THE HISTORY OF THE FLYWEIGHT DIVISION SINCE JANUARY 1937

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THE HISTORY OF THE FLYWEIGHT DIVISION SINCE JANUARY 1937

Post by KSTAT124 »

or THE HISTORY OF THE FLYWEIGHT DIVISION SINCE BENNY LYNCH UNIFIED THE TITLE

The Ring lists the flyweight title as vacant while most historians recognize Japan's Daisuke Naito, the reigning WBC titlist, as the lineal champion.

I'm going to attempt to trace the lineage of the flyweight title, not from the beginning of the flyweight division, but from a point where, after a long period of the title being split, there was one and only one champion. In other words, to start, I'm going to go back to twelve years before I was born.

In January of 1937, Benny Lynch of Scotland, recognized by the NBA (which became the WBA in the 1960s) as the world flyweight champion, unified the title with a 15-round decision over Small Montana of the Philippines, the NYSAC world champion. Lynch's victory brought him recognition as the new lineal champion as well as recognition by The Ring.

Lynch kept the title with a 13th round knockout of previously unbeaten Englishman Peter Kane in October 1937. He and Kane would battle to a 15-round draw in a non-title bout the following March. Lynch then lost the world title on the scales. He weighed in 6 1/2 pounds over the flyweight limit for his defense against Jackie Jurich of California. The bout went on as scheduled and Lynch knocked Jurich out in the 12th round.

Jurich and Kane were signed to fight for the vacant world title (as recognized by the NBA, the NYSAC, and The Ring). In September 1938, Kane outpointed Jurich over 15 rounds.

The California Commission did not recognize Kane. In November 1938, they sanctioned a bout between Little Dado of the Philippines, who owned two wins over Jurich, and former NYSAC champion Montana. Dado won on points.

In May of 1939, Kane announced he was vacating the title to campaign as a bantamweight. The Ring then considered the world title vacant. The NBA continued to recognize Kane until "officially" stripping him of the belt in December of that year.

Dado didn't defend the California version of the world title until June 1940. He retained it with a draw against fellow Pinoy, Little Pancho, and in February 1941, won the vacant NBA title with decision over Jurich. He never defended it as he too moved up to the bantamweight class.

On June 19, 1943, Scotland's Jackie Paterson KOed former champ Kane in one round to capture the vacant, universally recognized flyweight title. Paterson only made one defense, a 15-round decision over Joe Curran in 1946 before he too was stripped by the NBA. However, the BBBofC and Ring Magazine continued to recognize him as the champion.

On October 20, 1947, Rinty Monaghan of Northern Ireland outpointed Hawaiian Dado Marino for the NBA's belt. Then, on March 23, 1948, Montaghan knocked out Paterson in 7 rounds to unify the world title.

After two more defenses, a 15-round decision over Maurice Sandeyron and a 15-round draw with Terry Allen, Montaghan, who was the reigning champion when I was born, retired. The Englishman Allen was then matched with France's Honore Pratasi for the vacant title on April 25, 1950 and won on points. In his first defense, Allen lost the championship to Marino. After going 7-1-2 in non-title bouts, including a split decision over Japan's Yoshio Shirai, and making one successful defense, a second unanimous 15-round decision over Allen, Marino lost the title to Shirai on December 4, 1951 by a TKO in the 7th round.

Shirai was Japan's first world champion and would later be elected to Ring Magazine's Hall of Fame. He has not, however, been elected to the WBHOF or to what is considered to be the successor to The Ring's HOF, the IBHOF. He made five successful defenses, beating Marino twice, Allen, and Filipino challengers Tanny Campo and Leo Espinoza before losing the title on November 26, 1954 to 1948 Olympic gold medalist Pascual Perez of Argentina. Shirai had previously battled to a non-title draw with Perez.

Perez, who would later be inducted into both the IBHOF and the WBHOF, made nine successful official defenses and another six "unofficial" ones in which both he and his opponents weighed in under the flyweight limit thus technically putting the title at risk. Those six bouts are not generally considered title defenses and only one of the six came against a world-class opponent, Danny Kid of the Philippines. The fighters against whom he successfully defended his title were all world-class: Shirai (KO-5), Leo Espinosa (Unanimous Decision- 15), Oscar Suarez (TKO-11), Dai Dower (KO-1), Young Martin (KO-3), Ramon Arias (Unanimous Decision-15), Dommy Ursua (Unanimous Decision-15), Kenji Yonekura (Unanimous Decision-15), and Sadao Yaoita (KO-13).

On April 16, 1960, Perez went into his defense against Thailand's Pone Kingpetch with a 54-1-1 record. He had gone 30-1 after winning the title. His only loss had been to Japan's Yaoita in a non-title bout and he avenged that defeat by stopping Yaoita with the title on the line.

Perez' defense against Kingpetch took place in Thailand and although he lost by split decision, Perez wasn't victimized by a hometown decision. The Ring's venerable founder and editor-in-chief Nat Fleischer served as one of the judges and scored it 146-140 for the Thai challenger, who, with the win, became his country's first world champion.

Kingpetch proved his victory wasn't a fluke when, in his first defense, he gave the great Perez a rematch and stopped him in 8 rounds at the famed Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles, California.

After 15-round decisions over Mitsunori Seki and Kyo Noguchi, Kingpetch made his third consecutive defense against a Japanese challnger. On Ocober 10, 1962, future Hall of Famer Fighting Harada knocked out the defending champion in the 11th round.

Kingpetch proved to be resilient. In their rematch, he regained the title with a 15-round majority decision. Fleischer, who also served as a judge at the pair's first bout, having Harada ahead 49-41 at the time of the knockout, saw Kingpetch winning the return bout 71-67.

In his next defense, the first of his second reign, Kingpetch was again knocked out, this time in the first round by Hiroyuki Ebihara. Amazingly, the tough Thai won the title a third time by outpointing Ebihara over 15 rounds on January 23, 1964.

Kingpetch's third and final reign came to an end when he was outpointed by Italy's Salvatore Burruni on April 23, 1965.

In November of 1965, the WBA stripped Burruni of his title for failing to defend against Horacio Accavallo to whom he had lost a non-title bout. The WBC which had been sanctioning flyweight title bouts since the first Kingpetch-Ebihara match continued to recognize Burruni as did The Ring.

Burruni successfully defended the world title by knocking out Rocky Gattelari in the 13th round of their December 2, 1965 bout.

Accavallo won the vacant WBA title on March 1, 1966 with a 15-round split decision over Katsuyoshi Takayama, who had also beaten Burruni in a non-title contest.

On June 14, 1966, Burruni lost the title by an upset decision to Walter McGowan of Scotland.

Accavallo made 3 title defenses, sandwiching a decision over future WBHOF inductee Efren "Alacran" Torres of Mexico between two points verdicts over Ebihara. On October 1, 1967, less than two months after his second win over Ebihara, a split decision, Accavallo called it a career, leaving the sport with a remarkable 75-2-6 record.

On the WBC-Ring Magazine front, lineal champion McGowan lost his belt(s) in his first defense to Thailand's Chartchai Chionoi on December 30, 1966. Chionoi racked up successful defenses against fellow Thai Puntip Keosuriya, McGowan, Torres, and Fiipino Bernabe Villacampo until he was stopped in 9 rounds by Torres on February 23, 1969.

A liitle over a month later, the WBA finally filled its vacant title when Ebihara, who owned 1964 annd 1965 victories over Torres, outpointed Brazilian Jose Severino.

Ebihara's second reign, like his first, was not a long one. He lost the title by decision to Villacampo on October 19, 1969.

Torres kept his belt with a decision over Susumu Hanagata of Japan in November of 1969 but lost it back to Chionoi on points on March 20, 1970. Seventeen days later, Villacampo lost his title by split decision to Berkerk Chartvanchai. Before the year was over, both Thais were dethroned. On October 22, Japan's Masao Ohba knocked out Chartvanchai in the 13th round and on December 7, Erbito Salavarria of the Philippines stopped Chionoi in 2.

In 1971, Ohba retained his title with decisions over Venezuela's Betulio Gonzalez and Filipino Fernando Cabanella. Salavarria retained the lineal, WBC, and Ring titles with a decision over Hanagata but then fought to a controversial draw with Gonzalez. The champ's water bottle was seized and traces of amphetamines were found in it. The WBC stripped Salavarria and decreed that a bout between Gonzalez and Filipino Socrates Batolo would be for the vacant title.

Before that bout was held, Ohba, on March 4, 1972, successfully defended his WBA title by outpointing Hanagata, avenging a 1968 defeat. Two months later, on June 3, Gonzalez KOed Batolo in 4 to become the new WBC champion. At that point, according to some historians, Ohba became the new lineal champion, having already beaten Gonzalez in a bout contested for a version of the world title. Other historians, including those at Ring Magazine, still recognized Salavarria, despite the discovery of amphetamines in his "sugar water", on the basis that he had not been beaten in the ring.

Ohba retained the WBA title and one group of historians' "lineal" title by knocking out Panamanian Orlando Amores in the fifth round of their June 20, 1972 bout but Gonzalez was not so fortunate. He lost the WBC title to Thailand's Venice Borkorsor via a 10th round TKO on September 29.

In 1973, whether you subscribed to the idea that Ohba was the lineal champ or that Salavarria was, you would soon find the lineal title to be vacant again.

On January 2, Ohba made his fifth successful defense, knocking out Chionoi in the 12th round. Twenty-two days later, the 23-year-old champ was dead, killed in a tragic car accident.

On February 9, Borkorsor successfully defended the WBC title with a unanimous, 15-round decision over Salavarria, thus gaining the lineal title according to those who claimed Salavarria was still the legitimate champion. However, Borkorsor voluntarily relinquished his WBC title, and with it, his Ring and "lineal" championships as well, to campaign as a bantamweight.

Later in the year, the former two-time WBC and lineal champion Chionoi and former WBC champ Gonzalez won the vacant WBA and vacant WBC titles respectively. Chionoi succeeded the late Masao Ohba when Switzerland's Fritz Chervet was not allowed to come out for the 5th round of their May 17 encounter and Gonzalez succeeded Borkorsor when he outpointed Mexico's Miguel Canto, the future record-setting champion and Hall of Famer, on August 4.

Gonzalez made two successful defense before losing the WBC diadem. He stopped Mexican Alberto Morales in 11 and Italian Franco Udella, who would later win the inaugural WBC light flyweight title bout, in 10. On October 1, 1974, Gonzalez was dethroned by Japan's Shoji Oguma, whom Gonzalez had outpointed in an earlier non-title ten-rounder, on a 15-round, split decision.

Chionoi also made two successful defenses, decision wins over Hanagata and Chervet, before losing the title on the scales prior to being stopped in 6 by Hanagata on October 18, 1974 in the latter's 5th and, finally successful, attempt to win a world title.

1974 ended the way 1973 did, with the lineal flyweight championship vacant, but with one major difference. Canto, who had won 6 straight since losing by majority verdict to Gonzalez, and Oguma were generally recognized as the world's two top flyweights and were signed to meet each other in early 1975. Barring a draw, the lineal vacancy would be filled.

On January 8, 1975, in Sendai, Miyagi, Japan, Canto won a 15-round, majority decision over Oguma. After a non-title victory over Ignacio Espinal of the Dominican Republic, the new WBC champ made the first of what would be a then record 14 successful defenses, winning a 15-round, split decision over Gonzalez on May 24 to further legitimize his status as the lineal champion.

By the time Canto had made his first defense of the WBC and lineal titles, Hanagata had lost the WBA belt. On April 1, he was beaten by Salavarria. The former WBC and new WBA champ won by a split decision.

Canto finished 1975 with a TKO-9 over future WBA light flyweight champion Lupe Madera in a non-title bout and two more successful title defenses, a TKO-11 over Japan's Jiro Takada and a 15-round unanimous decision over Espinal. Salavarria, after a split decision loss to Alberto Morales in a non-title affair, won another split decision over Hanagata to retain his title. That would be the only successful defense of his second reign as a flyweight titleholder.

Fighting before a crowd at the famed Araneta Coliseum in Metro Manila, Salavarria was stopped in the 15th round by Panama's Alfonso Lopez on February 27, 1976, thus losing the WBA title.

After a non-title win in March, Canto made the first of three successful defense that year, a unanimous decision over Hanagata on May 15. A split decision over Gonzalez on October 3 and a unanimous decision over Filipino Orlando Javierto on November 19 followed.

Making his first defense, Lopez traveled to Japan and outpointed former WBC champion Oguma on April 21, 1976. On August 25, he knocked out Kenki Kato in a non-title bout which led to his last defense. On October 2, fighting in Los Angeles, California, Lopez was dethroned by Mexico's Guty Espadas who stopped the defending champion in the 13th round.

Thus, as 1976 came to a close, Canto, recognized by The Ring, had made 6 successful defenses of the WBC and lineal championships while the newly crowned Espadas was preparing to defend his WBA title for the first time.

On New Year's Day, 1977, Espadas made his initial defense, halting OPBF champion Takada in the 7th round. He added two more defenses during the year, again stopping Lopez in 13 in their April 30 rematch and knocking out overmatched Nicaraguan Alex Santana Guido in 8 on November 19.

