Pictured: former WBO junior flyweight champion, former WBC light flyweight champion, and newly crowned WBO junior bantamweight champion Jorge Arce



During the four-day period of January 29 through February 1, six boxers currently ranked by TTR's membership saw action. Five were victorious; one suffered a controversial defeat.



1/29- Las Vegas, Nevada, USA- TTR #13 ranked light heavyweight and defending IBA champion Beibut Shumenov successfully retained his title and won the WBA title from defending WBA champion and TTR #8 ranked light heavyweight Gabriel Campillo. Shumenov, the WBA's #10 contender, won a controversial split decision with judges Levi Martinez and Patricia Morse Jarman each scoring 117-111 in his favor. Judge Jerry Roth had Campillo as the winner, 115-113. This was the second time Shumenov challenged for the WBA title. He lost to Campillo by majority decision in Astana, Kazakhstan on August 15, 2009. With the win, Shumenov improved to 9-1 with 6 KOs. Campillo slipped to, depending on the source, 19-3 with 1 No Contest and 6 wins by KO or 20-3 with 6 KOs.



1/30- Neubrandenburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany- TTR #5 ranked middlewight Sebastian Sylvester retained the IBF title by stopping TTR unranked Billy Lyell, the IBF's #14 ranked middleweight contender, at 0:37 of the 10th round. Lyell cracked the IBF's rankings after an upset decision over then undefeated John Duddy in April of 2009. He got his shot at the IBF title as a late substitute. Sylvester's originally scheduled challenger, Pablo Navascues (24-1-1, 16 KOs), failed a pre-fight drug test. Sylvester, defending his title for the first time, raised his record to 33-3 with 16 KOs while Lyell dropped to 21-8 with 4 KOs.



1/30- Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico- TTR #9 ranked super flyweight Jorge "Travieso" Arce won the vacant WBO junior bantamweight title with a unanimous technial decision over TTR unranked Angky Angkota. The bout was stopped in the 7th round after Angkota suffered a cut over his right eye from an accidental headbutt. The WBO #2 ranked Arce, now 53-6-1 with 40 KOs, was ahead 60-54, 60-54, and 58-56. Angkota, ranked #4 by the WBO as a junior bantamweight and #14 as a flyweight by the IBF, dropped to 23-5 with 14 KOs.



1/30- Puebla, Puebla, Mexico- TTR #1 ranked minimumweight Roman "Chocolatito" Gonzalez retained the WBA title for the third time, scoring a one-sided 4th round TKO over TTR unranked Ivan Meneses. The 22-year-od Gonzalez upped his record to 25-0 with 21 wins by knockout. Meneses, ranked by #10 by the WBA and #11 by both the WBC and the WBO, fell to 14-6-1 with 8 KOs.



2/1- Tokyo, Japan- TTR #10 ranked 105-pounder Yasutaka Kuroki, the reigning OPBF strawweight champion, stopped TTR unranked Takumi Suda at 1:20 of the sixth round of a non-title, light flyweight bout. Kuroki improved to 23-3-1 with 15 KOs by inflicting deep cuts by both of Suda's eyes. Suda dropped to 10-6-2 with 2 KOs. Kuroki, ranked #1 by the WBA, #3 by the WBC, and #14 by the WBO, is now scheduled to challenge undefeated WBC strawweight champion Oleydong Sithsamerchai on March 27 as part of a championship twinbill headlined by WBC flyweight champion Koki Kameda defending against WBC interim flyweight champion Pongsaklek Wonjongkam.