Wilfredo Mendez: Boxing Career and Notable Fights
Wilfredo Méndez is a Puerto Rican boxer who held the WBO minimumweight title from 2019 to 2021. He won the belt from Vic Saludar by unanimous decision and made two successful defenses.
Méndez lost the championship to Masataka Taniguchi on December 14, 2021, when Taniguchi stopped him in the eleventh round in Tokyo. The fight ended Méndez’s title reign.
The Saludar win and successful defenses
Méndez took the WBO belt on August 24, 2019. He followed that victory with a technical-decision defense against Axel Aragon Vega in October, when the contest ended during the seventh round.
His second successful defense came against Gabriel Mendoza in February 2020. Méndez stopped the challenger in the ninth round, a result also recorded in the WBO’s published rankings explanations. Those wins established two defenses before the eventual meeting with Taniguchi.
How the Taniguchi fight ended
The December 2021 contest took place at Tokyo’s Ryogoku Kokugikan. Taniguchi knocked Méndez down with a straight left in round two and maintained pressure as the bout continued. The referee stopped it at 1:08 of round eleven after a sustained combination attack.
Both boxers fought from a southpaw stance. For Taniguchi, the result brought a world title on his second attempt; for Méndez, it ended a reign that had begun more than two years earlier.
The video above features a later contest with ArAr Andales, dated October 2023. It belongs to the period after Méndez’s championship reign, rather than to one of his WBO title defenses. Keeping that distinction clear places the footage within the broader sequence of his career.
Further career results
The Mendoza defense took place at the El Panama Hotel in Panama City. Méndez controlled the action before referee intervention at 1:28 of round nine. Mendoza had a cut near his right eye and swelling on his forehead as Méndez applied combinations. The victory moved the champion’s record to sixteen wins and one defeat, with six stoppages, at that point in his career.
Sources
- WBO: February 2020 championship results explanation
- WBO: Méndez retains title
- Boxing News: Taniguchi wins WBO title from Méndez
- BoxRec: Wilfredo Méndez title record
