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Philippines, 31 May 2026 |
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Our Continuing Malaise at Flyweight: Who Will Finally End the Title Drought? (Part 1) By Teodoro Medina Reynoso PhilBoxing.com Sun, 20 Mar 2022  Filipino Hall of Famer Francisco Guilledo popularly known as Pancho Villa reigned as the first Filipino world flyweight champion. When modern boxing was introduced in the Philippines at the turn of the last century, Filipinos took to the sport like ducks to water and immediately established themselves especially in that weight category called flyweight. With the maximum weight limit of 112 lbs., the flyweight class seemed to fit the Filipino physique well, as other Asians as Japanese, Thais and Chinese would discover years and decades later, winning their first world pro boxing titles in the division. The Philippines antedated its neighbors, notching its first world flyweight championship in the 1920s through Ilonggo Francisco Guilledo better known as Pancho Villa. Villa would start a line of Filipino world champions in the division in the succeeding two decades before the outbreak of the Pacific War through Benjamin Gan better known as Small Montana and Eleuterio Zapata (Little Dado). After the War, in the 50s, that lineage would be re-established by Salvador "Dado" Marino, of pure Filipino stock raised in Hawaii, who became our first Fil-American world boxing champion by beating Terry Allen the defending titlist from the UK. Ironically, it was from Marino that Japan won its first world boxing championship through Yoshio Shirai. That line would continue in the 60s and 70s through Bernabe Villacampo and Erbito Salavarria who was the first Filipino two time world flyweight champion, winning first the WBC then the WBA crown. They would be followed in the 80s by Frank Cedeno, Dodie Boy Peñalosa and Rolando Bohol. However, the 80s would see the unbundling of the flyweight with the creation of the light flyweight and the minimumweight classes with respective weight limits of 108 and 105 lbs. The minimumweight however has since seemingly established an identity of its own through the years, though many of its champions later moved up and became world titlists in the light flyweight and the flyweight classes. The multiplication of the boxing divisions in general and specifically in the flyweight has helped produced many world champions for the Philippines since the 1980s. In fact, of the current total of 45 Filipino world boxing champions, more than half won their titles either at the light flyweight or flyweight divisions. Much of the 80s and 90s however would see an unbundled flyweight being dominated by Mexican and other fighters from Latin America who would be fiercely challenged by European, mainly British, competitors as well as resurgent and emerging fighters from Japan, Thailand and South Korea. But near the tail-end of the 90s, the drought would end with the emergence of Manny Pacquiao who would become the WBC and lineal world flyweight champion by knocking out Thailand's Chatchai Sasakul who had earlier won those titles over Russia's Yuri Arbachakov. But after two years, Pacquiao would outgrow the division and virtually lose his title at the weight scale and later in the ring to another Thai, Medgoen Singsurat 3K Battery. Malcolm Tuñacao though would immediately regain that title at the start of the new millennium, the year 2000 by knocking out Singsurat in Thailand. His reign though would be short lived as after a successful defense, a draw versus Japanese fighter Celes Kobayashi, Malcolm would lose the title to yet another Thai in Pongsaklek Wonjongkam who would reign for much of the decade ended for a brief time by Japanese Daisuke Naito in 2007 and after he won it again, with finality by Filipino Sonny Boy in 2012. The 2000s nevertheless would see the rise of another Filipino boxing sensation in the person of Nonito Donaire who would in 2007 smashingly win the IBF world flyweight crown by knocking out Vic Darchinyan of Armenia in the USA. Donaire would establish an undefeated reign vacating his world title to move up to the higher weights where he would win more world titles to this day. The vacuum left by Donaire would be filled up by Brian Viloria, another Fil-American fighter raised in Hawaii who would win the WBO flyweight crown over Mexican Julio Cesar Miranda in 2012. And after, winning, reigning and losing world titles the preceding decade at light flyweight. Viloria would lose his unified WBA-WBO titles though to Mexican Juan Francisco Estrada in 2013 and fail to gain the vacated WBC title when he lost in 2018 to Russian Artem Dalakian who still holds the title today. The fighter also known as the Hawaiian Punch also lost to Roman Chocolatito Gonzalez in a failed WBC title attempt in 2015 and has retired from boxing after losing to Dalakian in 2018. The void left by Viloria was later filled up by Milan Melindo and Donnie Nietes who both moved up from light flyweight. But Melindo who had brief title reign at light flyweight bombed out in his world title attempts at both flyweight and light flyweight losing to Juan Francisco Estrada and then reigning WBC champion Kenshiro Teraji. On the other hand, Nietes who won the IBF world flyweight championship by 7th round TKO of Argentine Juan Carlos Reveco in February of 2018 decided to leave it and move up to junior bantamweight where he won and later also vacated the WBO belt in 2020. He has since returned to active boxing. Alas and alack, Nietes had been the country's best fighter in and around the 112 lbs division for most of the 2010s even with Viloria still around. And now, we have lost him to the higher weights. Since 2018 therefore, the Philippines has been experiencing a malaise, a drought at once used to be a gold mine division, the flyweights to include the light flyweight class. No Filipino fighter has ascended to the world championship at 108-112 lbs since Melindo's abbreviated reign at light flyweight and Nietes's vacating his IBF flyweight crown. Three world title tries have ensued since then but all ended in failure with Edward Heno losing by close decision to Mexico's Elwin Soto, Giemel Magramo getting stopped by Japanese Junto Nakatani and most recently, Jason Mama outpointed by UK's Sunny Edwards. Who among the present crop of Filipino flyweight fighters would be able to break the drought and at least reestablish the line this 2020s? To be continued 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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