Canto took his act on the road for three of his four 1977 defenses. He outpointed Luis Reyes Arnal in Venezuela on April 24 and Kimio Furesawa in Japan on June 5. After decisioning Martin Vargas in Mexico on September 17, he gave the tough Chilean a rematch in Santiago de Chile on November 30 and again outpointed him over 15 rounds.

Canto's reign continued through 1978 as he twice won decisions over Oguma in Japan, on January 4 and on April 18, and outpointed Thailand's Tacomron Vibonchai in Houston, Texas on November 20. Espadas wasn't so fortunate. After successfully turning back Furesawa's January 2 challenge by stopping him in 7 in Tokyo, Espadas made a fateful journey to Venezuela where he was outpointed on august 12 by Gonzalez, who won a share of the flyweight diadem for the third time. On November 4, Gonzalez retained the WBA title with a 12th round TKO over Vargas.

Neither Canto nor Gonzalez would make it through 1979 as champion. It started all right for both. On January 29, Gonzalez retained the WBA belt with a 15-round draw with Oguma, fought in Hamamatsu, Japan. On February 10, Canto unanimously outpointed fellow Mexican Antonio Avelar, a future WBC and lineal champion, in Merida, Mexico.

Canto's 15th defense would turn out to be his last. In Pusan, South Korea, on March 18, he lost a unanimous decision to Chan-Hee Park. Park was now the new lineal, Ring, and WBC champion. Park quickly put his titles on the line. On May 20, he retained them with a 15-round unanimous decision over Japan's Chikara "Riki" igarashi in Seoul.

Gonzalez recorded one more successful defense, a 12th round knockout of Oguma in Utsunomiya, Japan on July 6, before being outpointed by Panamanian southpaw Luis Ibarra on November 17.

Park kept busy, retaining his belts with a 15-round draw against Canto on September 9 and a TKO-2 over Espadas on December 6. He also won twice in defense of his titles in the first four months of 1980, outpointing Filipino Arnel Arrozal on February 10 and Alberto Morales on April 12.

Ibarra lost his the WBA title a week after Park had defeated Arrozal. He was knocked out in the 2nd round by South Korea's Tae-Shik Kim. Kim made one successful defense, a unanimous decision over Arrozal on June 29, before losing the title via a split decision to South African Peter Mathebula on December 13.

By that time, Park was an ex-champion. He had been KOed in 9 by Shoji Oguma on May 18. Oguma also defended the assortment of titles he had taken from Park twice in '80- retaining the lineal, Ring, and WBC championships with split decisions over Sung Jun Kim on July 28 and Park on October 18. He gave Park a second opportunity to win back the titles on February 3, 1981 but denied him the trophies with a majority decision. Oguma's second reign ended in his next bout when he was kayoed in 7 by Antonio Avelar on May 12.

Mathebula had already been dethroned at that point as he was stopped in 7 by Santos Laciar of Argentina on March 28. Laciar's first reign as a champ ended with his first defense as he dropped a 15-round, unanimous decision to former WBA titlist Luis Ibarra on June 6.

Avelar successfully defended his "triple crown" on August 30, 1981 with a second-round knockout over former WBA champion Tae-Shik Kim while Ibarra lost his newly acquired WBA belt to Juan Herrera of Mexico via an 11th round TKO on September 26. Herrera closed the flyweight title activity for the year with a successful defense against Betulio Gonzalez, halting the former 3-time champ in the 7th round on December 19.

Both Avelar and Herrera were dethroned when they put their titles on the line in 1982. Avelar was steamrolled in the first round by Colombian Prudenco Cardona on March 20 and Herrera was stopped in 13 by former WBA champ Laciar on May 1.

Cardona dropped the WBC, Ring, and lineal titles on July 24, losing a unanimous decision to Mexico's Freddy Castillo. Three weeks later, Laciar retained his WBA title with a split decision over Betulio Gonzalez, and on November 5, made the second defense of his second reign, halting Denmark-based Kenyan Steve Muchoki in 13. The very next day, Castillo lost his "three titles" by split decision to Eleoncio Mercedes of the Dominican Republic.

Laciar retained the WBA through 1983 with three successful defenses- a TKO-9 over Ramon Nery of the Dominican Republic on March 4,, a TKO-2 over Japan's Shuichi Hozumi on May 5, and a TKO-1 over South Korean Hi-Sup Shin on July 17. The WBC, Ring, and lineal triad, however, continued to be a "hot potato" as Mercedes was stopped by England's Charlie Magri in 7 on March 15 and Magri, in turn, lost the belts to Filipino Frank Cedeno by a TKO in the 6th round on September 27.

On December 23, 1983, the IBF held its inaugural flyweight title bout and South Korea's Soon-Chun Kwon, the OPBF super flyweight champion and a former WBA super flyweight title challenger, knocked out Rene Busayong of the Philippines in the 5th round to join Cedeno and Laciar as the flyweight division's reigning champions.

Cedeno did not remain a member of the club for long. In his first defense, on January 18, 1984, he was defrocked by Japan's Koji Kobayashi who halted the defending lineal champion in the 2nd round, thus also winning the WBC title and recognition by Ring Magazine.

Kobayashi, too, lost in his first defense. He was starched in the second round by Gabriel Bernal of Mexico on April 9. Bernal actually made a successful defense, a TKO-11 over Spanish-born Frenchman Antoine Montero on June 1, before losing a 12-round, unanimous decision to Thailand's Sot Chitalada.

Laciar, again, had a stellar year. He won a 15-round, split decision over former WBA champion Herrera on January 28, knocked out former WBC, Ring, and lineal champ Cardona in the 10th round on September 15, and scored a 15-round, unanimous decision over former two-time WBC light flyweight champ and future WBA flyweight titlist Hilario Zapata on December 8.

Kwon, too, made it through 1984, with his title belt still in his possession. He made three successful defenses, posting a 12-round, technical decision over Filipino Roger Castillo on February 25, a 15-round, unanimous decision over Ian Clyde of Canada on May 19, and knocking out a fighter billed as legitimate Colombian contender Alberto Castro in 12on September 7. It turned out the fighter Kwon KOed was not Castro but an imposter, an unranked Colombian named Joaquin Flores Caballero.

Thus 1984 ended with a dominant WBA champion, a lineal, WBC and Ring champion who would prove to be dominant, and an IBF titlist who, despite the Castro/Caballero fiasco, was proving to be formidable as well.

Chitalada retained his titles through 1985 but Laciar, after a successful defense, vacated his and Kwon, before the year was over, was dethroned. Chitalada stopped former champ Magri in the 5th round of their scheduled 12-rounder February 20 and battled to a 12-round draw with his predecessor Bernal on June 22.

Laciar made his 9th and final defense of his second reign as WBA champion on May 6, winning a unanimous, 15-round decision over Antoine Montero who had won both of his fights since his failed attempt to dethrone Bernal 11 months earlier. Announcing his intention to campaign as a super flyweight, Laciar voluntarily relinquished his title July 19.

Kwon fought to a 15-round draw with his countryman Chong-Kwon Chung (also listed as Jong Kwon Chung) January 25, knocked out Japan's overmatched and underqualified Shinobu Kawashima in the 3rd round April 14, fought to another 15-round stalemate with Chung July 17, and, on December 20, was stopped by Chung in the 4th round, ending his reign as the IBF titlist.

The WBA title did not remain vacant for long. On October 5, the former two-time light flyweight kingpin Zapata became a champion for the third time, winning a 15-round, unanimous decision over Alonzo Gonzalez (AKA Alonso B. Strongbow), whom he had outpointed over 10 rounds earlier in the year.

The lineal title as well as the WBC and Ring belts remained in Chitalada's possession through 1986 also. On February 22, he outpointed former champion Freddy Castillo over 12 rounds and duplicated that result on December 10 when he convincingly completed his trilogy with Bernal.

In his first defense, Chung, on April 27, lost a 15-round, majority decision to fellow Korean Bi-Won Chung, who, in turn, on August 2, lost the IBF diadem via a 15th round TKO at the fists of another Korean, Hi-Sup Shin. Shin retained the title aith a 13th round stoppage of USBA champ Henry "Hot Pepper" Brent of New York on November 22.

Zapata was busy, defending his belt 5 times with 15-round decisions over Mexico's Javier Lucas on January 31, Japanese champion Shuichi Hozumi on April 7, previously unbeaten Filipino Dodie Boy Penalosa, who had vacated the IBF junior flyweight title to campaign at 112, on July 5, Colombia's Alberto Castro (the real Alberto Castro) on September 13, and Brazilian Claudemir Dias on December 7.

Chitalada, who had fought four times in 1986, winning two non-title bouts in addition to his title defenses, fought only once in 1987, retaining his lineal, WBC, and Ring titles with a 4th round KO over Seoul's Ri-Ki Ahn on September 5.

Shin, also of Seoul, was dethroned by Penalosa, who knocked out the defending IBF champion in the 4th round of their February 22 bout. Unlike his reign at 108, Penalosa's stint as a flyweight titleholder was over the first time he put the title on the line. Korean Chang-Ho Choi dethroned the popular Pinoy on September 5, coming from behind to knock out Penalosa in the 11th round.

Colombia's unbeaten Fidel Bassa upset Zapata on February 13, winning a unanimous, 15-round decision. After stopping Northern Ireland's Dave McAuley in the 13th round on April 25 in his first defense, Bassa granted Zapata a rematch. The two battled to a 15-round draw on August 15. Bassa closed his 1987 campaign on December 18 by retaining the WBA title with a 12-round decision over Bronx-based Dominican Felix Marti.

In 1988, the lineal title changed hands. Chitalada, after a successful January 31 defense in which he stopped Japan's unbeaten but relatively inexperienced Hideaki Kamishiro in 6 rounds, dropped the lineal, Ring, and WBC titles to undefeated South Korean Yong Kang Kim, losing a 12-round, unanimous decision on July 24. Kim hung on to the titles by unanimously outpointing Japan-based Filipino Emil Matsushima (Emil Romano) over 12 rounds on November 12.

Choi lost the IBF title in his first defense to Rolando Bohol of the Philippines. Bohol won by split decision after 15 rounds on January 16. After retaining the title with a 15-round, unanimous verdict over Cho-Won Park of South Korea on May 6th, Bohol traveled to London, England and was stopped in the 11th round by undefeated Duke McKenzie on October 5. For McKenzie, the IBF flyweight title was the first of three world titles he would capture. In 1991, he outpointed Gaby Canizales for the WBO bantamweight belt and in 1992, after losing that title, decisioned Jesse Benavides for the WBO junior featherweight crown.

WBA champ Fidel Bassa was more fortunate as he kept his title through the year. On March 26, he outpointed McAuley in Belfast and on October 2, he outscored American Ray Medel, the then USBA titleholfder, in San Antonio, Texas.

1989 was a significant year in flyweight history. It was during 1989 that the "lineal" title no longer was equated with that of The Ring. It was also the year a fourth organization would annoint its first champion.

On March 2, 1989, The Ring ceased publication for seven months. When the magazine resumed publication, a new policy was in effect. The Ring did not, with a few exceptions, recognize champions. It just rated the top ten fighters in each division. By 1992, no champions were recognized by "The Bible of Boxing." That policy remained in place until 2001-2002. Instead of tracing the lineage of the various titles, The Ring elected to ignore 12 to 13 years of boxing history and start "anew."

Yong Kang Kim, the last flyweight champion recognized by The Ring, defended his lineal and WBC titles on March 5, outpointing Leopard Tamakuma of Japan. In his next defense, on June 3, he lost the lineal and WBC titles back to Sot Chitalada by split decision.

Bassa retained the WBA belt on April 15 stopping Panamanian national champion Julio Gudino in the 6th round. Gudino had earned his shot with an upset decision over Zapata.

On September 30, Bassa lost the WBA title to Venezuelan Jesus "Kiki" Rojas via a split decision.

IBF titleholder Duke McKenzie retained his title on March 8, stopping American Tony De Luca in the 4th round. On June 7, in his next defense, McKenzie was unanimously outpointed by former two-time WBA title challenger Dave McAuley. McAuley made his first defense on November 8, winning a split decision over the former IBF junior flyweight and flyweight champ Dodie Boy Penalosa.

The WBO got into the act on March 3, sanctioning its inaugural flyweight title bout. Colombian southpaw Elvis Alvarez posted a 12-round, unanimous decision over Los Angeles, California-based Dominican Miguel Mercedes to become the WBO's first champion at 112 pounds.

Other organizations would later crown flyweight champs but for the purpose of this article, those groups and their champions will be mentioned only when their paths cross those of the lineal champ and/or the champions of the four major sanctioning bodies.

In 1990, Chitalada retained the lineal and WBC titles throughout the year. He outpointed Filipino Ric Siodora, a future WBF featherweight champion, on January 30, and Argentinian Carlos Gabriel Salazar who would go on to win the IBF junior bantamweight and WBO flyweight titles, on May 1. Both of those bouts took place in Bangkok but, for his next defense on September 7, Sot traveled to Kingston, Jamaica where he stopped Clarke, who owned wins over Alfonso Lopez, Wayne Mulholland, Amado Ursua, Juan Herrera, Prudencio Cardona, and Julio Gudino, in the 11th round. Chitalada again defended his titles on the road, this time in Seoul, South Korea on November 24 against former WBC light flyweight champion Jung-Koo Chang. He won a majority decision over "The Korean Hawk."

