Boxing's longest win streak is alive with another milestone reached by Wanheng Menayothin.
With a cut suffered bt Menayothin being too much for his WBC minimumweight title defense against Tatsuya Fukuhara to continue, the title bout in Thailand had to go to the scorecards. Menayothin would go on to win the fight by unanimous technical decision, retaining his title with scores of 79-73, 78-74 and 78-74.
The win improves Menayothin's record to an already impressive 53-0, but it also broke a tie with Ricardo "Finito" Lopez by undefeated in 53 consecutive fights to start his pro career. Lopez, a former WBA, WBC and WBO minimumweight champion, started his career with a 51-0-1 record before officially retiring in 2002.
Early in the fight, Fukuhara got cut from a clash of heads, which opened the door for Menayothin to land clean shots upstairs throughout the rest of the fight. Fukuhara did try to fight back, but wasn't able to do enough to start winning rounds against Menayothin. The eighth round saw another clash of heads between the two but it was Menayothin who got cut. Soon after, the fight was called and had to go to the scorecards where it was revealed that Menayothin was comfortably ahead on the scorecards.
The fight was a rematch from their 2017 title bout that saw Menayothin win by unanimous decision. Menayothin won the WBC 105-pound title in 2014 and has since made 11 successful title defenses. In August 2018, Menayothin defeated Pedro Taduran by unanimous decision to win his 51st consecutive fight, breaking a tie with the 50-0 Floyd Mayweather Jr., who retired in 2017.
