This Wednesday, September 2, a world championship twinbill will be presented by Ohashi Promotions at the Yokohama Buntai Arena in Naka Ward, Yokohama, Japan, featuring WBA No. 2-ranked Takeshi Ishii and former WBO champion and WBA No. 3-ranked Wilfredo Mendez clashing for the vacant WBA ‘regular’ minimumweight title, while WBA No. 1-ranked Daiya Kira will face No. 2-ranked Carlos Canizales for the vacant WBA light flyweight championship.
Hometown Yokohama fighter Ishii, 11-1 (8 KOs), and “Bimbito” Mendez, 20-3-2 (6 KOs), of Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico, will meet for the title left vacant after previous champion, Ryusei Matsumoto, relinquished the belt in June.
Kira, 4-0 (3 KOs) of Tokyo and Canizales, 28-3-1 (26 KOs), of Caracas, Venezuela, will meet for the belt left vacant after light flyweight champion René Santiago was designated as a “Champion in Recess” due to an elbow injury in late July.
The winner of Ishii vs. Mendoza could possibly be quickly elevated to “full” world champion, as the division’s Super champion, Oscar Collazo, will move up two weight classes to challenge WBA and WBC flyweight champion Ricardo Sandoval on October 10.
Fighting in just his fifth professional bout, with a win, Kira will be looking to tie the national record of fewest fights to a world championship set by kickboxer turned boxer Koei Tanaka, who won the WBO minimumweight championship in 2015 in his fifth contest as a professional.
