South African cruiserweight and Oosthuizen's African cruiserweight titles being on the line. Mchunu won the fight by unanimous decision, with scores of 118-111, 119-111 and 119-109. Second cruiserweight title run WBC Silver cruiserweight champion Mchunu vs. Shihepo Mchunu faced the 36-fight veteran Willbeforce Shihepo on 20 October 2019, at the Time Square in Menlyn, South Africa. Shihepo retired from the bout at the end of the third round, thus awarding Mchunu a stoppage victory. Shihepo gave a surprising reason for his retirement from the fight however, stating: "I am hungry, I have no energy because I never had anything to eat". Mchunu vs. Lebedev Mchunu faced the former unified cruiserweight champion Denis Lebedev for the vacant WBC Silver cruiserweight title on 21 December 2019, at the Ivan Yarygin Sports Palace in Krasnoyarsk, Russia. The 40-year-old Lebedev had announced his retirement in July of the same year, but came out of it to fight Mchunu. His previous fight took place on November 24, 2018. Lebedev was ranked #9 by the WBC at cruiserweight. Mchunu won the fight by a wide unanimous decision, with scores of 119-108, 120-107 and 115-112. Lebedev subsequently announced his second retirement from the sport. Mchunu vs. Tishchenko Mchunu made his first WBC Silver title defense against the 2016 Olympic gold medalist Evgeny Tishchenko on 27 March 2021, at the RCC Boxing Academy in Yekaterinburg, Russia, in what was the WBC cruiserweight title eliminator as well. He won the fight by unanimous decision, with scores of 117-111, 117-111 and 119-109. By beating Tishchenko, Mchunu earned the status of mandatory challenger to the reigning WBC champion Ilunga Makabu, who handed Mchunu his second professional loss. Mchunu vs. Makabu Mchunu is scheduled to make his second world title challenge against the reigning WBC cruiserweight champion Ilunga Makabu on January 29, 2022, at the Packard Music Hall in Warren, Ohio. Makabu was ranked as the #2 cruiserweight in the world by The Ring magazine. The bout was independently broadcast on Fite TV by Don King promotions. Makabu won the fight by split decision. Two of the judge scored the bout in his favor (115–113 and 116–112), while the third judge scored it 115–113 for Mchunu. Many news outlets disagreed with the decision, as they had scored it in favor of Mchunu. Later career On January 31, 2023, Mchunu was ordered by the WBC to face the former light heavyweight world champion