Catherine Phiri is a Zambian professional boxer. She held the WBC female bantamweight title from 2016 to 2017 and challenged twice for the WBC female super-bantamweight title in 2017 and 2019.
Boxing career Phiri debuted on 25 July 2011 when she defeated Zambian boxer Esther Chalwe at the National Sports Development Centre in Lusaka.Catherine Phiri on Boxrec.com She won the WBC female bantamweight title by defeating reigning champion Yazmín Rivas on 30 January 2016 in Mexico. She became the first Zambian to win a WBC title.
Her 13th fight was on 27 August 2016 at Lusaka's Government Complex where she retained her WBC title with a first-round stoppage victory against Gabisile Tshabalala.Catherine Phiri’s camp slams’ Tshabalala LusakaTimes, 28 August 2016 She lost the title in her next fight, suffering the second defeat of her career against Mariana Juárez on 1 April 2017, in Mexico City, Mexico.
On 17 December 2016, she was honoured by the World Boxing Council for being the first boxer from Africa to win the WBC bantamweight title. On 2 November 2017, she was defeated by Fatuma Zarika in a WBC super-bantamweight title fight, losing by unanimous decision with the judges' scorecards reading 97–92, 98–91 and 99–92. Zarika was the defending champion.
A rematch between Phiri and Zarika took place on 3 March 2019 at Kenyatta International Convention Centre, Nairobi, Kenya with the WBC title again on the line. Zarika won by unanimous decision.
Phiri faced Zimbabwe's Kudakwashe Chiwandire for the vacant WBC female interim super-bantamweight title on 26 February 2022, at the Government Complex in Lusaka, Zambia, losing by split decision.
Phiri was suspended from all boxing activities for two years in October 2022, after being found to have used a banned substance. She tested positive for the diuretic furosemide after her loss to Chiwandire in February. Phiri admitted her guilt and her ban was backdated to start from May 2022.
Awards Catherine Phiri was also given an academic scholarship from the Justina Mutale Foundations Scholarship Programme on 9 June 2016. She is expected to go and study Sports Management at the European School of Economics in Italy. President of Zambia Edgar Chagwa Lungu honoured Catherine Phiri with the Zambia insignia of meritorious achievement award for her accomplishment on Africa Freedom Day, 25 May 2017.
Professional boxing record
ResultRecordOpponentTypeRound, timeDateLocationNotes21Loss16–5Kudakwashe ChiwandireSD1026 Feb 202220Loss16–4Fatuma ZarikaUD1023 Mar 201919Win16–3Asandiswa Nxokwana TKO2 (8), 13 Oct 201818Win15–3Halima Yazidu KO2 (8), 28 Apr 201817Win14–3Rukia Nasirite TKO2 (6), 30 Dec 201716Loss13–3Fatuma ZarikaUD102 Dec 201715Win13–2Flora Machela KO1 (6), 2 Jul 201714Loss12–2Mariana JuárezUD101 Apr 201713Win12–1Gabisile TshabalalaTKO1 (10), 27 Aug 201612Win11–1Yazmín Rivas6 (10), 30 Jan 201611Loss10–1Christina McMahon 102 May 201510Win10–0Bukiwe Nonina TKO2 (10)22 Nov 20149Win9–0Joyce Chileshe PTS43 May 20148Win8–0Pia Mazelanik KO3 (10), 15 Mar 20147Win7–0Hawa Daku 8 (10)28 Sep 20136Win6–0Leslie Domingo 2 (10)23 Mar 20135Win5–0Nathalie ForgetUD1020 Oct 20124Win4–0Hamisa Willy4 (6), 31 Mar 20123Win3–0Diana Makumbe UD429 Oct 20112Win2–0Cicilia Pitiseni 43 Sep 20111Win1–0Esther Chalwe 428 May 2011
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