Tshifhiwa Munyai
| Tshifhiwa Munyai | |
|---|---|
| Statistics | |
| Real name | Tshifhiwa Munyai |
| Nickname(s) | Atomic Spider |
| Rated at | Featherweight |
| Nationality |
 South Africa |
| Born | 8 May 1985 South Africa |
| Stance | Orthodox |
| Boxing record | |
| Total fights | 32 |
| Wins | 27 |
| Wins by KO | 15 |
| Losses | 4 |
| Draws | 1 |
Tshifhiwa Munyai is a professional boxer from South Africa who has competed in the bantamweight and featherweight divisions. He is a former WBA Inter-Continental bantamweight champion and a former Commonwealth bantamweight champion.
Munyai spent the early part of his career boxing in the townships of his native country South Africa. He had compiled a record of 10-0-1 by the time he left the country to box abroad for the first time as a professional.
His big opportunity came when he was given the opportunity in June 2006 to fight England's Martin Power for the vacant Commonwealth bantamweight title. Power came into the contest with an undefeated record of 19-0 and was the holder of the British bantamweight title at the time. Munyai stunned the boxing world by beating Power with a 9th-round TKO in London's York Hall.
Following his victory Munyai returned to the York Hall to defend against former Commonwealth Flyweight champion Lee Haskins. He won the contest in the 6th round when referee Micky Vann stepped in stop the contest after Haskins came off worst after being caught with a number of body shots. In January 2007 Munyai once again met Martin Power this time at the Goresbrook Leisure Center in Dagenham. This time the victory was emphatic with Munyai winning four one sided rounds before Power was pulled by his corner in the fourth. Power claimed in an interview with the BBC that an elbow injury had hampered his performance saying "I picked up an elbow injury after the second round and it was restricting me. It was hard enough to fight him with two hands, but with just one I was struggling. I wanted to carry on but my corner wouldn't let me." A confident Munyai said simply "I knew from the first fight that I could beat him and, if anything, this fight was even easier for me."
Following his victories Munyai fought twice more in the UK and moved up to featherweight with 8 round wins over Harry Ramogoadi and Abdul Tebazalwa before returning to South Africa as a bantamweight. In February 2008 he challenged the Argentinian Julio David Roque Ler for the WBA Inter-continental bantamweight title in Bloemfontein and came out a unanimous points winner. In July 2008 Munyai returned to the UK and to the Goresbrook Leisure Centre the scene of his second victory over Power. Returning featherweight he suffered his first defeat as a professional losing to the Ghanaian boxer Osumana Akaba over 8 rounds. After the fight Akaba responded to comments that he had just been there to make up the numbers saying “I know that people didn't rate my record and thought they were going to use me as a stepping stone, just as a journeyman. I knew going into the fight that he'd beaten a lot of good people, but they were afraid of him.”
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