Rojas lost the WBA title on March 10, dropping a split decision to Yul-Woo Lee in Daejon, South Korea. On July 29, Lee was stopped by Leopard Tamakuma in the 10th round in Mita, Japan. Tokyo resident Tamakuma retained the title with a 12-round draw against Rojas on December 6. The bout was fought in Aomori, the city in which Tamakuma was born.

The IBF champion, McAuley, also held on to his title throughout the year, winning unanimous decisions over American Louis Curtis on St. Patrick's Day, March 17, and Colombian Rodolfo Blanco on September 15. Both bouts were held in Belfast.

Alvarez, after winning the WBA Fedelatin title in February, vacated the WBO title the following month. A former WBC and WBO title challenger at 108 pounds, Isidro Perez of Mexico, became the WBO's second flyweight champion when he TKOed Puerto Rico's Angel Rosario, a former WBO junior bantamweight title challenger, in the 12th round on August 18. Perez successfully defended the title against Chilean Alli Galvez, whose only loss had been to defending WBO junior flyweight titlist Jose De Jesus. On November 3, Perez beat Galvez by unanimous decision.

On February 15, 1991, fellow Thai, Muangchai Kittikasem, a former IBF junior flyweight champion, took the lineal and WBC titles from Chitalada, stopping the two-time champion in the 6th round. Kittikasem survived his first defense at 112 by rising from 3 knockdowns to dramatically stop Jung-Koo Chang with 14 seconds remaining in the 12th and final round. The bout, held May 18 in Seoul, was Chang's last.

After a non-title win over Filipino bantamweight Lito Gonzaga, Kittikasem retained his titles with a majority decision over Mexican champ Alberto Jimenez, a future WBO titlist, on October 25.

On March 14, Tamakuma lost the WBA title to former WBO champion Elvis Alvarez by unanimous decision. Alvarez' second reign didn't last long as he was outpointed by former lineal, WBC, and Ring champion Yong Kang Kim on June 1. Kim got by his first WBA challenger, former WBA minimumweight champ Leo Gamez, winning a unanimous decision on October 5. Gamez would later win WBA titles at 108, 112, and 115.

McAuley continued to reign as the IBF champion. Again fighting in Belfast, he won a unanimous decision over Pedro Jose Feliciano of Puerto Rico on May 11 and knocked out future WBO flyweight and WBO, IBA, and WBU junior flyweight champion Jacob Matlala in the 10th round of their September 7 title tiff.

Perez also kept the WBO title during 1991. He was stopped in a non-title bout with Ismael Rodriguez on April 10 but, on August 10, he made his one and only defense of the year and won a split decison over Galvez in Chile.

There were ten flyweight title bouts held in 1992. Kittikasem retained his WBC belt and the lineal title by stopping Chitalada in their rematch on February 28. WBO champ Perez was dethroned on March 18, losing a split decision to Pat Clinton of Scotland. Six days later, Kim retained the WBA strap by knocking out previously unbeaten Filipino Jonathan Penalosa (Dodie Boy and Gerry's brother) in the 6th round.

On June 11, Rodolfo Blanco, in his third title shot and second for the IBF flyweight championship, outpointed McAuley in Bilbao, Spain. Kittikasem joined McAuley as an ex-champ when, on June 23, he was KOed in the 8th round by Tokyo-based Russian Yuri Arbachakov.

On September 19, Clinton retained his WBO title with a unanimous decision over Danny Porter while a week later, Kim was shockingly upset in Pohang City, South Korea by Venezuelan Aguiles Guzman who won the WBA title by unanimous decision.

For his first defense of the lineal and WBC titles, which was held on October 22, the undefeated Arbachakov was matched with previously undefeated South Korean Yun Un Chin who owned wins over Jesus "Kiki" Rojas and Rolando Pascua. Yuri retained his championships with a unanimous decision.

In 1992's last two flyweight title bouts, IBF champ Blanco was kayoed in the third round by unbeaten Thai challenger Pichit Sithbanprachan on November 29 and Guzman dropped WBA belt by being unanimously outpointed by fellow Venezuelan David Griman on December 15.

Three of the four men who began 1993 as champions retained their titles throughout the year. IBF titlist Sithbanprachan went 5-0 including three successful title defenses. He stopped challengers Antonio Perez of Mexico in 4 rounds on March 6, Kyung-Yun Lee of South Korea in the opening round on July 11, and Miguel Martinez of Mexico in the 9th round on October 3. Lineal and WBC champ Arbachakov also made three defenses, TKOing Kittikasem in the 9th round of their March 20 rematch and winning unanimous 12-round decisions over Mexico's Ysaias Zamudio on July 16 and South Korean Nam Hoon Cha on December 13. WBA champion Griman turned back the challenges of Japan's Hiroki Ioka, a former WBC champion at 105 and a former WBA champ at 108, and Colombia's Alvaro Mercado. He halted Ioka in the 8th round on June 21 and scored a unanimous decision over Mercado on October 4.

Clinton was stopped by former IBF title challenger Matlala in the 8th round on May 15. The newly crowned South African then won a non-title bout on July 24 before putting the WBO belt up for grabs on December 4. He retained it by stopping Italian-born, Connecticut-based challenger Luigi Camputaro in the 7th round.

Sithbanprachan was the first of the four flyweight titlists to defend his belt in 1994. He won a 12-round, unanimous decision over previously unbeaten American Arthur Johnson on January 23. He would defend the title one more time, a split decision over Mexico's Jose Luis Zepeda on May 8, before announcing his retirement on November 25, thus vacating the IBF championship.

WBA champ Griman lost his title to Thai Saen Por Ploenchit via a 12-round, unanimous decsion on February 13. Ploenchit proved to be a very active champion, defending his title four times during the year. He outpointed a trio of former champions, Jesus "Kiki" Rojas (unanimous decision, April 10), Agulies Guzman (majority decision, June 11), and Yong Kang Kim (unanimous decision, September 24), and stopped New York and Miami-based Dominican Porfirio Danny Nunez in 11 (December 25).

Matlala retained the WBO title with successful defenses against London-based Francis Ampofo of Ghana (TKO-9 on June 11) and Filipino Pretty Boy Lucas (unanimous decision on October 15). For Lucas, it was his fourth attempt to wrest a world title. He previously had three title shots at 105.

In his only defense of the year, lineal and WBC champion Arbachakov retained those titles when beat future WBA champion Hugo Rafael Soto. Arbachakov knocked out the former Argentine, South American, and UBA champ in the 8th round on August 1.

In 1995, it was Arbachakov who made the first flyweight title defense. On January 30, he scored a 12-round, unanimous decision over Oscar Arciniega of Mexico. He made one other defense during the year, unanimously outpointing previously unbeaten Chatchai Elite-Gym on September 25. It should be noted that "Elite-Gym" would later fight as Chatchai Dutchboy Gym, as Chatchai Singwangcha, and as Chatchai Sasakul.

Matlala lost the WBO title to former WBC and WBB title challenger Alberto Jimenez on February 11. Jimenez stopped Matlala in 8 rounds.

Let me digress for a moment. Matlala would go on to capture the WBO junior flyweight title before the year was over. In 1997, he vacated that title to challenge Michael Carbajal for the IBA version. After scoring a major upset over the future Hall of Famer, Matlala made three defenses of that championship. Later in his career, after failing to regain the WBO junior flyweight title, Matlala won the WBU version and defended that belt twice before retiring in 2002.

Now back to 1995 and Mr. Jimenez. "Raton" made his first defense against Robbie Regan on June 17, stopping the Welshman at the end of the 9th round. Former WBF title challenger and future IBO flyweight and super flyweight champion Zolie Mbityi of South Africa was next on Jimenez' agenda. Alberto again retained his belt, halting Mbityi in the 2nd round on October 9.

The vacant IBF title was up for grabs on February 18. Francisco Tejedor of Colombia TKOed Zepeda in 7 rounds to succeed Sithbanprachan but his reign ended less than two months later. He lost his title by unanimous decision to Danny Romero of the United States on April 12. Romero made one successful defense, a KO-6 over former Sithbanprachan challenger Miguel Martinez on July 29, before moving up in weight on a trial basis. His September 8 non-title bout with veteran Willy Salazar ended badly. Romero, suffering a fractured orbital bone, lost by TKO in the 7th round of what would Ring Magazine would proclaim the "Upset of the Year."

Ploenchit defended his WBA diadem twice in '95- with a unanimous decision over Evangelio Perez of Panama on May 7 and by stopping former strawweight and light flyweight champ Ioka in 10 rounds on October 17.

With Romero sidelined, the IBF sanctioned an "interim" title bout between Regan and previously unbeaten Ferid Ben Jeddou, an Italy-based Tunisian, Regan had no problem solving Ben Jeddou's southpaw style and knocked him out in the 2nd round of their December 16 encounter.

1996, however, would see both Romero and Regan leave the flyweight ranks for good. Romero knocked out former WBO junior bantamweight champion Jose Quirino in one round on February 27 in a non-title, over-the-weight bout and decided to relinquish the IBF's flyweight title. (After one more tuneup win, Romero dethroned two-time IBF junior bantamweight champ Harold Grey on August 21.) The title did not go to interim champ Regan because he was committed to a shot at the rival WBO's bantamweight title. (On April 26, Regan, in his last bout before retiring, outpointed defending WBO bantamweight titlist Daniel Jimenez.) Instead, the IBF sanctioned a bout between former IBF champ Tejedor and long-reigning WBB champ Mark "Too Sharp" Johnson to fill the vacancy created by Romero's departure from the division. Johnson KOed Tejedor in the first round on May 4. He defended the IBF title against Mexican champion Raul Juarez (Juarez' second title shot of 1996- see below) on August 5 and retained it with a TKO-8.

Ploenchit, the first of the 112-pound champs to defend in '96, made three successful defenses during the year before losing the WBA title. On January 14, he unanimously outpointed previously undefeated Yong-Soon Chang of South Korea; on March 24, he won a split decision over former and future multi-divisional champion Leo Gamez; and, on September 8, he scored a unanimous verdict over PABA champion Alexander Mahmutov of Russia. Ploenchit's reign ended the 10th time he put his title on the line. On November 24, fighting in Thailand, Ploenchit lost an upset, unanimous decision to Jose Bonilla of Venezuela.

Arbachakov remained the lineal and WBC champion throughout 1996 by unanimously outpointing Raul Juarez (see above) on February 2 and stopping Japanese titlist Takato "Puma" Tokuchi in 9 rounds on August 26.

Jimenez also made three successful defenses during the year before being dethroned. He retained the WBO belt by stopping two-time IBF title challenger Miguel Martinez in 5 on March 23, by outpointing Puerto Rico's Jose "Carita" Lopez on June 1, and with a split decision draw against former IBF junior bantamweight champion Carlos Gabriel Salazar on September 6. Jimenez granted Salazar an immediate rematch and, on December 13, was stopped by the Argentinian in the 10th round.

In 1997, the IBF, WBA, and WBO titles remained with the fighters who finished 1996 as champions. The lineal and WBC titles, however, changed hands.

IBF champ Johnson made three defenses. He sandwiched a June 1 KO-2 over former NABF bantamweight champion and WBC super flyweight title challenger Cecilio Espino of Mexico between unanimous, 12-round points verdicts over Alejandro Felix Montiel of Mexico and Puerto Rico's Angel Almena on February 10 and September 16 respectively. Almena, incidentally, was a former IBO super flyweight champion and a former WBU flyweight titlist as well.

WBA kingpin Bonilla also made three defenses. First up, on February 25, was Hiroki Ioka, the two-time lesser weight champion who was challenging for the WBA flyweight title for the third of four times. Bonilla stopped him in the 7th round. Next, on August 23, Bonilla met Evangelio Perez, who had won 4 in a row since losing to Ploenchit, and unanimously outpointed him over 12 rounds. Then, November 22, Bonilla halted former WBA light flyweight champion Keiji Yamaguchi in the 6th round.

Salazar retained the WBO title through four 1997 defenses. On March 8, he was held to an upset draw by Mexico's Antonio Ruiz but outpointed Ruiz in their May 23 rematch. Salazar then won a unanimous decision over former European and reigning Italian champion Salvatore Fanni on July 19 and finished up his year on October 10 with another unanimous decision win, turning back the challenge of Everardo Morales of Mexico.

On May 9, Chatchai Elite-Gym (AKA Dutchboy Gym, AKA Singwangcha, AKA Sasakul), who had won 8 straight since losing to Arbachakov in 1995, and Ysaias Zamudio, who was 11-1 since his 1993 loss to Arbachakov, met for the interim version of the WBC title. Chatchai won by unanimous decision. He made one defense of the interim belt, a TKO-7 over future WBO junior flyweight champion Juan Domingo Cordoba of Argentina on August 1 before traveling to Sapporo, Japan for his November 12 rematch with Arbachakov. Arbachakov was making his first appearance since stopping Tokuchi in August of 1996. Chatchai unified the WBC title, thus becoming the new lineal champion, by unanimously outpointing Arbachakov over 12 rounds. It was Arbachakov's last fight. He announced his retirement in January of 1998, leaving the sport with a 23-1 record.

