Sefer Seferi (born 5 March 1979) is an Albanian professional boxer. He has challenged once for the IBO cruiserweight title in 2019. His older brother Nuri Seferi is also a professional boxer.
Early life Seferi was born in Gostivar, SFR Yugoslavia (now North Macedonia), and is of Albanian heritage. Whilst in Yugoslavia both he and brother Nuri started out wrestling, a sport which their grandfather had competed in professionally. In 1992 the family fled from Gostivar and moved to Burgdorf, Switzerland. Both brothers took up boxing in order to help with integration into Swiss society.
Professional career Seferi made his professional debut in May 2007 in the cruiserweight division. Over the next 9 years he built up a record of 21–0 with 19 knockouts, albeit against low level opposition.
On 17 September 2016, Seferi fought former WBC heavyweight title challenger and future WBA heavyweight champion Manuel Charr for WBA International heavyweight title, with Seferi making the step up to heavyweight for the first time. Charr defeated Seferi by unanimous decision after 10 rounds, ending Seferi's unbeaten record.
On 20 May 2018, Seferi was announced as the first opponent for the return of former unified and lineal heavyweight champion Tyson Fury, with the fight set to take place on 9 June at Manchester Arena. The fight would be Fury's first since he beat Wladimir Klitschko to become champion more than two and half years previously in November 2015. In April 2018, several weeks before Fury's opponent was announced, several press outlets reported Seferi was rumoured to have been chosen, with Seferi himself quoted as saying, "This would make my dream come true. I never thought I'd have the chance to stand against Fury, he is my idol. Fury is a boxing legend of the 21st century. He is tall, has weight and strength but moves easily, and he dethroned Klitschko. Fury is a bear." The fight ended in a disappointing fourth round corner retirement loss for Seferi.
On 21 September 2019, he challenged Kevin Lerena in Gauteng, South Africa for his IBO cruiserweight title, but was unsuccessful and lost via third-round technical knockout.
Professional boxing record
ResultRecordOpponentTypeRound, timeDateLocationNotes33WinMehmet KarakaKO1 (6) 8 Jun 202532Win27–4–1Dickson MwakisopileRTD2 (10) 26 Jun 202431Win26–4–1Pascal Abel NdombaKO2 (8), 2 Mar 202430Loss25–4–1Kem LjungquistRTD3 (12), 5 May 202329Win25–3–1Roman KracikKO3 (12), 18 Jun 202228Win24–3–1Laszlo IvanyiRTD5 (12), 30 Nov 201927Loss23–3–1Kevin LerenaTKO3 (12), 21 Sep 201926Draw23–2–1Firat Arslan1217 Nov 201825Loss23–2Tyson FuryRTD4 (10), 9 Jun 201824Win23–1Laszlo HubertKO2 (8), 16 Mar 201823Win22–1Marcelo Ferreira dos SantosKO5 (12), 1 Apr 201722Loss21–1Manuel CharrUD1017 Sep 201621Win21–0Laszlo HubertTKO2 (12), 23 Apr 201620Win20–0Radenko KovacKO1 (6), 27 Jun 201519Win19–0Sasa DajicKO1 (8), 9 May 201518Win18–0Josef KrivkaTKO1 (6), 16 May 201417Win17–0Josip JalusicTKO1 (6), 26 Apr 201416Win16–0Gyula BozaiUD67 Oct 201215Win15–0Marko AngermannTKO6 (6), 11 Feb 201214Win14–0Josip JalusicTKO6 (8)15 Oct 201113Win13–0Gabor ZsalekTKO2 (12), 24 Sep 201112Win12–0Istvan BobisTKO2 (6)27 Nov 201011Win11–0Viktor SzalaiTKO2 (12), 26 Jun 201010Win10–0Tomislav Juric GrgicTKO4 (6), 26 Dec 20099Win9–0Ferenc ZsalekKO1 (6), 5 Dec 20098Win8–0Gyorgy MihalikTKO3 (6)25 Jul 20097Win7–0Ivica Cukusic4 (6), 18 Apr 20096Win6–0Roman KlucarTKO2 (6), 20 Dec 20085Win5–0Attila MakulaTKO4 (6)28 Nov 20084Win4–0Gyorgy Mihalik6 (6), 28 Jun 20083Win3–0Jonathan PasiTKO5 (6), 3 May 20082Win2–0Drazen Ordulj68 Dec 20071Win1–0Anton Lascek4 (6), 26 May 2007
References
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