Tshifhiwa Munyai (born 8 May 1985) is a South African professional boxer who challenged for the WBA super-bantamweight title in 2014. He also held the Commonwealth bantamweight title from 2006 to 2007, and the IBO super-bantamweight title in 2011.

Professional career

Early career Munyai spent the early part of his career boxing in the townships of his native country South Africa. He had compiled a record of 10-0-1 by the time he left the country to box abroad for the first time as a professional.

His big opportunity came when he was given the opportunity in June 2006 to fight England's Martin Power for the vacant Commonwealth bantamweight title. Power came into the contest with an undefeated record of 19-0 and was the holder of the British bantamweight title at the time. Munyai stunned the boxing world by beating Power with a 9th-round TKO in London's York Hall.BBC Sport | Power stopped in Commonwealth bid

Commonwealth champion Following his victory Munyai returned to the York Hall to defend against former Commonwealth Flyweight champion Lee Haskins. He won the contest in the 6th round when referee Micky Vann stepped in stop the contest after Haskins came off worst after being caught with a number of body shots.BBC Sport | Marvellous Munyai crushes Haskins In January 2007 Munyai once again met Martin Power this time at the Goresbrook Leisure Center in Dagenham. This time the victory was emphatic with Munyai winning four one sided rounds before Power was pulled by his corner in the fourth. Power claimed in an interview with the BBC that an elbow injury had hampered his performance saying "I picked up an elbow injury after the second round and it was restricting me. It was hard enough to fight him with two hands, but with just one I was struggling. I wanted to carry on but my corner wouldn't let me." A confident Munyai said simply "I knew from the first fight that I could beat him and, if anything, this fight was even easier for me."BBC Sport | Munyai halts Power for a second time

WBA Inter-Continental champion Following his victories Munyai fought twice more in the UK and moved up to featherweight with 8 round wins over Harry Ramogoadi and Abdul Tebazalwa before returning to South Africa as a bantamweight. In February 2008 he challenged the Argentinian Julio David Roque Ler for the WBA Inter-continental bantamweight title in Bloemfontein and came out a unanimous points winner. In July 2008, Munyai returned to the UK and to the Goresbrook Leisure Centre the scene of his second victory over Power. Returning featherweight he suffered his first defeat as a professional losing to the Ghanaian boxer Osumana Akaba over 8 rounds. After the fight Akaba responded to comments that he had just been there to make up the numbers saying “I know that people didn't rate my record and thought they were going to use me as a stepping stone, just as a journeyman. I knew going into the fight that he'd beaten a lot of good people, but they were afraid of him.”

Munyai returned to action back in South Africa in November 2008 and defeated fellow countryman Bongani Mahangu in a return to bantamweight. The fight was the first defence of Munyai's WBA intercontinental title and ended with a split decision win over Maglangu who at the time was also the WBA Pan African bantamweight title holder. Munyai next boxed in July 2009 and in a non-title fight defeated Galley Cudjoe with a first round stoppage in Johannesburg.

He made the second defence of his intercontinental title on 27 February 2010 defeating the Philippines Daniel Ferreras at the Kempton Park in Gauteng over 12 rounds.Sowetan | Munyai gets WBA title shot On 28 July 2010 he stopped Ghanaian Prosper Ankrah in the 3rd round of another non-title fight at the Emperor's Palace and then just a week later on 8 August 2010 found himself in the frame for a trip to Mexico City and a shot at the vacant WBC Silver bantamweight against Mexico's Cristian Esquivel. Despite the shot at the title coming at short notice Munyai traveled to Mexico and went the full 12 round distance although ended up losing for the second time in his career.

IBO super-bantamweight champion On 26 March 2011 Munyai fought Philippine boxer Danilo Pena at the Kempton Park winning on all the judges scorecards to win the vacant IBO super bantamweight championship.

Professional boxing record

ResultRecordOpponentTypeRound, timeDateLocationNotes41Win Sanele MsimangKO4 (12)Oct 31, 2021 40Win33–6–1 Khaya BusakweTKO9 (12), May 28, 2021 39Win32–6–1 Siphosethu MvulaUD12Mar 15, 2020 38Win31–6–1 Kabelo BikitshaPTS8Dec 27, 2019 37Win30–6–1 Osgood KayuniTKO4 (8)Mar 31, 2019 36Win29–6–1 Crispin MoliatiKO4 (8)Dec 28, 2018 35Loss28–6–1 Rofhiwa MaemuTKO7 (10)Dec 29, 2017 34Loss28–5–1 Azinga FuzileTKO3 (10), Oct 21, 2017 33Win28–4–1 Samuel KapapuTKO3 (8)Apr 28, 2017 32Win27–4–1 Oscar ChaukeKO10 (12), Sep 12, 2015 31Win26–4–1 Reynaldo CajinaTKO9 (10)Jun 13, 2015 30Win25–4–1 Giorgi GachechiladzeKO4 (6), Apr 18, 2015 29Loss24–4–1 Paulus AmbundaSD12Dec 20, 2014 28Loss24–3–1 Scott QuiggTKO2 (12), Apr 19, 2014 27Win24–2–1 Phumzile MatyhilaTKO8 (10)Sep 21, 2013 26Win23–2–1 Emmanuel QuarteyTKO11 (12), Jun 1, 2013 25Win22–2–1 Oscar Chauke UD12Dec 8, 2012 24Win21–2–1 Danilo PenaUD12Mar 26, 2011 23Loss20–2–1 Christian EsquivelUD12Aug 7, 2010 22Win20–1–1 Prosper AnkrahKO3 (10), Jul 28, 2010 21Win19–1–1 Daniel FerrerasUD12Feb 27, 2010 20Win18–1–1 Galley CudjoeTKO1 (10), Jul 31, 2009 19Win17–1–1 Bongani Mahlangu12Nov 14, 2008 18Loss16–1–1 Osumanu AkabaPTS8Jul 18, 2008 17Win16–0–1 Julio David Roque LerUD12Feb 23, 2008 16Win15–0–1 Abdul TebazalwaPTS8Nov 30, 2007 15Win14–0–1 Harry RamogoadiPTS8Jun 15, 2007 14Win13–0–1 Martin Power4 (12), Jan 26, 2007 13Win12–0–1 Lee HaskinsTKO6 (12), Oct 6, 2006 12Win11–0–1 Martin PowerTKO9 (12), Jun 6, 2006 11Win10–0–1 Lungisa DlaminiUD6May 26, 2006 10Win9–0–1 Nkosinathi TshinavhePTS10Feb 11, 2006 9Win8–0–1 Goodman MavusoTKO2 (6)Oct 7, 2005 8Win7–0–1 Nkosana VaalteinPTS6Jul 29, 2005 7Win6–0–1 Clement SomersTKO1 (6)Jul 3, 2005 6Win5–0–1 Kingsley NdouvhadaTKO1 (6)May 27, 2005 5Draw4–0–1 Peter Ndou4Feb 4, 2005 4Win4–0 Fikile Mlonyeni3 (4)Jul 17, 2004 3Win3–0 Tladi ModibeliUD4Jun 16, 2004 2Win2–0 Tladi Modibeli4Feb 7, 2004 1Win1–0 Zukile Toko2 (4)Dec 6, 2003

Titles in boxing

Commonwealth Bantamweight title WBA Inter-Continental Bantamweight title WBA Pan African Bantamweight title

References