Cai Zongju (, born 27 September 1991) is a Chinese former

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 fights are supervised by a regulatory auth ...

. She has held the IBF and IBO female

minimumweight Mini flyweight, also known as paperweight, minimumweight, strawweight, or super atomweight, is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing In professional boxing, boxers in the minimumweight division may weigh no more than . This is a relatively new ...

titles.

Biography

Scouted by the Chinese state sports system, Cai was sent a sports boarding school and trained in freestyle wrestling before switching to kickboxing,

Muay Thai Muay Thai or Muaythai (, , ), sometimes referred to as Thai boxing, the Art of Eight Limbs or the Science of Eight Limbs, is a Thai martial art and full-contact combat sport that uses stand-up striking, sweeps, and various clinch fighting, cl ...

and finally boxing. She made her professional boxing debut in September 2014, defeating Li Yun Ting in

Kunming Kunming is the capital and largest city of the province of Yunnan in China. The political, economic, communications and cultural centre of the province, Kunming is also the seat of the provincial government. During World War II, Kunming was a Ch ...

, China. Cai challenged IBF female

champion Etsuko Tada at the

Cotai Arena The Venetian Arena (previously known as the Cotai Arena) is an indoor arena located on the premises of The Venetian Macao, on the Cotai Strip, in Macau, China. It opened in 2007 and has a seating capacity of 14,000. The facility was known as Ven ...

Macau Macau or Macao is a special administrative regions of China, special administrative region of the People's Republic of China (PRC). With a population of about people and a land area of , it is the most List of countries and dependencies by p ...

on 30 January 2017, winning by split decision. She successfully defended her title via unanimous decision against Gretchen Albaniel at

Macau East Asian Games Dome The East Asian Games Dome (; ) is an indoor sporting arena located in Cotai, Macau, China. Description The venue was one of the major venues of the 2005 East Asian Games and also hosted some events for the 2007 Asian Indoor Games. The Macau East ...

on 28 October 2017, before vacating the championship. Cai became a two-time world champion by defeating Ana Victoria Polo on a unanimous decision for the vacant IBO female minimumweight title in

Haikou Haikou; Chinese postal romanization, formerly romanized as Hoihow is the capital city, capital and most populous city of the Chinese province of Hainan. Haikou city is situated on the northern coast of Hainan, by the mouth of the Nandu River. ...

, China, on 9 June 2018. She then switched to amateur boxing and competed for China at the 2019 Women's World Boxing Championships in Russia, where she was eliminated in the quarter-finals.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zongju, Cai 1991 births Living people Chinese women boxers 21st-century Chinese sportswomen Mini-flyweight boxers International Boxing Federation champions International Boxing Organization champions Martial artists from Shandong World mini-flyweight boxing champions Southpaw boxers