# Deejay Kriel

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

| 21 fights | 18 wins | 2 losses |
| By knockout | 8 | 1 |
| By decision | 10 | 1 |
| Draws | 1 | 1 |
| No. | Result | Record | Opponent | Type | Round, time | Date | Location | Notes |
| 21 | Win | 18–2–1 | Jafet Amukwa | UD | 10 | 15 Jul 2023 | Booysens Boxing Club, Johannesburg, South Africa | |
| 20 | Win | 17–2–1 | Thembelani Nxoshe | MD | 8 | 9 Dec 2022 | The Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa | |
| 19 | Loss | 16–2–1 | Felix Alvarado | TKO | 10 (12), 1:39 | 2 Jan 2021 | American Airlines Center, Dallas, Texas, U.S. | For IBF junior-flyweight title |
| 18 | Win | 16–1–1 | Jesus Fernando Aguirre | KO | 1 (4), 1:54 | 30 Nov 2019 | Big Punch Arena, Tijuana, Mexico | |
| 17 | Win | 15–1–1 | Carlos Licona | KO | 12 (12), 2:16 | 16 Feb 2019 | Microsoft Theater, Los Angeles, California, US | Won IBF mini-flyweight title |
| 16 | Win | 14–1–1 | Xolisa Magusha | UD | 12 | 3 Mar 2018 | Emperors Palace, Kempton Park, South Africa | Retained WBC International mini-flyweight title |
| 15 | Win | 13–1–1 | Thembelani Okolo | MD | 8 | 21 Oct 2017 | Emperors Palace, Kempton Park, South Africa | |
| 14 | Win | 12–1–1 | Dexter Alimento | UD | 12 | 23 Jul 2017 | Emperors Palace, Kempton Park, South Africa | Won vacant WBC International mini-flyweight title |
| 13 | Win | 11–1–1 | Xolisa Magusha | UD | 8 | 23 Apr 2017 | Emperors Palace, Kempton Park, South Africa | |
| 12 | Win | 10–1–1 | Nyelisani Thagambega | TKO | 5 (10) | 22 Oct 2016 | Emperors Palace, Kempton Park, South Africa | |
| 11 | Win | 9–1–1 | Nyelisani Thagambega | TKO | 7 (8), 2:31 | 24 Jul 2016 | Emperors Palace, Kempton Park, South Africa | |
| 10 | Draw | 8–1–1 | Ayanda Ndulani | SD | 6 | 24 Apr 2016 | Emperors Palace, Kempton Park, South Africa | |
| 9 | Win | 8–1 | Morabedi Khotle | UD | 6 | 7 Feb 2016 | Emperors Palace, Kempton Park, South Africa | |
| 8 | Win | 7–1 | Thabo Moabi | TKO | 3 (6) | 1 Dec 2015 | Emperors Palace, Kempton Park, South Africa | |
| 7 | Win | 6–1 | Edward Disloane | PTS | 4 | 4 Oct 2015 | Emperors Palace, Kempton Park, South Africa | |
| 6 | Win | 5–1 | Thabo Moabi | TKO | 5 (6) | 30 Jul 2015 | Emperors Palace, Kempton Park, South Africa | |
| 5 | Win | 4–1 | Clever Mdingi | TKO | 3 (4) | 13 Apr 2015 | Emperors Palace, Kempton Park, South Africa | |
| 4 | Win | 3–1 | Donald Khetsane | TKO | 3 (4) | 3 Dec 2014 | Emperors Palace, Kempton Park, South Africa | |
| 3 | Win | 2–1 | Clever Mdingi | PTS | 4 | 28 Aug 2014 | Presleys Restaurant, Boksburg, South Africa | |
| 2 | Win | 1–1 | Colin Tloubatla | PTS | 4 | 26 Jun 2014 | Presleys Restaurant, Boksburg, South Africa | |
| 1 | Loss | 0–1 | Colin Tloubatla | PTS | 4 | 10 Apr 2014 | Gold Reef Entertainment Centre, Johannesburg, South Africa | |