Tanzania, June 11 -- Dar es Salaam. Tanzanian prominent middleweight boxer Hassan Mwakinyo has lost his bid for the International Boxing Organization (IBO) middleweight world title after suffering a ninth-round technical knockout (TKO) defeat to Ivorian-French professional boxer Michel Soro at the Parc des Expositions in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.

The highly anticipated 12-round contest ended when referee Jerome Lades stopped the fight in the ninth round after Soro established clear control and continued to land effective combinations against the Tanzanian challenger.

Mwakinyo entered the bout seeking to become Tanzania's latest world champion and add another milestone to a career that has seen him emerge as one of the country's most accompl...