# Rogers Mtagwa

Rogers Mtagwa (born March 22, 1979) is a Tanzanian former professional boxer who competed from 1997 to 2014. He challenged three times for a world title; the WBO junior featherweight title in 2009, the WBA (Regular) featherweight title in 2010, and the WBC featherweight title in 2011.

## Professional career

Mtagwa began his professional career on February 10, 1997, gaining a points victory over Alfred Mgaromba in Dar es Salaam. Mtagwa tasted defeat for the first time when he travelled to Kenya to face Joseph Waweru, losing a six rounds points decision. However, this loss was avenged when he scored a knockout over Waweru in the rematch.
Mtagwa left Tanzania and relocated to Philadelphia, United States. His first fight in his new home city was on May 2, 2000, losing an eight round decision to Debind Thapa.
On October 10, 2009 Mtagwa challenged for the WBO super bantamweight title against the undefeated Puerto Rican fighter Juan Manuel López in what was considered a fight of the year candidate. Although Lopez won the fight by a unanimous decision, he was hurt badly by Mtagwa in the later rounds and struggled to stay on his feet to hear the final bell.
On 23 January 2010 Mtagwa stepped up to featherweight to unsuccessfully challenge the Cuban Yuriorkis Gamboa for the WBA featherweight title. Mtagwa did not perform as well as he did in his previous title challenge, he was knocked down three times before the referee called a stop to the action in round two.