The IBF title was the only flyweight championship not to change hands in 1998. Johnson retained it by knocking out fellow American Arthur Johnson in the first round on February 22, by winning a one-sided unanimous decision over Luis Rolon of Puerto Rico on July 26, and by stopping Jose Laureano, also of Puerto Rico, in the eighth round on September 4.

The first flyweight champion to be dethroned in '98 was the WBA's, Bonilla. On May 29, in the only WBA flyweight title bout of the year, Argentina's Hugo Rafael Soto won a split decision over the Venezuelan at the neutral site of Las Vegas, Nevada. Soto had previously challenged unsuccessfully for the WBC flyweight title in 1994 and for the WBO and WBF junior bantamweight titles in 1996 and 1997 respectively.

Salazar kept the WBO title by winning a 12-round unanimous decision over Jose "Carita" Lopez. (It was Lopez' second of 4 shots at the WBO flyweight title; Lopez would become a champion in his fifth try at a title by winning the vacant WBO junior bantamweight on March 28, 2009.)

On August 14, in his next defense, Salazar lost his title. He was TKOed in the 8th round by former WBB champion Ruben Sanchez Leon. The new champ put the title on the line on December 18 and won a unanimous decision over former Salazar challenger Salvatore Fanni.

Chatchai, now using the ring name of Dutchboy Gym, won a 12-round unanimous decision over South Korean challenger Young-Jin Kim on February 27 and KOed one-time WBA title challenger Yong-Soon Chang in the 5th round on May 1st. He then signed to face the 23-1, 19-year-old Filipino southpaw Manny Pacquiao.

On December 4, Pacquiao knocked out the defending WBC and lineal champion in the 8th round.

After scoring a non-title TKO-3 win over Australian Todd Makelim on February 20, Pacquiao prepared for his frst defense. On April 24, he made that defense, halting Gabriel Mira of Mexico in the 4th round. The deserving Mira had beaten Yong-Soon Chang in a WBC eliminator in March of 1998 only to see Chang get a shot at Pacquiao's predecessor, Chatchai Dutchboy Gym, two months later.

As hard as he tried, Pacquiao could not make the weight for his next defense. He lost his titles on the scale. His September 17 bout with Medgoen 3-K Battery (who now fights as Medgoen Singsurat) went on as scheduled. If Pacquiao won, the lineal and WBC championships would have remained vacant. The titles were available only for the Thai challenger to win and win he did. 3-K Battery knocked out Pacquiao, who had been badly weakened by his failed attempt to to get down to 112 pounds, in the 3rd round.

Pacquiao would be heard from again! Before the year was out, he jumped up to the super bantamweight class and won the WBC International title. He would go on to win the IBF world junior featherweight title, the lineal and Ring world featherweight titles, the WBC and vacant lineal world super featherweight titles, and the WBC world lightweight title. At the time this is being written, Pacquiao is in training to challenge lineal, Ring, and IBO world junior welterweight champion Ricky Hatton. Not the greatest flyweight champion but possibly the greatest pound-for-pound fighter to hold the flyweight title, "Pac Man" is the only fighter in the history of the professional boxing to capture the title at 112 pounds and go on to win a title above 122 pounds.

Of course, there was more going on in the flyweight division in 1999 than just lineal and WBC title bouts. On March 13, at New York's Madison Square Garden, WBA champion Soto was KOed in his first defense by former WBA minimumweight and light flyweight champion Leo Gamez. On May 29, Gamez, in his next bout, won the interim version of the WBA super flyweight title. He followed that with a defense of flyweight championship against Thailand's Sornpichai Kratingdaenggym, a former WBU flyweight titlist on September 3. Kratingdaenggym, whose real last name is Pisanurachank, knocked out Gamez in the 3rd round.

Gamez too would be heard from again- winning the "full" version of the WBA super flyweight title in 2000.

Mark Johnson officially moved up to the 115-pound weight class and vacated the IBF title. His move was a successful one. On April 24, "Too Sharp" won the vacant IBF junior bantamweight championship.

Exactly two weeks earlier, a bout to fill the vacancy caused by Mark's move up in weight was held, pitting Colombian Irene Pacheco against Luis Cox Coronado of Peru. Pacheco won by TKO in the ninth round. He successfully defended the title on October 16, blasting out Ferid Ben Jeddou in the 4th round. Ben Jeddou's only previous loss came in 1995 when he fought for the IBF's interim title.

WBO champ Sanchez Leon lost his belt on April 23 when he was stopped in the 3rd round by Spain's Jose Lopez Bueno. The new champion made one successful defense, a TKO-7 over Russian Igor Gerasimov on June 4, before relinquishing the title.

On December 18, last minute substitute Isidro Garcia, a Los Angeles-based Mexican filling in for fellow Mexican Alejandro Felix Montiel, upset Jose "Carita" Lopez (for Lopez, title shot #3) by unanimous decision to win the vacant WBO title.

The lineal and WBC titles changed hands in 2000 as did the WBA and WBO titles. Only the IBF title remained with the same fighter for all 366 days of the leap year.

Fighting as Medgoen Toyota-Thailand, the former "Medgoen 3-K Battery" won a unanimous decision over Japan's Masashi Kawabata in his first defense on February 25 but on May 19, he was stopped in the 7th round by unbeaten Filipino challenger Malcolm Tunacao. The new champ made one defense in 2000. On August 20, Tunacao retained the lineal and WBC titles with a split decision draw against future WBA super flyweight Celes Kobayashi of Japan.

WBA champion Kratingdaenggym knocked out Filipino Archie Villamor in the third round of a non-title bout on January 28 and, in his last successful title defense, stopped Venezuelan Gilberto Gonzalez, who owned wins over Jose Bonilla, Josue Camacho, Manny Melchor, Jorge Lacierva, and Aguiles Guzman, in the 5th round on April 8. On August 5, Kratingdaenggym, fighting in Puerto Rican challenger Eric Morel's adopted hometown of Madison, Wisconsin, lost a one-sided, unanimous decision in a bout nationally televised in the United States. Morel defended the WBA title twice in 2000, outpointing Mexican challengers Alberto Ontiveros, who he had previously beaten in defense of the IBA junior bantamweight title he held from 1998, on October 7 and Gilberto Keb Baas, who owned wins over Omar Nino Romero and Melchor Cob Castro, on December 15.

Garcia turned back the challenge of former WBB junior bantamweight champion Jose Rafael Sosa, stopping the Argentinian contender in the 6th round August 19 but lost the WBO title when he was stopped by Mexico's Fernando Montiel in the 7th round on December 15.

IBF titlist Pacheco defeated a pair of previously unbeaten challengers in his 2000 title defenses. He knocked out USBA champion Pedro Pena in the 11th round on January 14 and won a majority decision over South African Masibulele "Hawk" Makepula on November 10. Makepula, the WBU light flyweight champion, had won the vacant WBO title at 108 but relinquished it to defend the WBU belt instead. He would go on to win the IBO flyweight championship in 2002.

The first of the four flyweight champions to risk his title in 2001 was Malcolm Tunacao. On March 2, he faced Thailand's Pongsaklek Wonjongkam (AKA Sitkanongsak) in Phichit, Thailand and after 2 minutes and 42 seconds, he was an ex-champion.

Montiel was the next up and on March 7, stopped Germany-based Romanian Zoltan Lunka in the 7th round in the first of his three 2001 defenses. In the others, he knocked out former WBO junior flyweight champion Juan Domingo Cordoba in the first round on May 25 and won a unanimous decision over future WBO junior bantamweight champion Jose "Carita" Lopez on September 8. It was Lopez' fourth unsuccessful attempt to capture the WBO flyweight title.

Morel only fought once in 2001. He retained the WBA title when badly beaten challenger Jose de Jesus Lopez of Venezuela, the reigning WBA Fedelatin champ, failed to come out for the ninth round.

Wonjongkam, who scored a non-title points win over Alvin Felicilda of the Philippines on May 8, made his first defense on July 15, stopping Japan's Hayato Asai in the 5th round. Asai had earned his title shot with a decision over former WBC title challenger Gabriel Mira. In 2001, Pongsaklek also successfully defended the lineal and WBC titles against Ghana's United States-based Alex "Ali" Baba and Argentina's perennial contender Luis Lazarte. On October 26, Wonjongkam won a unanimous 8-round technical decision over Baba, who owned a win over then Mexican champion Oscar Arciniega, a former WBC title challenger, and on December 6, the Thai southpaw stopped Lazarte in the second round.

Like Morel, IBF champion Pacheco only fought once in 2001. He retained his belt with a 4th round TKO over Texan Mike Trejo on November 9.

Lineal champion Wonjongkam retained that designation as well as his WBC title with 3 defenses in 2002. On April 19, he took on a fighter with whom he would eventually have quite a rivalry, the then undefeated Daisuke Naito of Japan. Their first encounter gave no indication of the competitiveness of the later meetings. Wonjongkam scored the fastest knockout in a world flyweight title bout as Naito was counted out 34 seconds into the first round. In his next defense, on September 6, Wonjongkam won a one-sided decision over overmatched former WBC Continental Americas champion Jesus Martinez. Then, on November 26, he unanimously outpointed the 25-1 Hidenobu Honda of Japan, who came into the bout riding a 19-bout winning streak. Honda later challenged for the WBA super flyweight title, losing a decision to then champion Alexander Munoz.

WBA champ Morel fought twice, winning a decision over Baba in a non-title bout on January 11, and retaining his belt by stopping previously undefeated future WBA champion Denkaosan Kaovichit in the 11th round on October 12.

Nicaraguan Adonis Rivas, a former WBO junior bantamweight champion, won the interim version of the WBO flyweight title with a majority decision over Jair Jimenez of Mexico on May 4 and was upgraded to world champion when Fernando Montiel vacated the WBO flyweight title upon winning the WBO junior bantamweight championship from the ill-fated Pedro Alcazar on June 22. Rivas, in his first defense, lost the title to Omar Narvaez, an unbeaten but little known Argentinian, on July 13.

Narvaez made two defenses in 2002, winning when countryman Luis Lazarte was disqualified in the 10th round July 13 and by split decision over WBO Inter-Continental champion Andrea Sarritzu of Italy December 14.

Again, Pacheco only fought once- successfully defending the IBF title on November 29 with a unanimous decision over Mexican veteran Alejandro Felix Montiel, who had previously challenged for the same title in 1997.

In 2003, Wonjongkam's first defense of the year came against an old rival, Randy Mangubat, the reigning WBC International champion. Mangubat, of the Philippines, had been knocked out by Pongsaklek in 1996 but lost a spirited fight on points in their second meeting in 1999. A former PABA minimumweight champion, Mangubat won the WBC International flyweight title in 2000 and had successfully defended it three times. On June 5, he and Wonjongkam fought for the third time. The defending lineal and WBC champion won a unanimous decision by wide margins.

Two days later, WBO champion Narvaez made his first of the three 2003 defenses, TKOing former WBO and future WBC title challenger Everardo Morales in the 5th round.

Exactly three weeks later, on June 28, Morel retained the WBA title with a unanimous decision over former WBO champion Isidro Garcia.

The following month, on July 25, Wonjongkam and former lineal and WBC champion Chatchai Sasakul each fought on the undercard in support of up-and-coming future WBC strawweight champion Oleydong Sithsamerchai, who was defending his WBC Youth and Asian Boxing Council strawweight titles in the main event against Filipino Carlo Besares. Wonjongkam won his non-title bout against bantamweight Jaime Acerda of the Philippines by a 9th round knockout. Sasakul KOed another Pinoy, bantamweight Edgar Tahad, in the 2nd round while Sithsamerchai outpointed Besares over 10 rounds.

On August 9, Narvaez retained his belt by fighting to a draw with Sarritzu in their rematch.

Pacheco, again only fighting once during the year, obliterated former IBO and WBF flyweight champion Damaen Kelly in the 7th round of their September 27 IBF title bout. Kelly, who owned wins over former WBA flyweight and WBF super flyweight title challenger Alexander Mahmutov, former WBO flyweight champion Jose Lopez Bueno, and future IBO super flyweight titlist Zolile Mbityi, would go on to win the IBO title at 115 pounds with a decision over Jason Booth in 2004.

On November 14, both Wonjongkam and Narvaez defended their titles. Fighting in Bangkok, Pongsaklek met his mandatory challengr, then undefeated Hussein Hussein of Australia. The champion retained his lineal and WBC titles with a convincing unanimous decision win. Narvaez, fighting in Levallois-Perret, France, stopped Mahmutov, the former PABA and reigning two-time European flyweight champion, after 10 rounds.

In the last flyweight title bout of 2003, Morel dropped the WBA belt, losing to unbeaten Venezuelan Lorenzo Parra in Puerto Rico. Parra floored Morel in the third round and went on to post a unanimous points victory.

Wonjongkam fought 5 times in 2004 including twice with the lineal and WBC titles at stake. In the first of those title defenses, he won a unanimous decision over Japan's Trash Nakanuma on January 3. Nakunuma came into the bout of two consecutive close decision losses- one to future WBA champion Takefumi Sakata, whom he had previously beaten, and Noriyuki Komatsu, whom he would later defeat. Nakanuma also owned wins over Katsuhiko Iezumi, Panieng Poontarat, and Ryo Kitano and was, despite the losses to Sakata and Komatsu, a solid contender.

