Venezuelan minimumweight/junior flyweight fighter Ronald Chacon has maintained his unlikely position as a top contender―despite his extremely underwhelming resume―as the WBO has decided to retain Chacon in their 105 lbs rankings for October for the 5th month in a row. With a multitude of more deserving contenders ranked below him, questions now surround the WBO’s ratings criteria as the possibility remains for Chacon to challenge for a world title at this point.
33-year old Ronald Chacon (32-3-1, 23 KO’s) is arguably the only professional fighter in any the sanctioning bodies’ top 15 to be considered a legit contender despite his resume proving otherwise This has been extensively covered in a previous article that highlighted the [lack of] quality of Chacon’s opponents which should not have seen him eligible to enter the top 15 rankings, much less face a top contender.
Since June of this year, Chacon found himself gracing the #6 position on the WBO’s junior flyweight (108 lbs) ranking boards despite the opponent he faced prior to his rating, fellow countryman Jefferson Tavera (0-5, 0 KO’s), having been a minimumweight (105 lbs) fighter with only 3 professional fights―all of which Tavera lost, with every single fight culminating in either a knockout (KO) or a technical knockout (TKO loss. As of his last 2 matches, this trend would continue with Tavera as he would subsequently lose his next match following Chacon by stoppage.
In September, Ronald Chacon would face another Venezuelan contender―a tendency he has maintained since the start of his career―in David Rengel (4-10-2, 4 KO’s) who he would knock out in the 6th round of their 10-round minimumweight bout.
Chacon currently counts three losses on his record, two which were fairly recent and against top junior flyweight contenders in Japanese fighter Masamichi Yabuki (17-4, 16 KO’s) and Filipino contender Regie Suganob (15-1, 5 KO’s). Notably, Chacon would lose every single round to both fighters according to official scorecards, with his defeat against Yabuki further culminating in the Venezuelan suffering his first loss by TKO/KO when he was stopped in the 11th round of their 12-round bout.
Clarifying Chacon’s careful choice of opponents might be the fact he suffered a loss in his professional boxing debut in 2016, losing by a narrow MD to Venezuelan fighter Darwin Inserri who had completed a successful debut to professional boxing the match prior―winning his maiden professional bout by unanimous decision (UD).
Following his loss, Chacon would notch up a resume that would continue to follow him nearly a decade later; one where he opted to face mostly unranked and unknown Venezuelan fighters with no winning record of note. In total, Chacon only ever faced four fighters with winning records, three of whom he would lose against and one who had nearly as many losses as wins as exemplified when he faced Venzeulan opponent Freddy Beleno who was 26-23 by the time the two met with each other in 2019.
Evidently, there hangs a cloud of precariousness surrounding Chacon’s resume, with a multitude of unranked Venezuelan contenders having to endure a severe beating at the hands of a top-ranked contender while Chacon himself is facing health risks whenever matched against a top fighter―as his experience fighting bottom-or non-ranked domestic fighters makes it unlikely he would fare well against any top-ranked 105 lbs or 108 lbs contender.
Chacon’s current position as the #6 WBO minimumweight contender also poses an issue to other contenders ranked below him; particularly the likes of Japanese contender Goki Kobayashi (8-1, 5 KO’s) who is rated at #7 and does not have a single fighter on his resume with a losing record.
Despite having had less professional fights than Chacon, Kobayashi’s resume seems to far outweigh that of the Venezuelan contender with Kobayashi having recorded at least two wins over arguably fringe unbeaten contenders.
Chacon’s ability compared to even some of his own countrymen becomes more prevalent when comparing him to fellow Venezuelan contenders such as Carlos Canizales (27-2-1, 19 KO’s) at 108 lbs―who earlier this year found himself just a round or 2 away from becoming a [unified] world champion after losing by [a controversial] majority decision to Japanese fighter Kenshiro Teraji (24-1, 15 KO’s) in a title bout for Teraji’s WBA and WBC 108 lbs titles.
Lastly, Ronald Chacon finding himself ranked as a minimumweight contender appears antithetical to what his actual weight class is given he has fought at junior flyweight most of his career. While Chacon’s fight against David Rengel did occur at 105 lbs, Chacon had fought at 108 lbs in his April fight prior towards being included on the WBO’s 105 lbs rankings for June.
As such, it is still unclear whether Chacon is currently still a junior flyweight, or a minimumweight. In any event, his ranking only sums up the unlikely story of a professional fighter that, despite seemingly having enough talent to work his way up the ladder given the right opportunities, has been given the easiest route to becoming considered a genuine contender.
Only time will tell whether Ronald Chacon will continue down the same path of facing the domestic bottom-rung of his division and be rewarded for it.
