Deejay Kriel (born June 20, 1995) is a South African professional boxer who held the IBF mini-flyweight 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 in Los Angeles, California, United States. It was his first fight outside of South Africa. 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 in Dallas, Texas. 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
ResultRecordOpponentTypeRound, timeDateLocationNotes21WinJafet AmukwaUD1015 Jul 202320Win17–2–1Thembelani NxosheMD89 Dec 202219Loss16–2–1Felix AlvaradoTKO10 (12), 2 Jan 202118Win16–1–1Jesus Fernando AguirreKO1 (4), 30 Nov 201917Win15–1–1Carlos Licona12 (12), 16 Feb 201916Win14–1–1Xolisa MagushaUD123 Mar 201815Win13–1–1Thembelani Okolo821 Oct 201714Win12–1–1Dexter AlimentoUD1223 Jul 201713Win11–1–1Xolisa MagushaUD823 Apr 201712Win10–1–1Nyelisani ThagambegaTKO5 (10)22 Oct 201611Win9–1–1Nyelisani ThagambegaTKO7 (8), 24 Jul 201610Draw8–1–1Ayanda Ndulani624 Apr 20169Win8–1Morabedi Khotle67 Feb 20168Win7–1Thabo MoabiTKO3 (6)1 Dec 20157Win6–1Edward DisloanePTS44 Oct 20156Win5–1Thabo MoabiTKO5 (6)30 Jul 20155Win4–1Clever MdingiTKO3 (4)13 Apr 20154Win3–1Donald Khetsane3 (4)3 Dec 20143Win2–1Clever MdingiPTS428 Aug 20142Win1–1Colin TloubatlaPTS426 Jun 20141Loss0–1Colin Tloubatla410 Apr 2014
See also List of mini-flyweight boxing champions
References
External links