By Jim Maltzman: In a surprise move, Wanheng Menayothin has chosen to retire as the undefeated WBC minimumweight champion with an incredible 54-0 record with 18 knockouts. Still young and dominant at 34, Menayothin has opted to end his 13-year boxing career.
The Thailand fighter Menayothin retires with a superior record to superstar Floyd Mayweather Jr (50-0, 27 KOs), who has been scorned by some boxing fans for the careful manner in which he picked his opponents later in his career.
Mayweather broke Rocky Marciano’s longstanding 49-0 record in 2017 in beating UFC fighter Conor McGregor in his pro debut in boxing. Menayothin didn’t choose to break Mayweather’s record by fighting non-boxers
Wanheng Menayothin held WBC title for six years
Menayothin won the World Boxing Council 105-pound title in November 2014, beating Oswaldo Novoa by a 12 round unanimous decision. Over the next six years, Menayothin defended his WBC title successfully 16 times.
In May 2018, Wanheng Menayothin broke Mayweather’s 50-0 record in defeating Leroy Estrada by a fifth-round knockout. What’s interesting is that a lot of casual boxing fans mistakenly believe that Mayweather has the best resume in the sport.
The fact of the matter is, Menayothin holds the record, and he did it the hard way in facing a lot of good fighters during his career. Unfortunately, Menayothin is retiring now as it would have been a thrill for boxing fans to see if he could make it to 60-0.
Several fighters retired with more wins than Menayothin, but they weren’t undefeated like him.
“I have decided that it’s good to stop boxing,” said Menayothin via thesun.co.uk. “I know how I am. No one knows my body as much as I do. I stop boxing like this.
“Everyone needs money. But I would like to heal my body. Congratulations to all who support me. Thank you for all the strength that you have always given me.”
In Wanheng’s last fight, he beat challenger Simpiwe Konkco by a one-sided 12 round unanimous decision last October. It’s been three years Menayothin has a fierce battle in beating Melvin Jerusalem by a close 12 round decision in 2017.
Wanheng retires without unifying the division
If there’s one disappointment about Menayothin retiring now it’s the fact that he chose to unify the 105-pound division.
With Menayothin’s talent, he could have beaten all the other champions and unified the division and sailed off into the sunset with a great legacy. The way he retires now, some boxing fans might say he chose not to test himself against the best fighters.
With the 105-lb division not being a popular one, Menayothin might not have made more money unifying the weight class than for him to make ordinary title defenses.
Wanheng doesn’t say whether he has any injuries that led him to retire from the sport, but that may be the case. As fighters get older, the injuries pile, which makes it increasingly more difficult for them to compete.
Initially, Menayothin competed in Muay Thai, which he began training for when he was only 13. He was successful in that sport, becoming a Thai National champion. From there, Wanheng branched over to boxing and turned professional in 2007.