After an April 30 non-title knockout win over Filipino Ronnie Canete, Wonjongkam retained his titles with a TKO-5 over lightly regarded Luis Angel Martinez on July 15. In retrospect, Martinez' resume wasn't bad. He owned wins over fellow Mexican prospects who would later earn world rankings- Manuel Vargas (who is currently holds the WBO interim min-flyweight title), Abel Ochoa, Carlos Bouchan, and Franky Soto.

The lineal and WBC champ finished the year with two more non-title wins- a 10-round decision over old foe Randy Mangubat on October 8 on a card in which he shared billing with Sithsamerchai and Panomroonglek Kratingdaenggym and an 8-round decision over Mark Sales of the Philiipines on November 26 in support of a card headlined by Panomroonglek's defense of the WBC Asian Boxing Council flyweight title he had won on October 8.

Narvaez defended the WBO title once with a third round TKO over underqualified Brazilian Reginaldo Martins Carvalho on March 6 and won two non-title bouts, a TKO-10 over another Brazilian, former IBF mini-flyweight title challenger Wellington Vicente, on October 29, and a 5th round knockout of fellow Argentinian Marcos Ramon Obregon, the IBF Intercontinental junior bantamweight champ, on December 10.

WBA champion Parra further established himself as a force in the division with two impressive defenses. On June 4, he won a hard-fought, majority decision over the man who would eventually dethrone him, Takefumi Sakata, and on September 9, he unanimously outpointed former WBC light flyweight champion Yo Sam Choi.

The 30-0 Pacheco, for the fourth year in a row, only fought once. He put his IBF title on the line on December 16 against undefeated Armenian-born Australian Vic Darchinyan. Darchinyan's 21-0 record included two wins over former WBC strawweight champion Wandee Chor Chareon (later known as Wandee Singwancha) and victories over Argentine flyweight champion Raul Eliseo Medina and former IBA flyweight champion Alejandro Felix Montiel, who had twice challenged for the IBF title, including once against Pacheco. The battle of the unbeatens in which "someone's '0' would go" took place in Hollywood, Florida and it was Pacheco's "0" which went. The determined Darchinyan stopped the defending champion in the 11th round.

In 2005, although the lineal title remained with Wonjongkam, the overall title picture became hazier as an interim title was added to the mix during the year.

Parra was the first of the flyweight champs to defend during the new year. On January 3rd, he unanimously outpointed former WBC title challenger Trash Nakanuma, who had defeated Filipino Edgar Rodrigo and Komatsu since losing to Wonjongkam. Wonjongkam defended his title 26 days later. He took on Komatsu, who, besides splitting two fights with Nakanuma, owned wins over Rodrigo and the previously unbeaten Rolly Lunas (AKA Matsushita). Wonjongkam stopped the once beaten former OPBF champion in the 5th round.

Wonjongkam was then tentatively scheduled meet Jorge Arce, who had vacated the WBC light flyweight title earlier in the year, on March 19. Instead, Arce was matched with Hussein Hussein on that date and stopped the Australian in the 10th round of a thrilling WBC title eliminator. Arce was the now the mandatory challenger for Wonjongkam's title and both fighters' camps entered into serious negotiations for the two to meet.

Darchinyan made the first defense of his IBF belt on March 27, facing IBO champion Mzukisi Sikali of South Africa in a title unification bout. Sikali was a former WBU light flyweight champion (who had lost his title to Wonjongkam in 1997) and a former WBU super flyweight champion. He had defeated former WBU and WBO junior flyweight champ Masikule "Hawk" Makepula for the IBO title. Darchinyan halted Sikali in the 8th round.

WBO champion Narvaez made his first appearance of the year on April 8, again meeting Wellington "Kid Jofre" Vicente in a non-title bout. Narvaez knocked out the Brazilian in the seventh round.

Wonjongkam, staying active and tuning up for his scheduled defense against Arce, stopped Filipino Daniel Diolan in the 3rd round on April 29. Ecstatic that he was finally going to fight in the United States, Wonjongkam would soon have his joy turned to bitter disappointment. His bout with Arce, slated to take place as the featured bout on a card headlined by female legends Lucia Rijker and Christy Martin July 9 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, was scratched when the Rijker-Martin main event was postponed to July 30 and relocated to the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. A bout between WBC light flyweight champion Eric Ortiz and Filipino-American challenger Brian Viloria was slated to be the semi-final at the new site. However, after Rijker suffered a injury in training on July 20, the card fell apart. Eventually, Vilora did get to fight Ortiz, stopping him in one round, on September 10.

Pongsaklek, to keep active, ended up fighting a non-title six-rounder on July 29 in Thailand in support of Medgoen Singsurat's WBC Asian Boxing Council super flyweight title defense. Wonjongkam won a unanimous decision over old foe Mark Sales and Singsurat stopped Rodel Orais in 3.

The very next day, Arce, who, like Wonjongkam, was booked as soon as it was certain their fight had gone down with the postponement of the Rijker-Martin card, fought for the interim version of the WBC title. He was matched with Colombian Angel Antonio Priolo. The 30-2 Priolo came into the bout off a seventh-round knockout loss to Viloria and was dispatched in the third round by Arce.

On August 24, Darchinyan defended his IBF and IBO titles against another Colombian Jair Jimenez. Vic was victorious, stopping Jimenez in the 5th round.

The following month, on September 19, Parra retained his WBA title with a 12-round, majority decision over Sakata in the second of what would be a three-fight series.

The two WBC titles were on the line in October. On the 8th, Arce retained the interim version by stopping Hussein in the second round of their rematch and, two days later, lineal champ Wonjongkam retained the "full" title with a unanimous technical decision over Daisuke Naito when their bout was stopped in the latter part of the seventh round. Naito had won eight straight since suffering his embarrassing 34-second loss to Wonjongkam in 2002.

Parra and Narvaez shared a bill in Bercy, France on December 5, each taking on a previously unbeaten French challenger. The WBA champion retained his title with a unanimous decision over 2000 Olympic gold medalist Brahim Asloum, who would go on to unsuccessfully challenge Narvaez in 2007 and win the WBA light flyweight title from Juan Carlos Reveco later that year while WBO kingpin Narvaez stopped future European champion Bernard Inom in the 11th round.

Arce made the second defense of his interim title on December 16. He stopped former WBO junior bantamweight and flyweight champion Adonis Rivas in the 10th round.

Arce-Rivas was the last flyweight title bout of the year but Wonjongkam was the last flyweight champion to see action. On December 23, he won a 5-round technical decision over Isidro Balabat of the Philippines. His scheduled non-title 10-rounder was the main support underneath Oleydong Sithsamerchai's defense of the WBC Youth straweight title. In that defense, the future WBC world strawweight champion won a 10-round, unanimous decision over Alex Aroy, also of the Philippines.

(continued)
Last edited by KSTAT124 on Thu Feb 23, 2012 10:41 pm, edited 7 times in total.
KSTAT124
TTR Rankings & Results Editor
TTR Rankings & Results Editor
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Post by KSTAT124 »

Wonjongkam and Arce continued to go their separate ways in 2006 when there were no offers that even remotely resembled what had been promised to them for their eventually canceled 2005 bout. Wonjongkam's people were content to keep him in Thailand in pursuit of the Hall of Famer Miguel Canto's record for successful title defenses while Arce's management pursued the "dream" bout Arce craved- a showdown with former WBA minimumweight and light flyweight champion Rosendo Alvarez, the WBC's no. 1 ranked flyweight contender. Alvarez was responsible for the only blemish on Mexican great Ricardo "Finito" Lopez' phenomenal 51-0-1 record- an 8-round technical draw.

Arce was the first of the 112-pound beltholders to answer the bell in '06. He defended the WBC interim title in a rematch with Rivas on January 28 and scored a 6th round TKO.

Lineal and WBC champion Wonjongkam was up next. On February 16, fighting in Chainart, Thailand, he defended his belt for the 13th time, posting an easy, unanimous 12-round decision over former WBA flyweight title challenger and then reigning WBC Continental Americas light flyweight champion Gilberto Keb Baas. It should be noted that Keb Baas' best win, a split decision over former WBC light flyweight champion and former WBO junior flyweight champion Melchor Cob Castro, had taken place six years earlier. The win over Castro was followed by an unsuccessful shot at then WBA champion Eric Morel. Since the points loss to Morel, Castro was 8-5. He won decisions over Francisco Garcia and Oscar Andrade in 2001 but his other 6 victories after that came against non-descript competitors. The most recent of those wins had brought him the WBC regional title at 108 pounds and, ranked in the WBC's top 15 at 112 pounds, Keb Baas was riding a modest 4-bout winning streak.

Darchinyan defended his IBF and IBO titles next. He gradually wore down a competitive Diosdado Gabi and stopped the Filipino challenger in the 8th round.

Arce got his wish with a bout against Alvarez on April 8. The bout wasn't held as the main event in a Mexican bullfighting ring as Arce had once envisioned it but instead took place at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada on the undercard the Zab Judah-Floyd Mayweather, Jr. bout for Judah's IBF and the vacant IBO welterweight titles, a bout Mayweather would win by unanimous decision. Alvarez failed to get down to the flyweight limit. He weighed in at 115 pounds. It wasn't surprising. The last time he weighed less than 114 pounds was when he beat Beibis Mendoza in October of 2004. He weighed 111 1/2 for that bout. The problem was he was scheduled to defend his WBA light flyweight title that night. He forfeited his title on the scales and when he defeated Mendoza for the third time in four meetings, the title remained vacant.

He and Arce, who weighed in precisely at 112, went on with their bout and Arce knocked out the 35-year-old Nicaraguan in the 6th round. It was Arce's last bout as a flyweight. He voluntarily relinquished the WBC interim title to campaign as a super flyweight.

Narvaez made his first 2006 appearance on April 21, scoring a 6th round TKO over veteran bantamweight Feliciano Dario Azuaga Ledesma of Paraguay in a non-title bout.

Wonjongkam then tied Canto's record in his next defense. On May 1, in Bangkok, Pongsaklek scored a 12-round, unanimous decision over Japanese challenger Daigo Nakahiro. Nakahiro owned an early career win over Kohei Kono, a second-round knockout of Samransak Singmanassak, and a unanimous, 10-round decision over Satoshi Takahashi but would had given credence to his status as a contender was his closely contested, 10-round split decision loss to Daisuke Naito. Since losing to Wonjongkam, Nakahiro has moved up to the super flyweight class, has beaten Masayuki Arinaga, Singmanassak for a second time, Kenji Yoshida, and has won the Japanese national title at that weight.

On June 3, Darchinyan made the 4th defense of his IBF title and the 3rd of his IBO belt. The highly ranked Mexican contender Luis Maldonado was his opponent. Maldonado came into the bout with a 31-1-1 record and sported victories over Gilberto Keb Baas, Franky Soto, Ruben Sanchez Leon, Oscar Arciniega, Francisco Garcia, and Tomas Rojas. In his bout prior to challenging Darchinyan, Maldonado fought to a draw in a WBC super flyweight title eliminator with future WBC-WBA super flyweight champion Cristian Mijares, a fighter Darchinyan would upset in 2008 to unify the IBF, WBC, and WBA titles at 115 pounds.

As for the Darchinyan-Maldonado bout, Darchinyan dominated until the bout was mercifully halted in the 8th round.

Wonjongkam, again fighting in Bangkok, broke Canto's mark on June 30. He defended his WBC title and the lineal title, one which traced back to Canto's January 8, 1975 win over Shoji Oguma, against two-time (1997, 2003) WBO flyweight title challenger and reigning WBC Continental Americas champion Everardo Morales. The Thai southpaw achieved his 15th successful title defense by stopping Morales in the 4th round.

Narvaez, in his second bout of the year, made his eighth defense of his reign as WBO champ on August 5. Fighting at home in Cordoba, Argentina, Omar scored a one-sided, unanimous decision over mandatory challenger Rexon Flores of the Philippines.

On October 7, Darchinyan retained his IBF and IBO straps with a brutal 6-round, unanimous technical decision over California-based Filipino, Glenn Donaire. Accidentally butted and the recipient of an accidental elbow, Donaire suffered a broken jaw in the third round. He was floored in the following stanza. After the bout was stopped during the sixth round because of Donaire's jaw injury, the scorecards were tallied and all had Darchinyan ahead, 60-53.

A week later, Narvaez made defense #9, winning a 12-round, unanimous decision decision over Colombian Walberto Ramos. Ramos had vacated the WBO Latino junior flyweight title to fight for the flyweight championship and had won a non-title "stay active" bout as a mini-flyweight in his fight prior to his title shot at 112 pounds.

The management of lineal and WBC champion Wonjongkam, now that their man was the proud owner of the record for most successful defenses by a flyweight champion, turned their attention to WBC mandatory challenger Monelisi Mhikiza "Showtime" Myekeni of South Africa. Myekeni, a former IBO junior flyweight champion, owned wins over Jose Garcia Bernal, Wyndel Janiola, and Sonny Boy Jaro, and had held the WBC International flywight title since beating Jaro in April of 2005. The bout was originally expected to be held in South Africa but when Myekeni's promoters entered a very low purse bid, Wonjongkam's promoters won the rights to the fight.

On November 17th, after flooring Myekeni in the first round, Wonjongkam cruised to a convincing 12-round, unanimous decision.

