Junior Ilunga Makabu was born on 8 November 1987 and is a Congolese-South African-French professional boxer.
14 Facts About Ilunga Makabu
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Ilunga Makabu held the WBC cruiserweight title from 2020 to 2023.
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Ilunga Makabu is the older brother of heavyweight boxer Martin Bakole.
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The dominant Makabu ended the duel by technical knockout in the eleventh round.
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Ilunga Makabu was scheduled to fight Dmitry Kudryashov for the vacant WBC Silver cruiserweight title on June 16,2019, at the KRK Uralets in Yekaterinburg, Russia.
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Ilunga Makabu rebounded in the fourth round, knocking Cieslak down with two heavy blows, one of which was a blatant uncalled rabbit punch.
7.
Cieslak returned the favor in the fifth round, as Ilunga Makabu was ruled to be in a state of knockdown after he touched the canvas with his glove.
8.
Ilunga Makabu made his first defense of his WBC cruiserweight title against the reigning African cruiserweight champion Olanrewaju Durodola at the Studio Mama Angebi in Kinshasa, Congo.
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Ilunga Makabu won the fight by a come-from-behind seventh-round knockout.
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Ilunga Makabu appeared to be down on the scorecards after the first six rounds were fought, but rallied back to knock Durodola down with a pair of left hooks with a minute to go in the seventh round.
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Ilunga Makabu was instead booked to make the second defense of his WBC title against mandatory challenger Thabiso Mchunu on January 29,2022, at the Packard Music Hall in Warren, Ohio.
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However, Ilunga Makabu was confident that he had done enough to secure the victory and called out the undisputed super middleweight champion Saul Alvarez in his post-fight interview, stating: "My next fight is with Saul Canelo - I'm going to box and knock you out".
13.
Ilunga Makabu was expected to make his third title defense against the WBA cruiserweight champion Ryad Merhy.
14.
Ilunga Makabu was instead scheduled to defend his title against the two-weight world champion Badou Jack on February 26,2023, on the Jake Paul vs Tommy Fury undercard.