Masataka Taniguchi beat Wilfredo Mendez by technical knockout in the 11th round on Tuesday, December 14th, 2021, at Kokugikan, Tokyo.
The fight was scheduled to take place over 12 rounds in the Minimumweight division, which meant the weight limit was 105 pounds (7.5 stone or 47.6 kg).
This contest was for the WBO minimumweight championship of the world.
This fight appeared on the undercard of Naoya Inoue's and Aran Dipaen's clash for the WBA Super World Bantamweight and IBF World Bantamweight championship.
Back in December 2021, Wilfredo Mendez stepped into the ring with a record of 16 wins, 1 loss, and 0 draws, 6 of those wins coming by way of knockout.
Masataka Taniguchi made his way to the ring with a record of 14 wins, 3 losses and 0 draws, with 9 of those wins by knockout.
The stats suggested Taniguchi had a large advantage in power over Mendez, boasting a 64% knockout percentage compared to Mendez's 38%.
Wilfredo Mendez was the younger man by 2 years, at 25 years old.
Mendez had a height advantage of 1 inch over Taniguchi. Despite this, both fighters had equal reach.
Both Wilfredo Mendez and Masataka Taniguchi fought out of a southpaw stance.
Mendez was arguably the more experienced fighter, having had the same amount of fights, and made his debut in 2016, 3 months later than Taniguchi, whose first professional fight was in 2016. He had fought 1 more professional rounds, totaling 160 compared to Taniguchi's 159.
Mendez had won 5 of his most recent fights, stopping 2 of them, going the distance 3 times.
In his last fight before this contest, he had beaten Gabriel Mendoza on February 8, 2020, by technical knockout in the 9th round in their WBO World Minimumweight championship fight at Hotel El Panama, Panama City, Panama.
Prior to that, he had beaten Axel Aragon Vega on October 26, 2019, by technical decision in their WBO World Minimumweight championship fight at Cancha Ruben Zayas Montanez, Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico.
Going into that contest, he had won against Vic Saludar on August 24, 2019, by unanimous decision in their WBO World Minimumweight championship fight at Puerto Rico Convention Center, San Juan.
Before that, he had beaten Janiel Rivera on May 24, 2019, by split decision in their 10 round contest at Cancha Ruben Zayas Montanez, Trujillo Alto.
He had defeated Armando Vazquez on March 8, 2019, by knockout in the 6th round at Cancha Ruben Zayas Montanez, Trujillo Alto.
Mendez's last 5 fights had come over a period of 2 years, 9 months and 6 days, which means he had been fighting approximately every 6 months and 21 days. In those fights, he fought a total of 44 rounds, meaning that they had lasted 8.8 rounds on average.
Taniguchi's last 3 fights had come over a period of 2 years, 2 months and 23 days, meaning he had been fighting on average every 8 months and 28 days. In those fights, he fought a total of 23 rounds, meaning that they had lasted 7.7 rounds on average.
The fighters were expected to ringwalk at around 10:00 AM UTC at Kokugikan, Tokyo, Japan, which was 5:00 AM EST or 2:00 AM PST on the West Coast of America, or 10:00 AM GMT in the UK.
Sorry, we couldn’t find any historical odds for Mendez vs Taniguchi.
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