WBA champion Parra was sidelined by injury and was inactive the entire year. His scheduled October 14 defense against former WBA light flyweight champion Roberto Vasquez had to be canceled. As a result, the WBA had Vasquez and Takefumi Sakata fight for the sanctioning body's vacant interim title. On December 2, Vasquez won that belt by eking out a split decision win over Sakata in Bercy, France.

In 2007, only one of the fighters who began the year as a flyweight champion was still a flyweight champion when the year ended.

Wonjongkam was the first of the flyweight champions to fight in 2007. The lineal and WBC champion TKOed Filipino Lito Sisnorio in the fourth round of a non-title bout on January 26. Sisnorio had lost four of his last five bouts prior to meeting Pongsaklek but his only win during that period, which was sandwiched right in the middle of his defeats, was a fifth-round stoppage of previously unbeaten Fahpetchnoi Sor Chipattana. (Tragically, Sisnorio would die from injuries suffered in his next bout, a KO-4 loss to former lineal and WBC champion Chatchai Sasakul.)

Darchinyan was the first of the flyweight champions to defend his title in 2007. On March 3, he scored a frightening TKO-12 over former IBF junior flyweight champion Isaac Burgos. Burgos was rushed to a hospital and went emergency brain surgery. The operation was successful and Burgos survived.

A week after Darchinyan's almost tragic victory, Narvaez made his first defense of the year and tenth of his reign. He won a 12-round, unanimous decision over the Frenchman Brahim Asloum, a former WBA flyweight title challenger who would win the WBA light flyweight title before the year was over.

Parra became the first of the flyweight champions to lose his title in 2007. He failed to make the flyweight limit, weighing in at 116 3/4 pounds, for his third bout with Sakata, and lost the WBA championship on the scales. The title was on the line only for Sakata when the two fought on March 19. Had the Japanese challenger lost, the title would have remained vacant at least until the WBA decided whether or not to promote interim champ Vasquez to full champion status. Sakata spared the WBA championship commitee from having to make that decision. After a close first round, he pounded Parra in the second. The Venezuelan failed to come out of the third round, choosing to remain sitting on his stool after the bell rang. Sakata was declared the winner at fourteen seconds of the third round.

On April 6, Wonjongkam made the 17th successful defense of his lineal and WBC titles. After a proposed superfight with undefeated former WBA light flyweight champion Koki Kameda failed to materialize, he had signed to meet another Japanese contender, Tomonobu Shimizu. He stopped the 10-1 Shimizu in the seventh round, breaking the 25-year-old challenger's nose in the process. The total number of his bouts belied the extent of Shimizu's skill. A clever boxer, Shimizu owned wins over Hiroyuki Hisataka, Kenji Yoshida, and, in his bout before challenging Wonjongkam, Chitpattana. He would go on to win the Japanese national title and challenge for the WBC belt again.

July 2007 drastically altered the flyweight landscape. On July 1, Sakata "unified" the WBA title by winning a 12-round, unanimous decision over Vasquez. Unlike their somewhat controversial first meeting, there was no doubt as to won their rematch.

Six days afterwards, Darchinyan was shockingly upset by Glenn Donaire's younger brother, Nonito. The IBF and IBO champion was dethroned when after being floored by a devastating left hook in the fifth round, he was obviously in no shape to continue.

Darchinyan, though, would bounce back. He's since won the IBO, IBF, WBC, and WBA titles at 115 and is now scheduled to challenge for the IBF title at 118.

The long, record-setting reign of Pongsaklek Wonjongkam came to an end on July 18. Wonjongkam had agreed to defend his title against old rival Daisuke Naito for the third time because of financial considerations. There had been an offer to meet Darchinyan in a unification bout but the offer to fight Naito was accompanied by a possible paycheck more than three times what had been offered as compensation for fighting "The Raging Bull."

Wonjongkam fell behind in his bout with Naito and, although finishing strongly, lost a unanimous decision.

In the next flyweight title bout, Narvaez, the only one of the flyweight champions at the beginning of the year to still hold his championship, easily turned back the challenge of Marlon Marquez. On September 14, he stopped the Nicaraguan in the fourth round. Marquez' record showed losses to Vasquez and Mexico's Alejandro Hernandez but he did own a 12-round, unanimous decision over his countryman Evert Briceno, a former WBO junior flyweight title challenger.

Naito made the first defense of his lineal and WBC titles on October 11. He faced Daiki Kameda, Koki's younger brother, and, after a foul-filled fiasco, retained his title by unanimous decision. Daiki and his father, trainer Shiro Kameda, were suspended as a result of their actions during the bout.

Sakata and Donaire also retained their titles before the year was over. On November 11, Sakata fought to a 12-round draw with the 40-1 Denkaosan Kaovichit, whose only loss was to then WBA champ Eric Morel in 2002, and, on December 1, Donaire halted former Darchinyan challenger Luis Maldonado in the eighth round. Maldonado had won four in a row including an IBF eliminator over American Sergio Espinoza since losing to Darchinyan.

Narvaez made the first flyweight title defense of 2008. On January 25, he won a 12-round unanimous decision over former Olympian Carlos Tamara of Colombia, who earned his shot by upsetting then WBO #1 ranked Alejandro Hernandez.

Naito retained the lineal and WBC championships with a 12-round draw against Wonjongkam on March 8. Had the wild punching Naito been more accurate, he would have won. On the other hand, had the accurate punching Thai southpaw been busier, he won have regained the titles.

Three weeks later, Sakata met former OPBF light flyweight champion Shingo Yamaguchi, who had previously challenged, unsuccessfully, for the WBA light flyweight title. Yamaguchi, a veteran with wins over Wyndel Janiola, Nobuaki Masuda, Bert Batawang, Munetsugu Kayo, and Junichi Ebisuoka, lost on points after 12 hard-fought rounds.

Narvaez traveled to Spain to make the 13th defense of his reign. He stopped former European champion Ivan Pozo in seven rounds on May 9. Pozo would go on to regain the European diadem in 2009.

On July 30, Sakata and Naito fought, but not against each other. Sharing billing on a card at Tokyo's Yoyogi First Gym, the two champions defended against two of their countryman. Sakata won a 12-round, unanimous decision over Hiroyuki Hisataka, who owned victories over the Filipino knockout artist Batawang, future Thai champion Yuchi Eausampan, then Philippine Boxing Federation champ Federico Catubay, and, in his most recent bout, perennial contender Hussein Hussein.

Naito, behind on all three official scorecards, rallied to knock out former Wonjongkam challenger Tomonobu Shimizu in the 10th round.

Narvaez tied Miguel Canto for the second most successful title defenses by a flyweight champion, when, on September 20, he outpointed the aforementioned Alejandro Hernandez in title defense #14. Hernandez had defeated Jose Alberto Cuadros since losing to Tamara and owned wins over Abel Ochoa, Zacarias Chan, then South American and Argentine champion Raul Eliseo Medina, Gilberto Keb Baas, Jonathan Perez, and Marlon Marquez.

IBF and IBO champion Donaire was inactive for most of the year. A proposed big money defense against Hussein Hussein in Dubai, United Arab Emirates failed to materialize. Hussein went on to fight in an IBF eliminator against South African Moruti Mthalane and lose by unanimous decision. In his only title defense of 2008, Donaire, on November 1, defeated Mthalane, stopping the mandatory challenger in the 6th round.

Naito gave Yamaguchi a shot at the lineal and WBC titles on December 23. Daisuke had a much easier time than Sakata did. In control for most of the bout, Naito, well ahead on the judges' cards, stopped Yamaguchi in the 11th round.

On the last day of the year, Sakata became an ex-champion. He was knocked out in the second round of his rematch with Denkaosan Kaovichit.

So far in 2009, Narvaez has moved closer to Wonjongkam's record, Donaire has made a impressive defense in what may be his last appearance as a flyweight, and Wonjongkam has captured the interim version of his old WBC championship.

On February 7, in a "Battle of the Unbeatens", Narvaez retained the WBO for the 15th time (two shy of Wonjongkam's mark) by stopping WBO #1 ranked Rayonta Whitfield in th 10th round. Whitfield, an American, was the WBO's mandatory challenger and had defeated Luis Doria, Tamara, Jair Jimenez, Domingo Guillen, future WBO interim mini-flyweight champion Manuel "Chango" Vargas (in a WBO eliminator), and Wilfrido Valdez.

Donaire, after tentative plans to challenge for the vacant WBO junior bantamweight title did not pan out, decided to stay at 112 for one more defense of his IBF belt. On April 19, he took on undefeated American Raul Martinez who came down from the super flyweight/junior bantamweight class for the bout. Martinez, the reigning IBA and NABF champion at 115 pounds, had hoped to duplicate Donaire's feat. Donaire was the reigning NABF super flyweight champion at the time he came down a division to challenge and dethrone Darchinyan. The tough Texan, with wins over Andres Ledesma, Alex Becerra, Ilido Julio, Alex Baba, Benjamin Garcoia, former WBO champion Isidro Garcia, and previously undefeated Victor Proa, whom he knocked out in one round, proved to be no test for the dynamic Donaire. Floored four times during the bout, Martinez was finally rescued by referee Pete Podgorski in the 4th round.

Five days after Donaire's victory, Wonjongkam, who had posted four straight wins over unheralded opponents since his draw with Naito, fought Mexico's Julio Cesar Miranda, who had stopped highly regarded Omar Salado in a WBC eliminator. At stake was the vacant WBC interim title. After 12 rounds, the former champion won by unanimous decision. The scores by which Wonjongkam came won, 117-111, 119-110, and 118-109, did not reflect the effort put forth by the game, hard-punching Miranda. Wonjongkam deserved the victory but in no way did he have an easy time attaining it.

Both lineal and WBC champ Naito and WBA beltholder Kaovichit are scheduled to make optional defenses on May 26. Naito will be facing Xiong Zhao Zhong in Shanghai, China. If the Chinese challenger wins, it could possibly be the biggest upset in flyweight history and possibly in the entire history of professional boxing. Kaovichit will be fighting at home in Thailand against former WBA title challenger Hiroyuki Hisataka who has knocked out unranked Yuki Takahashi since losing to Sakata.

The splintering of the flyweight title will continue on June 27 when a bout the WBA has sanctioned for its vacant interim title will take place In Mexico. Undefeated former WBA light flyweight champion Koki Kameda, the WBA's # 1 contender and official challenger, will be taking on Salado, who, since losing to Miranda, has outpointed California-based Brazilian Jose Albuquerque.

So, we're up-to-date and I think we can plainly see that Naito is indeed the lineal champion. His title's lineage dates back to the January 8, 1975 bout between Shoji Oguma and Miguel Canto. That's thirty-four years of uninterrupted history. It's a lineage The Ring recognized and endorsed until stopping publication in 1989 at a time when Yong Kang Kim was not only the WBC titlist but the lineal champion and The Ring's champion. When The Ring resumed publication under new ownership, it adopted a policy of just listing the top ten for each division. When The Ring decided to again recognize the "real" champion of each division, they "started anew"- in other words, they chose not to trace the lineage of any of the titles and acted, at least when it came to world titles, as if boxing began after 2000. Thus, true flyweight champions Sot Chitalada (in his second reign, The Ring recognized his first), Muangchai Kittikasem, Yuri Arbachakov, Chatchai Elite-Gym (AKA Dutch Boy Gym, AKA Sasakul), Manny Pacquiao, Medgoen 3-K Battery (AKA Singsurat), Malcolm Tunacao, Wonjongkam, and Naito have been denied their due. Those men weren't simply WBC champions. They were lineal champions who should have been or, in the case of Naito, should be recognized as such by "The Bible of Boxing." Fortunately, the International Boxing Research Organization-affiliated Cyber Boxing Zone does recognize the true lineage and thus affords these fighters the lineal designation.
Last edited by KSTAT124 on Sat Aug 22, 2009 5:13 am, edited 2 times in total.
KSTAT124
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Post by KSTAT124 »

In keeping the flyweight division's post- January 1937 history up to date, here's what happened earlier today:

in Uttaradit, Thailand, WBA champion Denkaosan Kaovichit retained his title with a split decision over Japanese challenger Hiroyuki Hisataka and, in a bout originally scheduled to take place in Shanghai, China but shifted to Tokyo three days ago, lineal and WBC champion Daisuke Naito rose from a 6th round knockdown and overcame cuts by both eyes to unanimously outpoint Xiong Zhao Zhong, the first male Chinese boxer to challenge for a world title.
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Post by KSTAT124 »

Again, in keeping the flyweight's post-1937 history up to date:

-on June 26, Omar Narvaez made his second successful defense in 2009 and the 16th successful defense of his reign as the WBO flyweight champion by knocking out Mexican challenger Omar "Lobito" Soto in the 11th round of a bout held in Buenos Aires

-the WBA interim title bout between Koki Kameda and Omar Salado slated for June 27 was canceled.
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Post by KSTAT124 »

Nonito Donaire voluntarily relinquished his IBF flyweight title and, as of the IBF rankings posted July 14, 2009, was no longer listed as the champion. Donaire is moving back to the super flyweight division and will be fighting Rafael Concepcion of Panama for the vacant WBA interim title at that weight August 15. Concepcion is a former WBA interm champ at 115. He beat AJ Banal for the vacant title but lost it to Jorge Arce.

