Ken Shiro and Some Real Light Flyweight Facts and Statistics
By Teodoro Medina Reynoso
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 22 Dec 2019
Ken Shiro in action against Milan Melindo of the Philippines.
Reigning World Boxing Council light flyweight champion Kenshiro Teraji makes the seventh defense of his title against Filipino challenger and former interim titleholder Randy Petalcorin tomorrow night in Yokohama, Japan.
The fight is among the main support bouts in the main event featuring WBA middleweight champion Ryota Murata in the first defense of his newly regained world title against Canadian challenger Steven Butler and Murothi Mthalane defending his IBF flyweight crown against many time former titlist Akira Yaegashi. Also on tap is ex multi division world champion Roman "Chocolatito" Gonzalez continuing his comebaçk against Filipino journeyman Diomel Diocos in a 10 round non title fight at super flyweight.
In the pre fight press conference, Teraji who was known formerly as simply Kenshiro, vowed to defeat Petalcorin and make him a mere statistics on the way to breaking what he claimed as the WBC record of 13 successful title defenses in the division.
Based on the odds, he may well accomplish his initial target of making his seventh title defense against the Filipino who is a somewhat late substitute for his original opponent IBF light flyweight titlist Felix Alvarado of Nicaragua.
Teraji and Alvarado were supposed to clash in a WBC-IBF title unification but Alvarado, who won the vacant IBF title by TKO over the same Petalcorin late last year in Manila, withdrew from the fight a month ago due to alleged injuries.
Teraji however got his facts and statistics all wrong and muddled up about the record in title defenses in the division.
The existing WBC record for consecutive title defenses is 15 as registered by then South Korean champion Chang Jung Koo who reigned for much of the 80s.
But the standing record for the light flyweight division is 17 as set by then WBA champion Myung Mu Woo also of South Korea in the mid 80s through the early 1990s.
Teraji may be referring to the previous record of 13 successful title defenses made in the division which was accomplished in the mid 70s through the early 80s by Yoko Gushiken, a fellow Japanese. But still, that was in defense of the WBA title, not of the WBC's.
The second longest title reign in the WBC is 10 successful title defenses set by Saman Surjaturong of Thailand who knocked out the legendary Humberto Chiquita Gonzales for the title and reigned from in the late 80s through the mid 90s.
Donnie Ahas Nietes also had ten successful title defense of his WBO world light flyweight title from 2012-2017 before he moved up in weight and won two more world championships in the flyweight and super flyweight classes.
Ken Shiro has a lot of fighting to do to get near to his dream of breaking the official records in the division as far as the WBC is concerned.
That is if he manages to turn back the challenge of Petalcorin.
The author Teodoro Medina Reynoso is a veteran boxing radio talk show host living in the Philippines. He can be reached at teddyreynoso@yahoo.com and by phone 09215309477.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Teodoro Medina Reynoso.
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