In late August 2017, Floyd Mayweather reached a 50-0 record as a pro when he defeated Conor McGregor, but now in late August 2018, someone else reached a record beyond 50-0.
Wanheng Menayothin, the WBC world minimumweight champion, achieved a historic 51-0 record when he defeated Pedro Taduran in Thailand. Menayothin won a wide unanimous decision (117-110, 118-108, 115-111) to retain the title and reach 51-0.
The fight wasn't exactly a walk in the park for Menayothin, however, as both fighters traded shots throughout all 12 rounds. As Menayothin started throwing combinations from the opening round and landing the right hand effectively, Taduran did his best to answer every punch the champion threw. Menayothin landed a lot of hooks and uppercuts early in the fight and even briefly stunned Taduran in the second round, but Taduran did not back down.
Menayothin continued landing more and more combinations as the fight progressed, but there were a few moments where the Thai fighter was in trouble. Two points was deducted from Taduran for what appeared to be repeated low blows throughout the entire fight. Despite this, Taduran continued to keep the action going, but Menayothin was still able to keep mounting the pressure on his challenger until the fight was over and the champion retained.
Although Menayothin’s resume does not match up to Mayweather’s wins over dozens of world champions and future Hall of Famers, winning all 51 professional fights is still historic in and of itself. If Menayothin were to retire today at 51-0, he would be just the 16th world champion in history to retire as champion or immediately after a title reign without a single loss on his record. But among those 16 champions, Menayothin would have the most amount of wins without a draw or no contest, but both Ricardo Lopez and Jimmy Barry have longer unbeaten streaks at 52 and 70 fights, respectively.
Menayothin’s 51 consecutive wins is still not the longest in the sport’s history, however. Perhaps the most famous win streak in boxing history is Julio Cesar Chavez’s gargantuan 87-fight win streak that was snapped in 1993 with a draw against Pernell Whitaker. Looking at Chavez’s unbeaten streak, however, that number reaches all the way to 90 fights when he suffered his first pro loss to Frankie Randall in 1994.
Though Menayothin stands on top of the boxing world at 51-0, there is another, much younger boxer looking to reach the 50-0 club as well. Petch Sor Chitpattana, a 24-year-old bantamweight contender from Thailand, currently sits at 47-0 and was ordered by the WBC earlier this year to fight Nordine Oubaali for the vacant WBC title, though the title bout has yet to be made.
Menayothin does not appear to be retiring soon and the 32-year-old minimumweight champion could be looking to extend his win streak even further in the coming months. Having held the WBC title since 2014, Menayothin has made 10 world title defenses.
