Daiya Kira vs. Carlos Canizales

Canizales had been named WBC Champion in Recess after winning the title against Panya Pradabsri [1] due to the ongoing political situation in Venezuela [2]
The WBA ordered mandatory challenger Kira to fight Unified WBA/WBO Champion Rene Santiago on May 2nd [3]
Santiago and Kira agreed to a deal to fight on September 2nd in Tokyo, however this fight was never announced publicly, however it was later confirmed by Santiago's promoter Tuto Zabala of All Star Boxing [4]
On July 28th the WBA named Santiago as “Champion in Recess” due to an injury preventing him from proceeding with the bout against Kira. Santiago remained the WBO Champion due to the mandatory only being enforced by the WBA [5]
As part as the same announcement on July 28th, the WBA ordered a fight between Kira and former WBC Champion Carlos Canizales for the vacant title, with Santiago being mandated to fight the winner when he had recovered from his injury
The fight between Canizales and Kira was officially announced on July 28th at a press conference in Tokyo

Kira dropped Canizales in Round 3 with a left hook to the head as the Venezuelan was lunging in to throw his own shot
Santiago tried to go all out in Round 6, throwing huge shots. However KIra could see all the shots coming and blocked or evaded the vast majority whilst landing his own counter shots
Kira scored a huge knockdown in the first minute of Round 7 with a left hook. Canizles got his feet during the count but stumbled backwards. The referee stopped the bout immediately

Kira becomes the joint quickest Japanese boxer to win a world title by number of fights with 5, equalling the record set by Kosei Tanaka
Kira becomes the quickest Japanese boxer to win a world title by number of rounds with 19

Navigation menu