At one point, Rex Tso was on the verge of challenging for a world title, being the No. 1 contender in the WBO super flyweight rankings.
But after a win over former world champion Kohei Kono in October 2017, Tso has been very quiet and has not fought since then. Tso had been dealing with a severe eye injury and after posting on social media at the start of 2018 that he would be taking an extended break from the sport, there were questions as to whether or not he will ever return to the ring. That question has been answered.
Tso was announced to fight on a boxing card in Hong Kong on November 30, but the fight will actually be an exhibition match. Tso will be fighting Taiwanese amateur standout Chiang Yi Hung in a bout that will only go three rounds and won’t count towards Tso’s pro record regardless of the result. The fight will also be contested at a 56kg limit, which is roughly 123.5 pounds, well above the 115-pound limit in the super flyweight division.
The exhibition will be one to see how Tso’s body feels after being out of action for 13 months and could be the launching pad to restarting his career in 2019. Due to the inactivity, Tso is no longer ranked by the WBO, where he was the organization’s International and Asia Pacific champion as well as the WBC Asian Boxing Council champion at 115 pounds.
Since Tso’s last fight, the WBO super flyweight world title has gone through some changes. Firstly, Naoya Inoue vacated the title so that he can fight for a bantamweight title and when Donnie Nietes and Aston Palicte fought for the vacant belt on September 8, the fight ended in a draw. The title is still vacant, but Nietes is set to fight three-division world champion Kazuto Ioka for the championship on December 31 in Macau.
