January 1984) is a Congolese

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 ...

and kickboxer who fights in GLORY. He is a former Interim Glory Light Heavyweight Champion As of 1 October 2017, he is ranked the #4 light-heavyweight in the world by CombatPress.com.

Biography

Mwekassa is the son of a chemist and his two brothers are lawyers. In addition to his fighting career, he is trained as a computer network engineer. He and his family were displaced from their native DR Congo during the Second Congo War that began in 1998.

Career

Boxing

Mwekassa began his professional boxing career at the age of 22 in 2006 in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

. In the first 2 years of his career, he amassed an undefeated streak of 8-0 with all but one of the wins coming by way of TKO or KO. He experienced his first losses back-to-back in 2008 and 2009, before going on another 5-0 undefeated streak.

Kickboxing

Mwekassa began training in

in 2003 with elite kickboxers, including the late

Mike Bernardo Michael Shawn Bernardo (28 July 1969 – 14 February 2012) was a South African kickboxer and boxer from Cape Town. Bernardo was known as Beru-chan in Japan, where he has taken part in K-1 World GPs since 1994. He holds notable wins ove ...

. His trainers intended him for the K-1 circuit but the opportunities were scarce, so he moved into professional boxing in 2006. In 2014, Mwekassa resurrected his interest in kickboxing. He saw GLORY on television and approached the company about fighting for them. He soon found himself scheduled to face popular MMA and kickboxing fighter Pat Barry at Glory 16: Denver. In what many considered a shocking upset, he knocked out Barry with an incredible uppercut in the first round. Mwekassa returned to the Glory ring on November 7, 2014 at Glory 18: Oklahoma. He was part of a four-man, one-night tournament to decide the next Light Heavyweight title contender. Mwekassa started in impressive fashion as he knocked out Brian Collette in the semifinals. In the finals, he faced Saulo Cavalari. After a competitive back-and-forth two rounds, Mwekassa lost in the third round due to a head kick. Mwekassa had a rematch with Cavalari for the vacant Glory Light Heavyweight Championship at Bellator MMA & Glory: Dynamite 1 on September 19, 2015. He lost the fight via majority decision. He fought

Mourad Bouzidi Mourad "The Silent Power" Bouzidi ( ar, مراد بوزيدي) (born November 23, 1984) is Dutch– Tunisian heavyweight kickboxer Kickboxing is a combat sport focused on kicking and punching. The combat takes place in a boxing ring, no ...

for the interim Glory Light Heavyweight title. He defeated Bouzidi by a first round TKO. Mwekassa fought the reigning Glory champion

Artem Vakhitov Artyom Olegovich Vakhitov ( rus, Артё́м Оле́гович Вахитов; born April 4, 1991) is a Russian Muay Thai kickboxer who competes in the cruiserweight and heavyweight divisions. Having begun practicing Muay Th ...

during Glory 35, losing by TKO in the third round.

Titles

*WBF International Cruiserweight Title *ABU all Africa heavyweight title *Interim Glory Light Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

Professional boxing record

Kickboxing record (Incomplete)

, - , - bgcolor="#FFBBBB" , 2016-11-05 , , Loss , , align=left,

, , Glory 35: Nice , , Nice, France , , TKO (3 knockdowns) , , 2 , , 2:23 , , 15–4–0 , - ! style=background:white colspan=9 , , - , - bgcolor="#CCFFCC" , 2016-06-25 , , Win , , align=left,

, , Glory 31: Amsterdam , ,

Amsterdam, Netherlands Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban are ...

, , TKO (3 knockdowns) , , 1 , , 1:47 , , 15–3–0 , - ! style=background:white colspan=9 , , - , - bgcolor="#CCFFCC" , 2016-04-16 , , Win , , align=left, Zinedine Hameur-Lain , , Glory 29: Copenhagen , ,

Copenhagen, Denmark Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

, , Decision (unanimous) , , 3 , , 3:00 , , 14–3–0 , - , - bgcolor="#FFBBBB" , 2015-09-19 , , Loss , , align=left, Saulo Cavalari , , Bellator MMA & Glory: Dynamite 1 , , San Jose, California, USA , , Decision (majority) , , 5 , , 3:00 , , 13–3–0 , - ! style=background:white colspan=9 , , - , - bgcolor="#CCFFCC" , 2015-06-05 , , Win , , align=left, Carlos Brooks , , Glory 22: Lille , ,

Lille, France Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France region, the prefecture of the Nord ...

, , KO (left hook) , , 1 , , 1:58 , , 13–2–0 , - , - bgcolor="#FFBBBB" , 2014-11-07 , , Loss , , align=left, Saulo Cavalari , , Glory 18: Oklahoma, Final , , Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA , , KO (high kick) , , 3 , , 0:20 , , 12–2–0 , - ! style=background:white colspan=9 , , - bgcolor="#CCFFCC" , 2014-11-07 , , Win , , align=left, Brian Collette , , Glory 18: Oklahoma, Semi Finals , , Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA , , KO (left hook) , , 2 , , 0:45 , , 12–1–0 , - bgcolor="#CCFFCC" , 2014-05-03 , , Win , , align=left, Pat Barry , , Glory 16: Denver, Reserve Match , , Broomfield, Colorado, USA , , KO (left uppercut) , , 1 , , 2:33 , , 11–1–0 , - , - , colspan=9 , ''Legend'':

References

External links

Profile
at GLORY
Boxing Record
at BoxRec *Michael Stets (2014-05-02) Volcanoes, snake bites and gun shot and gunshot wounds
A conversation with GLORY 16 heavyweight Zack Mwekessa
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mwekassa, Zack 1984 births Living people Cruiserweight boxers Heavyweight boxers Democratic Republic of the Congo male boxers Southpaw boxers African Boxing Union champions Democratic Republic of the Congo male kickboxers Heavyweight kickboxers Glory kickboxers Sportspeople from Kinshasa