Moruti Mthalane (born 6 October 1982) is a South African former professional boxer. He is a two-time IBF flyweight champion, having held the title between 2009 and 2021. He also held the IBO flyweight title from 2014 to 2017.
Professional career
First IBF flyweight title reign
On 5 July 2009, Mthalane's promoter Branco Milenkovic revealed that Mthalane was designated by the IBF as the mandatory challenger for
Nonito Donaire IBF flyweight title. Before the terms of the fight could be negotiated however, Donaire vacated the title and moved up to super flyweight. Accordingly, the IBF ordered a fight between
Eric Ortiz and Julio Cesar Miranda to determine who would fight Mthalane for the vacant title,
with Miranda winning by a first-round knockout. The fight for the vacant world title was scheduled for 20 November 2009, and was held at the Wembley Indoor Arena in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Mthalane won the fight by unanimous decision, with scores of 117-111, 117-111 and 118-111. He became the third South African fighter in 2009 to win a major IBF title.
On 1 March 2010, Zolani Tete was designated as the IBF flyweight mandatory title challenger after defeating Richard Garcia by unanimous decision in an IBF flyweight title eliminator.
Mthalane made his second IBF title defense against Johnriel Casimero on 26 March 2011 at the Nasrec Indoor Arena in Johannesburg, South Africa. Mthalane won the fight by a fifth-round technical knockout. The bout was high in both pace and volume from the beginning, with Casimero fading as the fight went on, before he stopped defending himself effectively in the fifth round.
Mthalane was scheduled to make his third title defense against Andrea Sarritzu on 28 October 2011. The bout took place at the PalaRockfeller in Cagliari, Italy, which was his first fight outside of the South African Republic. Mthalane stopped the 35-year-old Sardinian by a seventh-round technical knockout, after Sarritzu's corner threw in the towel.
On 1 June 2012, the IBF ordered Mthalane to defend his title against Ricardo Nunez, giving the two camps a 30-day negotiation period to come to terms.
Mthalane was stripped of the IBF title in January 2014, after failing to come to terms with mandatory challenger Amnat Ruenroeng.
IBO flyweight champion
Mthalane vs. Oliva
18 months after his last fight, Mthalane was scheduled to face Jether Oliva for the vacant IBO flyweight title on 15 March 2014.
He won the fight by split decision, with two judges awarding him a 116-112 and 117-112 scorecard respectively, while the third judge scored the fight 115-113 for Oliva.
Mthalane vs. Zaleta
Mthalane made his first IBO flyweight title defense against Odilon Zaleta on 26 October 2014 at the Olive Convention Centre in Durban, South Africa. He won the fight by unanimous decision, with scores of 116-112, 117-111 and 117-111.
Mthalane was scheduled to defend his IBO flyweight title for the second time against Renz Rosia on 15 December 2015, at the Olive Convention Centre in Durban, South Africa.
He won the fight by a ninth-round stoppage, as Rosia refused to come out of his corner for the tenth round.
Mthalane faced
Genisis Libranza in his third IBO title defense on 28 April 2017, following a near-17-month hiatus from boxing.
He won the fight by a fourth-round knockout, stopping Libranza with a body shot.
Mthalane vs. Quaye
Mthalane faced Isaac Quaye in a ten-round non-title bout on 24 September 2017.
He won the fight by a second-round technical knockout.
This was his last fight as an IBO champion, as he was vacated the title on 20 October 2017 to fight in an IBF sanctioned bout next.
Second IBF flyweight title reign
It was announced on 17 October 2017, that the #10 ranked IBF flyweight contender Mthalane would face
Ardin Diale for the vacant IBF International flyweight title.
Mthalane won the fight by a second-round technical knockout. Following this victory, his promoter Tshele Kometsi began negotiating with the IBF for an IBF title eliminator bout.
Mthalane vs. Waseem
A title eliminator bout proved unnecessary, as the reigning IBF flyweight champion
Donnie Nietes opted to vacate the title to move up in weight. Mthalane was instead scheduled to face
Muhammad Waseem at the
Axiata Arena in
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The fight was originally meant to be an eliminator before champion Donnie Nietes vacated the belt.
Mthalane won the fight by unanimous decision, with scores of 114-113, 114-113 and 116-110. He faced most difficulty in the sixth round, after being knocked down by Waseem, but managed to recover sufficiently to edge out the bout in his favor.
Mthalane vs. Sakamoto
Mthalane made his first IBF title defense of his second reign against Masahiro Sakamoto on 31 December 2018 at the
Wynn Palace in Macau. The #14 ranked IBF flyweight contender Sakamoto came in as a heavy underdog,
which proved true in the fight, as Mthalane won the fight by a tenth-round technical knockout.
He expressed his desire to unify with the new WBC flyweight champion Charlie Edwards, saying "At the moment I’m looking for the new champion Charlie Edwards. I would be very happy to get a chance to unify against him".
Mthalane vs. Kuroda
Mthalane made his second title defense against Masayuki Kuroda, who was at the time ranked as the ninth best flyweight in the world by
The Ring, on 13 May 2019 at the
Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan.
He won the fight by unanimous decision, with scores of 116-112, 116-112, and 117-111.
Mthalane vs. Yaegashi
Mthalane was scheduled to make his third title defense against the former WBC,
Ring, and lineal
flyweight champion
Akira Yaegashi on 23 December 2019 at the
Yokohama Arena in Yokohama, Japan.
Yaegashi was ranked #14 by the IBF at flyweight.
He won the fight by a ninth-round technical knockout, with CompuBox recording 1200 punches thrown. Mthalane began to take over from the seventh round onward, finally stopping his opponent with a flurry near the end of the ninth round.
