Masataka Taniguchi: WBO Minimumweight Championship
Masataka Taniguchi is a Japanese professional boxer who held the World Boxing Organization minimumweight title from 2021 to 2023. His reign included a title-winning victory over Wilfredo Mendez, one successful defense and a loss to Melvin Jerusalem.
Winning the WBO belt
On December 14, 2021, Taniguchi stopped reigning champion Wilfredo Méndez in the eleventh round in Tokyo to win the WBO title. The WBO’s rankings and the Japanese boxing press recorded the result as a major breakthrough for the southpaw from Watanabe Boxing Gym.
Jerusalem ends the reign
Taniguchi made one successful defense before challenger Melvin Jerusalem stopped him in the second round on January 6, 2023, at EDION Arena Osaka. That result ended Taniguchi’s reign. The WBO title changed hands again in 2023, when Jerusalem lost it to Oscar Collazo. Taniguchi’s professional record is listed by BoxRec.
Further career results
The successful defense came against Kai Ishizawa on April 22, 2022, at Korakuen Hall. Taniguchi had already beaten Ishizawa in an eight-round non-title bout in September 2019. In their return, the challenger weighed 110 pounds, five pounds above the minimumweight limit, leaving him unable to win the championship. Taniguchi nevertheless boxed the scheduled contest and stopped him at 2:29 of round eleven. Taniguchi worked behind his right jab and changed angles to bring his left hand through Ishizawa’s guard. His combinations and uppercuts gradually broke down the advancing challenger, who continued fighting before the referee intervened. That late stoppage gave Taniguchi a second victory over the same opponent and his first successful world-title defense. The subsequent Jerusalem defeat unfolded very differently. A straight right sent Taniguchi down early in round two; he tried to rise but could not regain his balance, and the contest ended at 1:04. The contrast between those fights marks both the successful defense and the abrupt end of his minimumweight championship.
Jerusalem entered the January 2023 fight as the WBO’s second-ranked minimumweight challenger.
Sources
Additional sources: https://www.boxingscene.com/articles/masataka-taniguchi-stops-kai-ishizawa-11th-round-retains-wbo-title-tokyo; https://philboxing.com/story-161911
- Boxing News: Taniguchi wins WBO title from Méndez
- Boxing News: Jerusalem stops Taniguchi
- BoxRec: Masataka Taniguchi record
