Japanese minimumweight fighters Yudai and Ginjiro Shigeoka became world champions for the first time in their careers, and on the same night, on October 7th at the Ota-City General Gymnasium in Tokyo, Japan. The two siblings achieved a historic milestone in boxing by becoming the first siblings to win world championships on the same night, and in the same division.
Ginjiro Shigeoka (10-0, 8 KO’s) faced IBF minimumweight champion Daniel Valladares (27-4-1, 15 KO’s) after defeating Rene Mark Cuatro (21-4-2, 12 KO’s) in April to become the IBF interim champion. The two had previously fought earlier this year in January in a match that ended as a no-contest, and their October 7th match was intended to be a continuation of this canceled bout.
Ginjiro Shigeoka displayed tremendous skill, power, and speed as he cruised to a fifth-round technical knockout victory. He pushed Valladares onto the ropes, leaving him with no means to respond as Shigeoka’s punches peppered the IBF champion. This forced the referee to intervene.
Shigeoka is now the new IBF champion at minimumweight and is one of four champions in the division.
Yudai Shigeoka (8-0, 5 KO’s), who had also held an interim championship (WBC) at minimumweight, faced the WBC champion, Thai fighter Panya Pradabsri (40-2, 24 KO’s). Yudai encountered more difficulty against his opponent, given Pradabsri’s vast experience, skillset, and determination. However, he emerged victorious after twelve rounds, winning decisively by unanimous decision with scores of 119-109 twice and 117-111. Yudai subsequently became the WBC minimumweight champion following his victory over Pradabsri.
The two Japanese siblings now account for half of the division’s champions, alongside the undefeated WBA ‘super’ champion Thammanoon Niyomtrong (24-0, 9 KO’s) from Thailand, also known by his alias “Knockout CP Freshmart”, and WBO champion Oscar Collazo (8-0, 6 KO’s) from the United States.
The rest of the fight card featured other notable names in boxing. Japanese featherweight Tomoki Kameda (40-4, 22 KO’s) and South African contender Lerato Dlamini (20-2, 11 KO’s) vied to establish themselves as potential world title contenders in the 126 lbs division.
Despite pre-match betting odds favoring Kameda, the Japanese featherweight contender surprisingly lost by split decision to Dlamini.
Wilfredo Mendez (18-3-1, 6 KO’s), a Puerto Rican fighter at minimumweight who had previously faced and lost to Yudai Shigeoka, was also featured on the undercard but only managed a draw (by technical decision) against his opponent, Filipino contender ArAr Andales (14-2-3, 6 KO’s) after their eight-round match was forcibly cut short in the fourth round.
Overall, the event appeared to be successful and officially introduced two talented brothers as the next siblings to potentially dominate their divisions, similar to when the Klitschko brothers reigned as world champions at heavyweight for several years.