Pongsaklek Wonjongkam will make the first defense of his WBC interim title on August 28. He'll be facing Japan's Takahisa Masuda in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

The vacant WBA interim flyweight title will be on the line September 5. Omar Salado will be one of the combatants; the other will be not be Koki Kameda but, instead, will be Luis "El Nica" Concepcion of Panama. "El Nica" owns over Juan Esquer, Noel Arambulet, and Santiago Ivan Acosta.

Koki Kameda's brother, Daiki, who has an August 30 bout with Jose Alberto Cuadros of Mexico coming up, is slated to get his second shot at a world title when he challenges WBA champ Denkaosan Kaovichit on October 6 in Osaka, Japan.
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Post by KSTAT124 »

Update:

Donaire made his return to the super flyweight division a successful one when he outpointed Rafael Concepcion over 12 rounds to win the vacant WBA interim title at 115 pounds on August 15.

Wonjongkam successfully defended the WBC interim flyweight title for the first time when he stopped Takahisa Masuda in the 6th round on August 28.

Daika Kameda won his August 30 tuneup, KOing Jose Alberto Cuadros, in 4 rounds, to set up his October 6 challenge of WBA flyweight champion Denkaosan Kaovichit.

On September 5, Luis Concepcion TKOed Omar Salado in the 12th round to win the vacant WBA interim flyweight title.

Omar Narvaez will be defending the WBO flyweight title for the 17th time when he takes on Victor Zaleta October 3. If Narvaez retains his title, he'll tie Wonjongkam for the most consecutive successful title defenses by a flyweight champion.

Julio Cesar "Pingo" Miranda and Moruti "Babyface" Mthalane will fight for the vacant IBF flyweight title on November 20.

Daiki Kameda's older brother, Koki, is scheduled to challenge WBC and lineal champion Daisuke Naito on November 29.
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Post by KSTAT124 »

Update:

The October 3 Narvaez-Zaleta WBO title bout was canceled.

On October 6, in Osaka, Osaka, Japan, Kaovichit retained the WBA title with a 12-round, majority decision over Daiki Kameda.

WBA interim champion Concepcion is scheduled to make his first defense November 19 in Panama City, Panama. His challenger will be former IBF mini-flyweight champion Roberto Carlos Leyva.

The Miranda-Mthalane bout for the vacant IBF title is off the schedule while negotiations continue.

The Naito-Koki Kameda bout for lineal and WBC titles is still on for November 29 in Saitama, Saitama, Japan.
Last edited by KSTAT124 on Wed Jun 01, 2011 7:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by KSTAT124 »

Update:

Moruti Mthalane won the vacant IBF title with a 12-round, unanimous decision over Julio Cesar Miranda. The two fought in Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa on November 20.

A week later, in Panama City, Panama, Luis "El Nica" Concepcion successfully defended the WBA interim title for the first time by knocking out former IBF mini-flyweight champion Roberto "Mako" Leyva in the fourth round.

On November 29, in Saitama, Saitama, Japan, former WBA light flyweight champion Koki Kameda won the lineal and WBC titles from defending champion Daisuke Naito by unanimous decision.
Last edited by KSTAT124 on Wed Jun 01, 2011 7:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by KSTAT124 »

Update:

On February 7, 2010, in Kobe, Hyogo, Japan, Daiki Kameda, challenging for a world flyweight title for the third time, captured the WBA belt with a 12-round, unanimous decision over defending champion Denkaosan Kaovichit (AKA Denkaosan Singwancha).

On February 24, WBO champion Omar Narvaez stayed active with a 10-round, unanimous decision over fellow Argentinian Santiago Ivan Acosta. The non-title bout, fought in Comodoro Rivadavia, Chubut, Argentina, was a tuneup for Narvaez' May 15 defense against WBO #1 ranked Jesus "Destroyer" Jimenez of Mexico. It will be the 17th time Narvaez has put his title on the line. If he retains it, he will tie Pongsaklek Wonjongkam's divisional record. The Narvaez-Jimenez fight will be held in Luna Park Stadium in Buenos Aires.

Speaking of Wonjongkam, currently the WBC interim champion, he will be challenging lineal and WBC champion Koki Kameda, Daiki's older brother, on March 27 in Tokyo. He'll be trying to regain the titles he held from March 2, 2001 until July 18, 2007. Ironically, the vacant Ring Magazine title will be also be up for grabs.

Ring recognized the current lineage from its beginning with the January 8, 1975 bout between challenger Miguel Canto and defending WBC champion Shoji Oguma until it stopped publishing in 1989. When the magazine resumed publication, its new owners did not continue the magazine's policy of recognizing champions. It wasn't until 2001-2002 that The Ring resumed doing so and did not do it retroactively. Thus the valid lineages in the flyweight, featherweight, welterweight, and light heavyweight divisions were ignored. Marco Antonio Barrera, the true lineal featherweight champion from the time he dethroned the previous lineal champ, Prince Naseem Hamed, in 2001, did gain recognition when he defeated Erik Morales in 2002. Vernon Forrest, who won the lineal title from Shane Mosley in January 2002, also gained the vacant Ring title with that victory. However, The Ring opted to recognize Roy Jones, Jr. as the light heavyweight champion when Dariusz Michalczewski was the rightful lineal champ and has not recognized a flyweight champion since Yong Kang Kim, the flyweight kingpin at the time The Ring ceased publication in 1989.
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Post by KSTAT124 »

Update:

On March 27 in Tokyo, Pongsaklek Wonjongkam regained the lineal and WBC titles and won the vacant Ring Magazine championship with a 12-round, majority decision over Koki Kameda.

Luis Concepcion will defend the WBA interim title against former WBC light flyweight champion Eric Ortiz on April 22 in Panama City. It will be Concepcion's second defense of the interim belt.

The Omar Narvaez-Jesus Jimenez WBO title bout is off. Narvaez will be fighting Nicaraguan veteran Evert Briceno, the WBO's #1 ranked junior bantamweight contender, for the interim version of the WBO junior bantamweight title on May 15 instead. That bout will take place in Buenos Aires.
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Post by KSTAT124 »

Update:

I'll break this update down organization by organization:

WBA:

4/22/10- Luis Concepcion retained the WBA interim title by stopping former WBC light flyweight champion Eric Ortiz in the 4th round; Panama City, Panama.

7/25/10- WBA champion Daiki Kameda unanimously outpointed Rosendo Vega over 10 rounds in a non-title bout; Osaka, Osaka, Japan.

8/14/10- WBA Interim champion Luis Concepcion knocked out Wilfrido Valdez in the first round of a non-title 8-rounder; Panama City, Panama.

Scheduled:

9/25/10- Daiki Kameda to defend against former WBA champion Takefumi Sakata; Tokyo, Japan.

10/2/10- Luis Concepcion to defend against former WBA champion Denkaosan Kaovchit; Panama City, Panama.

WBO:

5/15/10- With WBO junior bantamweight champion Jorge Arce relinquishing the title to campaign as a bantamweight title, the bout between long time WBO flyweight champion Omar Narvaez and Everth Briceno was contested for the vacant WBO world junior bantamweight title rather than the interim title as originally announced. Narvaez won by unanimous decision after 12 rounds. The bout was held in Buenos Aires.

6/12/10- Julio Cesar Miranda won the WBO flyweight title Narvaez relinquished by stopping Richie Mepranum in the 5th round; Puebla, Puebla, Mexico.

Scheduled:

9/4/10- Julio Cesar Miranda will make his first title defense when he faces Ronald Ramos in Chihuahua, Chihuahua, Mexico.

WBC:

7/2/10- WBC champion Pongsaklek Wonjongkam knocked out Rey Megrino in the first round of a scheduled 10-round non-title bout; Nakhon Pathom, Thailand.

Scheduled:

10/8/10- Pongsaklek Wonjongkam will defend the lineal, Ring Magazine, and WBC titles against Suriyan Por Chokchai (AKA Suriyan Petchpayarknum) in Muang, Srisaket, Thailand.

IBF:

Scheduled:

9/1/10- Moruti Mthalane will make his first defense when he faces mandatory challenger Zolani Tete in Brakpan, Gauteng, South Africa.
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Post by KSTAT124 »

Update:

Again, by organization:

WBA-

9/25/10- Daiki Kameda retained the WBA title by unanimously outpointing former WBA champion Takefumi Sakata over 12 rounds in Tokyo, Japan.

10/2/10- Luis Concepcion retained the WBA interim title by stopping former WBA champion Denkaosan Kaovichit in the first round in Panama City, Panama.

12/26/10- Daiki Kameda retained the WBA title with a split decision over Silvio Olteanu after 12 rounds. The bout was held in Saitama, Saitama, Japan.

1/4/11- Daiki Kameda voluntarily relinquished the WBA title to campaign as a super flyweight. The WBA then upgraded Luis Concepcion to world champion.

WBO-

9/4/10- Julio Cesar Miranda retained the WBO title with an 8th round TKO over Ronald Ramos in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico.

10/16/10- Julio Cesar Miranda stopped Michael Arango in the second round to retain the WBO title. The bout was also held in Monterrey.

Scheduled:

2/12/11- Julio Cesar Miranda will make his third defense of the WBO title against a yet-to-be-named opponent in Mexico.

WBC:

10/8/10- Pongsaklek Wonjongkam retained the lineal, WBC, and Ring Magazine titles with a 12-round, unanimous decision over Suriyan Por Chokchai in Muang, Srisaket, Thailand.

1/6/11- Lineal, WBC, and Ring Magazine champion Pongsaklek Wonjongkam stopped Heri Purnomo in the 4th round of a non-title bout held in Nakhon Phanom, Thailand.

IBF:

9/1/10- Moruti Mthalane retained the IBF title by stopping mandatory challenger Zolani Tete in the 5th round. The bout was held in Brakpan, Gauteng, South Africa.
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Post by KSTAT124 »

Update:

WBA:

1/29/11- Jean Piero Perez unanimously outpointed Jesus "Destroyer" Jimenez over 12 rounds to win the vacant WBA interim title; Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico.

4/2/11- Hernan "Tyson" Marquez stopped defending champion Luis Concepcion in the 11th round to win the WBA title; Marquez was knocked down in the first round; Concepcion was knocked down in the first, third, and tenth rounds; Panama City, Panama.

Scheduled:

6/10/11- Perez will defend the interim title against former two-time WBA light flyweight champion Juan Carlos Reveco in Las Heras, Mendoza, Argentina.

7/2/11- Marquez will defend the WBA title against Silviu (Silvio) Olteanu in Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico.

WBO:

2/26/11- Julio Cesar Miranda retained the WBO title by stopping Arden Diale in the 4th round; Diale floored Miranda in the first round but the defending champion decked Diale in the 3rd round and twice in the 4th; Queretaro, Queretaro, Mexico.

Scheduled:

7/16/11- Miranda will defend the WBO title in Hawaii against former two-time (once WBC; once IBF) champion at 108 pounds Brian Viloria.

WBC:

While waiting for mandatory challenger Edgar Sosa to become available, lineal, Ring Magazine, and WBC champion Pongsaklek Wonjongkam engaged in two more non-title bouts:

1/28/11- Wonjongkam knocked out Ego Yohan in the third round of a scheduled six-rounder; Phayuhakiri, Nakhon Sawan, Thailand.

3/25/11- Wonjongkam stopped late substitute Muhammad Nurfawaid in the 5th round of a scheduled six; Nurfawaid subbed for Marvin Tampus (AKA Tampus M. Singwancha); Sara Buri, Thailand.

Scheduled:

7/1/11- Wonjongkam will defend the lineal, Ring Magazine, and WBC titles against Takuya Kogawa in Thailand. (Note: Sosa is fighting July 2. If both he and Wonjongkam are victorious, they are expected to met in the fall, possibly in September.)

IBF:

3/26/11- Moruti Mthalane retained the IBF title by scoring a 5th round TKO over former WBO interim junior flyweight champion Johnriel Casimero; Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa.
Last edited by KSTAT124 on Thu Feb 23, 2012 10:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by KSTAT124 »

Update:

WBA:

6/10/11- Juan Carlos Reveco knocked out defending WBA interim champion Jean Piero Perez in the 2nd round; Las Heras, Mendoza, Argentina.

7/2/11- Defending WBA champion Hernan Marquez stopped Edrin Dapudong in the third round; Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico.

September 2011- the WBA changed Reveco's status from Interim Champion to Champion in Recess until he straightens out his problems with his manager.

Scheduled:

10/29/11- Hernan Marquez will defend his WBA title against former WBA champion Luis Concepcion; Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico.

WBC:

7/1/11- Lineal, Ring Magazine, and WBC champion Pongsaklek Wonjongkam retained his titles by winning a 12-round, unanimous decision over Takuya Kogawa.

8/4/11- Lineal, Ring Magazine, and WBC champion Pongsaklek Wonjongkam won a non-title bout by halting late substitute Pakasit Twins Gym. Wonjongkam's original opponent, regionally ranked Filipino veteran Dondea Jimenea, withdrew from the contest.

Scheduled:

10/28/11- Pongsaklek Wonjongkam will defend the lineal, Ring Magazine, and WBC titles against WBC mandatory challenger Edgar Sosa, the former WBC light flyweight champion and current WBC International flyweight champion, in Thailand.

