Edis Tatli (born 13 August 1987) is a Finnish
professional boxer
Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional bouts are supervised by a regulatory autho ...
. He has held the
European
European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to:
In general
* ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe
** Ethnic groups in Europe
** Demographics of Europe
** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe ...
lightweight
Lightweight is a weight class in combat sports and rowing.
Boxing
Professional boxing
The lightweight division is over 130 pounds (59 kilograms) and up to 135 pounds (61.2 kilograms) weight class in the sport of boxing.
Notable lightweight ...
title twice between 2015 and 2018, and has challenged once for the
WBA lightweight title in 2014.
Early life
Tatli was born in
Prizren, Yugoslavia, in present-day
Kosovo
Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a partially recognised state in Southeast Euro ...
, to a
Turkish father and
Albanian mother. He moved to Finland at the age of four and was raised in
Hämeenlinna
Hämeenlinna (; sv, Tavastehus; krl, Hämienlinna; la, Tavastum or ''Croneburgum'') is a city and municipality of about inhabitants in the heart of the historical province of Tavastia and the modern province of Kanta-Häme in the south of F ...
. Having first trained in
karate as a youth, at age fourteen he started boxing and won his first Finnish Amateur Championship title in 2004.
Professional career
Tatli turned professional in 2007. In December 2012 he won the vacant
EBU-EU lightweight title against Paolo Gassani and in March 2013 Tatli beat Felix Lora for the
WBA Inter-Continental lightweight title. He successfully defended the title against
Mzonke Fana
Mzonke Fana (born 29 October 1973) is a professional boxer. He held the IBF super featherweight title twice between 2007 and 2010, and challenged twice for other world titles.
Professional career Super featherweight
Known as ''"The Rose of Kh ...
in December 2013 and against Antonio De Vitis in May 2014.
In July 2014 it was announced that Tatli will challenge Richard Abril for the
WBA List of lightweight boxing champions, lightweight world champion title on September 20 in Helsinki. Tatli is the second Finnish boxer fighting for the World Championship title. Olli Mäki lost a List of featherweight boxing champions, featherweight championship match to Davey Moore (boxer, born 1933), Davey Moore in August 1962 at the Helsinki Olympic Stadium. The fight between Abril and Tatli is promoted by Olli's son Pekka Mäki of P3 Boxing Oy. He lost the fight by majority decision
He was supposed to fight the
EBU lightweight champion Emiliano Marsili on 25 April. Marsili got injured and vacated the belt. Tatli fought Yvan Mendy instead for the EBU lightweight title, and won the fight by unanimous decision.
Edis Tatli was scheduled to face two time lightweight challenger Kevin Mitchell (boxer), Kevin Mitchell on 18 March 2016 in Finland, but on 10 February, Mitchell announced his retirement and withdrawal from the fight. Tatli instead faced Massimiliano Ballisai and won the fight by unanimous decision.
On 13 August 2016, Tatli defended his European title against Christian Morales by unanimous decision.
On 6 May, 2017, Tatli was slated to defend his EBU lightweight belt against the highly rated Francesco Patera in his native Finland. The bout would start slow, with both boxers coming up to speed as the fight progressed. Patera was the busier man, but Tatli scored the powershots. The fight was ruled a split-decision win for Patera, with the judges scoring the fight 112-116, 113-115 and 116-112 for Patera.
In the immediate rematch, the fight was fast and entertaining from the beginning. Both fighters traded throughout the fight, with Tatli being the one whose shots visibly affected his opponent. Tatli was aggressive for most of the time, and even though he didn't manage to score a knockdown, all judges scored the fight 119-109 for the Finn, allowing him to retain the EBU lightweight title.
On 20 April, 2019, Tatli fought rising prospect Teofimo Lopez, who was ranked #4 by the WBA, WBC and IBF and #5 by the WBO at lightweight. As many expected, Lopez ended the fight inside the distance with a vicious body shot in the fifth round, from which Tatli could not get up.
Tatli returned to the ring against Berman Sánchez on 10 August 2019, winning the bout via unanimous decision.
He was scheduled to fight for the EBU lightweight title against Gianluca Ceglia in May 2020, but the bout was postponed to take place on 8 August 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In turn, the bout was postponed twice due to Tatli's shoulder surgery and the recovery and is now expected to take place on 14 August 2021.
Other appearances
In Autumn 2018, Tatli won ''Tanssii tähtien kanssa, Dancing with the Stars'', the Finnish version of the dance contest ''Strictly Come Dancing''.
Professional boxing record
References
External links
*
Edis Tatli - Profile, News Archive & Current Rankingsa
Box.Live
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tatli, Edis
1987 births
Living people
Lightweight boxers
Sportspeople from Prizren
European Boxing Union champions
Finnish male boxers
Kosovan emigrants to Finland
Immigrants to Finland
Yugoslav emigrants
Light-welterweight boxers
Finnish people of Albanian descent
Finnish people of Turkish descent