WBC minimumweight champion Wanheng Menayothin signs with Golden Boy Promotions.
After speaking with representatives from Golden Boy Promotions, 3kingsboxing.com has learned the company inked a deal with current WBC minimumweight champion Wanheng Menayothin (AKA Chayaphon Moonsri). Sporting a record 53-0,18 KO’s, Menayothin is currently has the most wins of any unbeaten world champion in the sport.
The Thai fighter gained notoriety by breaking Floyd Mayweather’s 50-0 unbeaten mark with a win over Leroy Estrada in May 2018. It will be interesting to see what Golden Boy plans to do with the world champ.
Along with his 50-0 accomplishment, Menayothin has eleven defenses of the WBC title. While the smaller weight divisions have recently began capturing the attention of the boxing masses with the success of fighters like Naoya Inoue and Juan Francisco Estrada, the only minimumweight fighter to ever gain any modicum of mainstream appeal was Hall Of Fame inductee Ricardo Lopez during the 1990’s.
Not too long ago, it was Golden Boy again who “out of the blue” signed a co-promotional deal with a former undefeated minimumweight champion by the name Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez and placed him at the top of the RING Magazine Pound-for-Pound list. They enjoyed a vast amount of attention before he finally lost back-to-back fights to Srisaket Sor Runvisai in 2017.
The signing of Menayothin assuredly means an appearance in the United States as he has fought all 53 of his bouts in Thailand. The question is, what big money fight can he compete in that would make him a visible commodity? Nothing big is currently happening at minimumweight. However, there is substantial action happening three pounds north at junior flyweight.
Boxing fans got to witness one of the best fights, as well as one of the biggest upsets of the year when Elwin Soto defeated Angel Acosta to capture the WBO title on June 21 on DAZN. Could Golden Boy’s plan be to eventually have Menayothin move up to junior flyweight to fight either Soto or Acosta?
This signing is one of the most peculiar in recent memory for Golden Boy because there is such an unknown factor. It’s a wait-and-see what the promotional company is plotting.
By: Michael Wilson Jr.
