Deejay Kriel (born June 20, 1995) is a South African
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 ...
who held the
IBF mini-flyweight
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 ...
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 Peacock Theater, formerly Nokia Theatre and Microsoft Theater, is a music and theater venue at L.A. Live in the Downtown Los Angeles, downtown core of Los Angeles, California, United States. The theater auditorium seats 7,100 and holds one ...
in
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
, United States. It was his first fight outside of
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...
. 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 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, 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 List of indoor arenas, indoor arena located in the Victory Park, Dallas, Victory Park neighborhood in downtown Dallas, Texas. The arena serves as the home of the Dallas Stars of the National ...
in
Dallas, Texas
Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...
. 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
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
21st-century South African sportsmen