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

(Pictured: Hall of Famer Benny Lynch)

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.

Article By: Ken Pollitt