Santiago, Taniguchi Make Weight & Preview
By Joe Koizumi
Photos by Naoki Fukuda
WBA, WBO light flyweight champion Rene Santiago (15-4, 9 KOs), Puerto Rico, will put his belts on the line against former WBO ruler Masataka Taniguchi (21-5, 15 KOs), a Japanese southpaw, tomorrow (Friday) in Tokyo, Japan. The weigh-in ceremony was over with Santiago 107.25 and Taniguchi 108 (class limit).
Santiago’s stock recently soared here with his upset victories over then WBO champ Shokichi Iwata and then WBA titlist Kyosuke Takami—both in Tokyo—to stun the audience. The Puerto Rican, 33, is an excellent footworker that eventually nullified power punching of Iwata and Takami (upset victor over Erick Rosa), winning by close decisions. The Japanese challenger lost his WBO belt on a second-round demolition at the hand of Filipino Melvin Jerusalem three years ago. Taniguchi lately scored a couple of spectacular stoppages over Condor Inaba and Takeru Inoue. It will be a competitive fight but Santiago is a prefight favorite thanks to his valuable wins over Iwata and Takami. He said, “I’ll be victorious in all three fights here in Japan.”
On the undercard, former world 122-pound champions Marlon Tapales (41-4, 22 KOs) and Yukinori Oguni (23-4-3, 9 KOs) will collide for survival. Tapales scaled in at 123.75, while Oguni at 123.5. The contract weight was 123.5 pounds, and Tapales was a little overweight. But Team Oguni waived a quarter pound overweight of the Filipino ex-champ.
Promoter: Masayuki Ito, Treasure Boxing Promotions
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