WBO:

7/16/11- Former WBC light flyweight and IBF junior flyweight champion Brian Viloria unanimously outpointed defending WBO champ Julio Cesar Miranda after 12 rounds; Honolulu, Hawaii.

IBF:

Scheduled:

9/23/11- IBF champion Moruti Mthalane is slated to defend his title against two-time WBO flyweight title challenger Andrea Sarritzu; Cagliari, Sardegna, Italy.
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Post by KSTAT124 »

Update:

WBC-

10/21/11- Bangkok, Thailand- Lineal, WBC, and Ring Magazine champion Pongsaklek Wonjongkam retained his titles with a well-earned 12-round, unanimous decision over mandatory challenger Edgar Sosa.

12/23/11- Bangkok, Thailand- Lineal, WBC, and Ring Magazine champion Pongsaklek Wonjongkam retained his titles when his bout with Hirofumi Mukai was declared a one-round technical draw. Forty-seven seconds into the bout, an accidental clash of heads had left Mukai badly cut and unable to continue.

IBF-

10/28/11- Cagliari, Sardegna, Italy- IBF champion Moruti Mthalane retained his title by stopping mandatory challenger Andrea Sarritzu in the seventh round.

WBA-

10/29/11- Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico- WBA champion Hernan "Tyson" Marquez retained his title by halting former WBA champion Luis Concepcion in the first round.

11/1/11- The WBA, in their ratings based on results through October 31, 2011, listed Juan Reveco as their Interim Champion without the "In Recess" designation.

WBO-

12/11/11- Pasig City, Metro Manila, Philippines- WBO champion Brian Viloria retained his title by halting heavily favored mandatory challenger Giovani Segura in the eighth round.
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Re: THE HISTORY OF THE FLYWEIGHT DIVISION SINCE JANUARY 1937

Post by KSTAT124 »

RESULTS:

WBC-

3/12/12- Chonburi, Thailand- Sonny Boy Jaro scored a monumental upset by stopping defending lineal, WBC, and Ring Magazine champion Pongsaklek Wonjongkam in the 6th round.

7/16/12- Kasukabe, Saitama, Japan- Toshiyuki Igarashi won the lineal, WBC, and Ring Magazine titles with a 12-round, split decision over defending champion Sonny Boy Jaro.

WBA-

3/24/12- Ciudad Obregon, Sonora, Mexico- WBA champion Hernan "Tyson" Marquez scored a 10-round, unanimous decisdion over Richie Mepranum in a non-title bout. Marquez was originally scheduled to defend the WBA title against Rodel Mayol but Mayol pulled out of the bout at the last minute. Mepranum, who owns a win over Marquez, was slated to fight on the Marquez-Mayol undercard.

5/11/12- Cordoba, Cordoba, Argentina- Juan Carlos Reveco retained the WBA interim title with a 12-round, unanimous decision over previously unbeaten Karim Guerfi.

7/14/12- Culiacan, Sinaloa, Mexico- In a non-title bout, WBA champion Hernan "Tyson" Marquez won a 10-round, majority decision over UBO bantamweight champion Fernando Lumacad.

WBO-

5/13/12- Pasig City, Metro Manila, Philippines- Brian Viloria retained the WBO title by stopping Omar Nino (Omar Nino Romero) in the 9th round.

SCHEDULE:

9/1/12- Panama City, Panama- IBF champion Moruti Mthalane will defend his title against mandatory challenger Ricardo Nunez.

9/29/12- Carson, California- WBO champion Brian Viloria and WBA champion Hernan Marquez are slated to meet with the WBO title and the vacant WBA Super championship on the line.
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Re: THE HISTORY OF THE FLYWEIGHT DIVISION SINCE JANUARY 1937

Post by KSTAT124 »

UPDATE:

RESULTS:

IBF-

9/1/12- Panama City, Panama- Champion Moruti Mthalane stopped mandatory challenger Ricardo Nunez in the eighth round.

WBC-

11/3/12- Sendai, Miyagi, Japan- Lineal, Ring Magazine, and WBC champion Toshiyuki Igarashi retained his titles with a 12-round, majority decision over Nestor David Narvaes.

WBA-

11/10/12- Malargue, Mendoza, Argentina- WBA Interim champion Juan Carlos Reveco retained his title with a 12-round, unanimous decision over Julian Rivera.

WBO and WBA-

11/17/12- Los Angeles, California- In a twice-postponed bout that was well worth waiting for, WBO champion Brian Viloria halted WBA champion Hernan "Tyson" Marquez in the 10th round to retain the WBO title and win the vacant WBA Super Championship.

WBA-

The WBA upgraded Reveco to full champion after Viloria unified the WBO and WBA titles to become the WBA Unified Champion.

Schedule-

WBA-

2/27/13- Kawasaki, Kanagawa, Japan- Champion Juan Carlos Reveco vs. Challenger Masayuki Kuroda.
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Re: THE HISTORY OF THE FLYWEIGHT DIVISION SINCE JANUARY 1937

Post by KSTAT124 »

UPDATE:

RESULTS:

2/27/13- Kawasaki, Kanagawa, Japan- WBA Champion Juan Carlos Reveco UD 12 challenger Masayuki Kuroda

4/6/13- Macao, Macao S.A.R., China- challenger Juan Francisco Estrada SD 12 WBA Unified Champion/WBO Champion Brian Viloria

4/8/13- Tokyo, Japan- challenger Akira Yaegashi UD 12 Lineal, WBC, and Ring Magazine Champion Toshiyuki Igarashi

4/26/13- Khon Kaen, Thailand- challenger Kompayak Porpramook TKO-6 challenger Jean Piero Perez to win the vacant WBA Interim title

SCHEDULE:

7/27/13- Macao, Macao S.A.R., China- WBA Unified Champion/WBO Champion Juan Francisco Estrada vs. WBO mandatory challenger Milan Melindo
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Re: THE HISTORY OF THE FLYWEIGHT DIVISION SINCE JANUARY 1937

Post by Peat56 »

I think a prime Michael Carbajal is dangerous against any 112 pound history.

But I often wonder how Ricardo Lopez would have done at Flyweight. He never fought amongst those guys.

But like the small Rocky Marciano, it's unavoidable to envision him fighting larger, well known guys in his weight range.
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Re: THE HISTORY OF THE FLYWEIGHT DIVISION SINCE JANUARY 1937

Post by KSTAT124 »

Peat56 wrote:I think a prime Michael Carbajal is dangerous against any 112 pound history.

But I often wonder how Ricardo Lopez would have done at Flyweight. He never fought amongst those guys.

But like the small Rocky Marciano, it's unavoidable to envision him fighting larger, well known guys in his weight range.
Both Carbajal and Lopez are Hall of Famers. Carbajal was a great champion at 108 pounds. Lopez was a great champion at 105 pounds and won a title at 108 pounds.

However, this thread is about the actual history of the flyweight division since January 1937. It's not about hypothetical matchups. As you will see by my next post, it's about the ongoing history of the flyweight division.
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Re: THE HISTORY OF THE FLYWEIGHT DIVISION SINCE JANUARY 1937

Post by KSTAT124 »

UPDATE:

RESULT:

WBA-

6/22/13- General Alvear, Mendoza, Argentina- Champion Juan Carlos Reveco TKO-8 Ulises Lara

SCHEDULE:

WBA and WBO:

7/27/13- Macao, Macao S.A.R., China- WBA Unified Champion/WBO Champion Juan Francisco Estrada vs. Milan Melindo

WBA:

8/1/13- Bangkok, Thailand- Interim Champion Kompayak Porpramook vs. Koki Eto

Lineal, WBC, and Ring Magazine:

8/12/13- Tokyo, Japan- Champion Akira Yaegashi vs. Oscar Blanquet
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Re: THE HISTORY OF THE FLYWEIGHT DIVISION SINCE JANUARY 1937

Post by KSTAT124 »

UPDATE:

RESULTS:

WBA and WBO:

7/27/13- Macao, Macao S.A.R., China- WBA Unified Champion/WBO Champion Juan Francisco Estrada UD 12 WBO Mandatory Challenger Milan Melindo

WBA:

8/1/13- Bangkok, Thailand- Challenger Koki Eto UD 12 Interim Champion Kompayak Porpramook

Lineal, WBC, and Ring Magazine-

8/12/13- Tokyo, Japan- Champion Akira Yaegashi UD 12 Challenger Oscar Blanquet

WBA:

10/12/13- San Martin, Mendoza, Argentina- Champion Juan Carlos Reveco Unan. Tech. Dec. 8 Challenger Ricardo Nunez

IBF:

10/19/13- Leipzig, Sachsen, Germany- Champion Moruti Mthalane vs. Mandatory Challenger Silvio Olteanu- CANCELED (The IBF has since withdrawn mandatory challenger status from Olteanu. Amnat Ruenroeng has been named the IBF's new mandatory challenger for Mthalane's title.)

SCHEDULE:

WBA:

11/29/13- Chonburi, Thailand- Interim Champion Koki Eto vs. Challenger Yodmongkol Vor Saengthep (AKA Yodmongkol CP Freshmart)

Lineal, WBC, Ring Magazine-

12/6/13- Tokyo, Japan- Champion Akira Yaegashi vs. Mandatory Challenger Edgar Sosa
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Re: THE HISTORY OF THE FLYWEIGHT DIVISION SINCE JANUARY 1937

Post by KSTAT124 »

UPDATE:

WBA:

November 29, 2013- Chonburi, Thailand- Yodmongkol Vor Saengthep stopped defending champion Koki Eto in the 12th round to win the WBA Interim World title.

Lineal, WBC, and Ring Magazine:

December 6, 2013- Tokyo, Japan- defending champion Akira Yaegashi successfully retained his titles by unanimously outpointing mandatory challenger Edgar Sosa over 12 rounds.

IBF:

January 13, 2014- Moruti Mthalane (29-2, 20 KOs) pulled out of his scheduled mandatory title defense against Amnat Ruenroeng (IBF #7; 11-0, 5 KOs). The bout had been slated to be held in Thailand on January 25, 2014.

By withdrawing from his bout with Ruenroeng, who held both the IBF Asia and IBF Pan Pacific flyweight titles, Mthalane vacated the IBF world flyweight title he won on November 20, 2009 and had successfully defended four times.

January 22, 2014- Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand- Amnat Ruenroeng unanimously outpointed Rocky Fuentes over 12 rounds to win the vacant IBF world flyweight title.

SCHEDULE:

WBA:

February 15, 2014- Buenos Aires, Argentina- Champion Juan Carlos Reveco vs. challenger Manuel Vides.

IBO:

March 15, 2014- Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa- challenger Moruti Mthalane vs. challenger Jether Oliva

- The previous IBO World flyweight champions were Scotty Olson (1994-1998), Zolile Mbityi (1999-2000), Damaen Kelly (2000-2001), Masibulele "Hawk" Makepula (2002), Mzukisi Sikali (2002-2005), Vic Darchinyan (2005-2007), Nonito Donaire (2007-2009), and Cesar Seda, Jr. (2009-2010).
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Re: THE HISTORY OF THE FLYWEIGHT DIVISION SINCE JANUARY 1937

Post by KSTAT124 »

UPDATE:

RESULTS:

3/14/14- Nahkon Ratchasima, Thailand- WBA Interim champion Yodmongkol Vor Saengthep MD 12 challenger Takuya Kogawa

3/15/14- Durban, KwaZulu-Netal, South Africa- challenger Moruti Mthalane SD 12 challenger Jether Oliva.....Mthalane won vacant IBO title

3/21/14- Benavidez, Buenos Aires, Argentina- WBA champion Juan Carlos Reveco KO-2 challenger Manuel Vides

4/6/14- Tokyo, Japan- Lineal, WBC, and Ring Magazine Akira Yaegashi KO-9 challenger Odilon Zaleta

4/26/14- Puerto Penasco, Sonora, Mexico- WBA Unified champion/WBO champion Juan Francisco Estrada TKO-10 challenger Richie Mepranum

5/7/14- Osaka, Osaka, Japan- IBF champion Amnat Ruenroeng SD 12 challenger Kazuta Ioka

SCHEDULE:

6/6/14- Benavidez, Buenos Aires, Argentina- WBA champion Juan Carlos Reveco vs. challenger Felix Alvarado
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Re: THE HISTORY OF THE FLYWEIGHT DIVISION SINCE JANUARY 1937

Post by KSTAT124 »

UPDATE:

RESULT:

6/6/14- Benavidez, Buenos Aires, Argentina- WBA champion Juan Carlos Reveco UD 12 challenger Felix Alvarado

SCHEDULE:

9/5/14- Tokyo, Japan- Lineal, WBC, and Ring Magazine champion Akira Yaegashi vs. WBC mandatory challenger Roman Gonzalez

9/6/14- Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico- WBA Unified champion/WBO champion Juan Francisco Estrada vs. WBO mandatory challenger Giovani Segura

9/10/14- Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand- IBF champion Amnat Ruenroeng vs. IBF mandatory challenger McWilliams Arroyo

(Note: the WBA ordered WBA champion Juan Carlos Reveco and WBA Interim champion and Official Challenger Yodmongkol Vor Saengthep to reach an agreement to face each other or else their bout would go to purse bids. It has been reported that they have reached an agreement and that their mandatory unification bout will take place in Argentina in early October.)

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