Miguel Isaac Chilemba Zuze (born 17 May 1987) is a Malawian professional boxer who held the IBO super-middleweight title from 2010 to 2011, and challenged for the WBA (Undisputed), IBF, and WBO light-heavyweight titles in 2016.
Early professional career Chilemba made his professional debut in Gauteng, South Africa on 19 October 2005 defeating Thamsanga Tindleni in the 2nd round of a 4 round contest. He compiled a run of eight successive victories before dropping a points decision to Willbeforce Shihepo on 5 July 2007 at the Emperor's Palace in Gauteng. The reverse to Shihepo was immediately rectified in his next fight, again in Gauteng, on 21 November 2007 defeating Shihepo on points over six rounds. Two more fights followed in 2008 resulting in wins over David Basajjamivule and Chamunorowa Gonorenda before Chilemba got the opportunity to fight for the African Boxing Unions super middleweight championship on 13 September 2008. The fight for the title once again took place at the Emperor's Palace and pitched Chilemba against the experienced former Commonwealth champion Charles Adamu with Chilemba winning the fight with a 12 round decision to lift the title.
Championship fights In his next fight Chilemba stepped up to light heavyweight and challenged former victim David Basajjamivule for the WBO version of the light heavyweight title. The fight at the Graceland Casino in Mpumalanga took place on 13 June 2009 and resulted in a second victory over the Ugandan.Ngasa times | Malawi's Chilemba wins WBO African title Chilemba followed this up on 31 October 2009 with another title win, this time defeating French based Congolese fighter Doudou Ngumbu to lift the African Boxing Union's light heavyweight version as well as the WBC International title.Ngasa Times | Malawi's Chilemba wins WBC light heavyweight title A first defence of the WBC title was due to have been made on 26 March 2010 with the Malawian travelling to England to meet former British champion Tony Oakey on a Ricky Hatton promoted bill. The fight however never materialised after Oakey lost an English title fight to fellow countryman Danny McIntosh. Following Oakey, the next opponent lined up for Chilemba was to be Rupert van Aswegen but he then chose to retire from the sport altogether leaving the Malawian once again without an opponent.
IBO World Title Following the pullout, Chilemba moved back down at super middleweight for the chance to fight undefeated Australian Michael Bolling on 19 June 2010 for the vacant IBO world title. The fight at the Emperor's Palace, resulted in another win for the Malawian and was his fourth title fight in a row in which a different title had been on the line.Africa News | Malawian beats Aussie to claim IBO belt Chilemba made the first defence of his IBO belt on 6 November 2010 returning to the Emperors Palace and retaining with a gruelling draw against touted South African Thomas Oosthuizen despite being the underdog going into the fight. On 25 February 2011 Chilemba travelled to Tulsa, Oklahoma to fight in the United States for the first time. His opponent, the unbeaten Russian Maxim Vlasov had won all 19 of his previous fights and managed to knock Chilemba down twice in the 8th round. Despite this the Malawian was able to win the fight over the 10 round distance.
Chilemba vs. Meroro Chilemba returned to South Africa for his next fight against Namibian boxer Vikapita Meroro and retained the WBC International light heavyweight title on 26 March 2011 with a unanimous points win.
Chilemba vs. Bivol On August 4, 2018, Chilemba challenged Dmitry Bivol for his WBA light heavyweight belt. Bivol landed 34.5% of his punches compared to Chiilemba's 15.5% and all three judges saw Bivol as the clear winner, scoring the fight 120-108, 120-108 and 112-112 for the champion.
Professional boxing record
ResultRecordOpponentTypeRound, timeDateLocationNotes40LossAleksei PapinKO2 (8), 24 May 202439Win27–9–3Mbaruku KheriKO2 (10), 16 Sep 202238Loss26–9–3Osleys IglesiasUD1227 May 202237Loss26–8–3Pavel SilyaginUD1226 Nov 202136Draw26–7–3Fedor ChudinovSD1020 Feb 202135Win26–7–2Alexander KubichUD813 Dec 201934Loss25–7–2Maxim VlasovUD1220 Jul 201933Loss25–6–2Dmitry BivolUD124 Aug 201832Win25–5–2Blake CaparelloUD1216 Mar 201831Loss24–5–2Oleksandr Gvozdyk8 (10), 19 Nov 201630Loss24–4–2Sergey KovalevUD1211 Jul 201629Loss24–3–2Eleider Álvarez1228 Nov 201528Win24–2–2Vasily LepikhinUD1014 Mar 201527Win23–2–2Cory CummingsTKO7 (10), 2 Aug 201426Win22–2–2Denis GrachevUD1015 Mar 201425Win21–2–2Michael GbengaUD816 Nov 201324Loss20–2–2Tony BellewUD1225 May 201323Draw20–1–2Tony BellewSD1230 Mar 201322Win20–1–1Rayco SaundersUD829 Sep 201221Win19–1–1Edison MirandaUD103 Feb 201220Win18–1–1Jameson BosticKO2 (8), 1 Oct 201119Win17–1–1Vikapita MeroroUD1026 Mar 201118Win16–1–1Maxim VlasovUD1025 Feb 201117Draw15–1–1Thomas Oosthuizen126 Nov 201016Win15–1Michael BollingUD1219 Jun 201015Win14–1Doudou NgumbuUD1231 Oct 200914Win13–1David BasajjamivuleUD1213 Jun 200913Win12–1Charles Adamu1213 Sep 200812Win11–1Chamunorwa GonorendaKO4 (6)15 Jul 200811Win10–1David BasajjamivuleTKO8 (8)29 Apr 200810Win9–1Willbeforce ShihepoPTS621 Nov 20079Loss8–1Willbeforce ShihepoPTS65 Jul 20078Win8–0Godfrey NeneTKO2 (6)12 May 20077Win7–0Charles ChisambaPTS627 Mar 20076Win6–0Emmanuel GwalaTKO4 (6)1 Dec 20065Win5–0Ronnie LateganTKO2 (4)17 Nov 20064Win4–0Mark Sloane411 Jul 20063Win3–0Sithembiso Ngcobo1 (4), 25 May 20062Win2–0Oupa MahlanguTKO4 (4)10 Feb 20061Win1–0Thamsanqa Tindleni4 (4)19 Oct 2005
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