Mthalane vs. Edwards
Mthalane was scheduled to make his fourth title defense against
Sunny Edwards on 30 April 2021, 16 months from his last fight, at the York Hall in London, England.
Despite Mthalane being able to close the gap in the latter part of the fight, Edwards just built up too big of a lead in the first half of the fight. Mthalane lost the fight by unanimous decision, with scores of 118–111, 120–108 and 115–113.
Professional boxing record
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| 43 | Win | 40–3 | Diomel Diocos | PTS | 10 | 2 Oct 2022 | | |
| 42 | Loss | 39–3 | Sunny Edwards | UD | 12 | 30 Apr 2021 | | |
| 41 | Win | 39–2 | Akira Yaegashi | TKO | 9 (12), | 23 Dec 2019 | | |
| 40 | Win | 38–2 | Masayuki Kuroda | UD | 12 | 13 May 2019 | | |
| 39 | Win | 37–2 | Masahiro Sakamoto | TKO | 10 (12) | 31 Dec 2018 | | |
| 38 | Win | 36–2 | Muhammad Waseem | UD | 12 | 15 Jul 2018 | | |
| 37 | Win | 35–2 | Ardin Diale | TKO | 2 (12) | 27 Oct 2017 | | |
| 36 | Win | 34–2 | Isaac Quaye | TKO | 2 (10) | 24 Sep 2017 | | |
| 35 | Win | 33–2 | Genisis Libranza | KO | 4 (12) | 28 Apr 2017 | | |
| 34 | Win | 32–2 | Renz Rosia | TKO | 9 (12) | 15 Dec 2015 | | |
| 33 | Win | 31–2 | Odilon Zaleta | UD | 12 | 26 Oct 2014 | | |
| 32 | Win | 30–2 | Jether Oliva | | 12 | 15 Mar 2014 | | |
| 31 | Win | 29–2 | Ricardo Núñez | TKO | 8 (12), | 1 Sep 2012 | | |
| 30 | Win | 28–2 | Andrea Sarritzu | TKO | 7 (12) | 28 Oct 2011 | | |
| 29 | Win | 27–2 | Johnriel Casimero | TKO | 5 (12), | 26 Mar 2011 | | |
| 28 | Win | 26–2 | Zolani Tete | TKO | 5 (12), | 1 Sep 2010 | | |
| 27 | Win | 25–2 | Julio César Miranda | UD | 12 | 20 Nov 2009 | | |
| 26 | Win | 24–2 | Lehlohonolo Ramagole | KO | 3 (12), | 18 Apr 2009 | | |
| 25 | Loss | 23–2 | Nonito Donaire | TKO | 6 (12), | 1 Nov 2008 | | |
| 24 | Win | 23–1 | Hussein Hussein | | 12 | 5 Jul 2008 | | |
| 23 | Win | 22–1 | Joel Kunene | TKO | 5 (12) | 12 Apr 2008 | | |
| 22 | Win | 21–1 | Apol Suico | TKO | 1 (12), | 29 Sep 2007 | | |
| 21 | Win | 20–1 | Xola Sifama | TKO | 5 (12), | 16 Jun 2007 | | |
| 20 | Win | 19–1 | Zamumzi Xola | TKO | 3 (12), | 1 Dec 2006 | | |
| 19 | Win | 18–1 | Akhona Aliva | KO | 6 (12), | 11 Aug 2006 | | |
| 18 | Win | 17–1 | Mbulelo Nyanda | TKO | 4 (8) | 3 Sep 2005 | | |
| 17 | Win | 16–1 | Thembelani Maphuma | KO | 6 (8) | 28 May 2005 | | |
| 16 | Win | 15–1 | Siphiwe Khumalo | PTS | 6 | 12 Mar 2005 | | |
| 15 | Loss | 14–1 | Nkqubela Gwazela | TKO | 10 (12), | 24 Sep 2004 | | |
| 14 | Win | 14–0 | Vincent Mogotsi | TKO | 7 (8), | 26 Jun 2004 | | |
| 13 | Win | 13–0 | Joel Kunene | PTS | 6 | 8 May 2004 | | |
| 12 | Win | 12–0 | Thabo Tshehla | TKO | 3 (4) | 24 Feb 2004 | | |
| 11 | Win | 11–0 | Piet Nkate | TKO | 3 (6) | 28 Nov 2003 | | |
| 10 | Win | 10–0 | Siphiwe Khumalo | TKO | 5 (6) | 30 Sep 2003 | | |
| 9 | Win | 9–0 | Mpumezi Mazantsi | KO | 1 (4) | 15 Aug 2003 | | |
| 8 | Win | 8–0 | Nelson Sebobiso | PTS | 6 | 25 Jun 2003 | | |
| 7 | Win | 7–0 | Joel Kunene | PTS | 8 | 7 Dec 2002 | | |
| 6 | Win | 6–0 | Nyiko Zitha | TKO | 3 (4) | 13 Jul 2002 | | |
| 5 | Win | 5–0 | Sibonelo Gumede | PTS | 4 | 14 Dec 2001 | | |
| 4 | Win | 4–0 | Wiseman Mnguni | | 3 (4) | 8 Jul 2001 | | |
| 3 | Win | 3–0 | Sibongakonke Mchunu | PTS | 4 | 27 Apr 2001 | | |
| 2 | Win | 2–0 | Ishmael Mtshali | | 4 | 21 Jan 2001 | | |
| 1 | Win | 1–0 | Wiseman Mnguni | | 3 (4) | 10 Dec 2000 | | |
See also
-
List of flyweight boxing champions
External links
