Daniel Valladares Won the IBF Crown
Daniel “Cejitas” Valladares won the IBF minimumweight championship by split decision over Rene Mark Cuarto in Mexico on July 1, 2022. His reign later brought two championship meetings with Japan’s Ginjiro Shigeoka.
The first world-title challenge
Valladares had previously challenged IBF champion Pedro Taduran in Guadalupe, Mexico, in February 2020. An accidental head clash caused a cut over Valladares’s right eyebrow, and the contest ended after four rounds.
The scorecards produced a technical majority draw: one judge favored Valladares 39–37, while the other two scored it 38–38. Taduran retained the championship.
The Shigeoka meetings
Valladares’s January 6, 2023, defense against Shigeoka in Osaka ended in the third round after another accidental head clash. The bout was declared a no decision, leaving Valladares with the title.
Their rematch took place at Tokyo’s Ota City General Gymnasium on October 7, 2023. Shigeoka, by then the interim champion, stopped Valladares at 2:15 of the fifth round to win the championship outright.
The Cuarto victory came at Deportivo Revolución in Valladares’s hometown of Monterrey. Two judges favored him 116–111 and 115–112, while the third scored the fight 114–113 for Cuarto. Valladares sustained a cut above his left eyebrow during the fourth round, then used his jab to manage the distance during the middle rounds of the contest.
Sources
- EFE / SWI swissinfo: Valladares’s championship victory over Cuarto
- PhilBoxing / Joaquin Henson: Taduran–Valladares technical draw
- Fightnews / Joe Koizumi: first Shigeoka defense ends without a decision
- Boxing News: Shigeoka wins the October rematch