## Professional boxing record

| 47 fights | 27 wins | 17 losses |
| By knockout | 19 | 5 |
| By decision | 8 | 12 |
| Draws | 2 | 2 |
| No contests | 1 | 1 |
| No. | Result | Record | Opponent | Type | Round, time | Date | Location | Notes |
| 47 | Loss | 27–17–2 (1) | Juan Carlos Velasquez | MD | 6 | May 1, 2014 | Park Race Track, Hialeah, Florida, U.S. | |
| 46 | Loss | 27–16–2 (1) | Cornelius Lock | TKO | 4 (8), 1:10 | Feb 21, 2014 | Dover Downs, Dover, Delaware, U.S. | |
| 45 | Loss | 27–15–2 (1) | Jhonny González | TKO | 2 (12), 2:15 | Sep 15, 2011 | County Coliseum, El Paso, Texas, U.S. | For WBC featherweight title |
| 44 | Win | 27–14–2 (1) | Pedro Navarrete | TKO | 8 | Aug 13, 2011 | Centro Internacional, Acapulco, Mexico | |
| 43 | Loss | 26–14–2 (1) | Yuriorkis Gamboa | TKO | 2 (12), 2:35 | Jan 23, 2010 | Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York, U.S. | For WBA (Regular) featherweight title |
| 42 | Loss | 26–13–2 (1) | Juan Manuel López | UD | 12 | Oct 10, 2009 | Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York, U.S. | For WBO junior featherweight title |
| 41 | Win | 26–12–2 (1) | Ricardo Medina | UD | 10 | May 1, 2009 | The Blue Horizon, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. | |
| 40 | Win | 25–12–2 (1) | Tomas Villa | KO | 10 (10), 1:20 | Nov 7, 2008 | Casino Del Sol, Tucson, Arizona, U.S. | |
| 39 | Win | 24–12–2 (1) | Aldo Valtierra | UD | 10 | Mar 7, 2008 | New Alhambra Arena, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. | |
| 38 | Loss | 23–12–2 (1) | Billy Dib | UD | 8 | Nov 10, 2007 | Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York, U.S. | |
| 37 | NC | 23–11–2 (1) | Aldo Valtierra | SD | 12 | Jul 20, 2007 | New Alhambra Arena, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. | Vacant NABF featherweight title at stake; Originally a SD win for Mtagwa, later ruled an NC after he failed a drug test |
| 36 | Win | 23–11–2 | Terrance Roy | KO | 2 (8), 1:35 | Apr 11, 2007 | The Citadel, Charleston, South Carolina, U.S. | |
| 35 | Loss | 22–11–2 | Martin Honorio | SD | 12 | Nov 10, 2006 | Cicero Stadium, Cicero, Illinois, U.S. | Lost USBA featherweight title |
| 34 | Win | 22–10–2 | Alvin Brown | KO | 4 (12), 3:06 | Aug 2, 2006 | New Alhambra Arena, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. | Retained USBA featherweight title |
| 33 | Win | 21–10–2 | Artyom Simonyan | KO | 4 (12), 1:58 | Jun 16, 2006 | New Alhambra Arena, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. | Retained USBA featherweight title |
| 32 | Loss | 20–10–2 | Orlando Salido | TKO | 5 (12), 3:00 | Mar 18, 2006 | The Centre, Evansville, Indiana, U.S. | |
| 31 | Win | 20–9–2 | Joe Morales | TKO | 10 (12), 1:58 | Jul 8, 2005 | Athletic Center, New Haven, Connecticut, U.S. | Won vacant USBA featherweight title |
| 30 | Win | 19–9–2 | Fernando Trejo | SD | 10 | Mar 18, 2005 | New Alhambra Arena, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. | |
| 29 | Loss | 18–9–2 | Agapito Sánchez | MD | 10 | Oct 14, 2004 | Hanover Marriott, Whippany, New Jersey, U.S. | |
| 28 | Win | 18–8–2 | Broderick Harper | KO | 2 (8) | May 14, 2004 | New Alhambra Arena, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. | |
| 27 | Loss | 17–8–2 | Valdemir Pereira | TKO | 8 (10), 2:36 | Jan 3, 2004 | Foxwoods Resort Casino, Ledyard, Connecticut, U.S. | |
| 26 | Win | 17–7–2 | Isidro Tejedor | UD | 10 | Aug 22, 2003 | Silver Star Hotel and Casino, Choctaw, Mississippi, U.S. | |
| 25 | Win | 16–7–2 | Corey Alarcon | KO | 3 (6), 1:56 | Jun 27, 2003 | Tropicana Hotel & Casino, Atlantic City, New Jersey, U.S. | |
| 24 | Win | 15–7–2 | Kareem Braithwaite | TKO | 4 (6), 2:08 | Jan 31, 2003 | Tropicana Hotel & Casino, Atlantic City, New Jersey, U.S. | |
| 23 | Loss | 14–7–2 | Jose Reyes | SD | 8 | Oct 11, 2002 | First Union Spectrum, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. | |
| 22 | Draw | 14–6–2 | Edwin Santana | SD | 10 | Jul 12, 2002 | Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom, Hampton Beach, New Hampshire, U.S. | |
| 21 | Loss | 14–6–1 | Antonio Diaz | MD | 10 | May 25, 2002 | Lowes Speedway, Charlotte, North Carolina, U.S. | |
| 20 | Draw | 14–5–1 | Victorio Abadia | PTS | 4 | Mar 15, 2002 | Fernwood Hotel & Resort, Bushkill, Pennsylvania, U.S. | |
| 19 | Win | 14–5 | Steve Trumble | TKO | 3 (6) | Sep 21, 2001 | The Blue Horizon, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. | |
| 18 | Win | 13–5 | Donovan Carey | TKO | 2 | Jun 15, 2001 | The Blue Horizon, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. | |
| 17 | Win | 12–5 | Nelson Ramon Medina | TKO | 6 (6) | Feb 21, 2001 | Tropicana Hotel & Casino, Atlantic City, New Jersey, U.S. | |
| 16 | Loss | 11–5 | Emmanuel Lucero | UD | 10 | Oct 6, 2000 | Bally's, Atlantic City, New Jersey, U.S. | |
| 15 | Loss | 11–4 | Isidro Tejedor | PTS | 8 | Sep 22, 2000 | The Blue Horizon, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. | |
| 14 | Win | 11–3 | Garvin Crout | KO | 1 (8), 2:39 | Sep 12, 2000 | The Blue Horizon, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. | |
| 13 | Loss | 10–3 | Debendra Thapa | UD | 8 | May 2, 2000 | Big O Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. | |
| 12 | Win | 10–2 | Obote Ameme | PTS | 6 | Apr 8, 2000 | Dar-Es-Salaam, Tanzania | |
| 11 | Win | 9–2 | Charles Kasumba | KO | 12 (12) | Dec 31, 1999 | Nakivubo Stadium, Kampala, Uganda | Won vacant African junior featherweight title |
| 10 | Win | 8–2 | Musa Njue | KO | 2 | Sep 4, 1999 | Dar-Es-Salaam, Tanzania | |
| 9 | Win | 7–2 | Obote Ameme | PTS | 8 | Aug 15, 1999 | Dar-Es-Salaam, Tanzania | |
| 8 | Win | 6–2 | Rashid Ally | KO | 5 | Dec 19, 1998 | Dar-Es-Salaam, Tanzania | |
| 7 | Loss | 5–2 | Michael Kizza | PTS | 10 | Oct 18, 1998 | Kampala, Uganda | For vacant African Zone 5 junior featherweight title |
| 6 | Win | 5–1 | Hillary Olwenya | KO | 2 | Sep 12, 1998 | Safari Park Hotel, Nairobi, Kenya | |
| 5 | Win | 4–1 | Joseph Waweru | KO | 4 | Sep 5, 1998 | Mombasa, Kenya | |
| 4 | Loss | 3–1 | Joseph Waweru | PTS | 6 | Aug 29, 1998 | Kenyatta International Conference Centre, Nairobi, Kenya | |
| 3 | Win | 3–0 | Rashid Ally | PTS | 10 | Aug 25, 1997 | Dar-Es-Salaam, Tanzania | |
| 2 | Win | 2–0 | Rajab Mohamed | KO | 3 (4) | Jul 23, 1997 | Dar-Es-Salaam, Tanzania | |
| 1 | Win | 1–0 | Alfred Mgaromba | PTS | 4 | Feb 10, 1997 | Dar-Es-Salaam, Tanzania | |