Title fights from around the world – Pedro Taduran, Lauren Price, René Santiago, and Sumire Yamanaka edition

Today, boxing world title fights take place around the globe and are more accessible to watch than ever before. Sometimes, championship bouts do not receive as much attention and go underreported. Big Fight Weekend commits to writing about boxing news, previews, and recaps. As such, the site now has a recurring segment on championship bouts from around the world from the past week.

The focus of these pieces will be on clashes ranging from atomweight to heavyweight that had the WBA, WBC, IBF, and/or WBO titles on the line. This week’s edition of “Title Fights From Around the World” consists of four recaps. Read on to see how those fights went.

Pedro Taduran retains championship in dominant fashion

Pedro Taduran (20-4-1, 14 KOs) scored four knockdowns in his seventh round knockout victory over Gustavo Álvarez (16-2, 5 KOs, 1 NC).

The official time of stoppage was 1:34. Taduran remains the IBF minimumweight world champion with the win. He won the title in 2024 against Ginjiro Shigeoka. This was his third time defending it.

The bout headlined an April 3 Manny Pacquiao Promotions card at the Pechanga Resort Casino in Temecula, CA. Boxing fans in Latin America could catch the action live on ESPN KnockOut.

A straight left to the body caused Álvarez to squat but not go down entirely with over a minute to go in round four. Taduran took advantage of the situation and landed two left uppercuts that dropped his opponent. Álvarez got up, but was soon knocked down again from a barrage of punches to the head and body. Taduran scored a third knockdown with a one-two to the head at the end of round six. A straight left to the body dropped Álvarez once more in the seventh. Referee Thomas Taylor put an end to proceedings following the knockdown.

Lauren Price outclasses Stephanie Piñeiro

Lauren Price (10-0, 2 KOs) once again showed her class with a unanimous decision win against Stephanie Piñeiro (10-1, 3 KOs).

Scores were 99-91 and 98-92 (x2). Price remains the WBA, WBC, and IBF welterweight world champion with the victory. She first became a world champion in 2024 against Jessica McCaskill by winning the WBA strap and has now made three defences of it. Price unified titles last year in her victory against Natasha Jonas.

Price-Piñeiro headlined an April 4 BOXXER card at the Utilita Arena in Cardiff, Wales. Boxing fans in the United Kingdom could catch the action live on BBC Two and BBC iPlayer. Those in the United States (including Puerto Rico) were able to do so with Triller TV.

Despite winning unanimously on the scorecards, Price was made to work in order to get the victory. She moved around the ring, darting in and out to land her shots. A right hook upstairs buckled the legs of Piñeiro towards the end of round three, but the reigning champion did not take advantage of this.

Price was cut on the lip in the fifth following a clash of heads. She was cut once again in round seven by her right eye, further bloodying her top and trunks. Despite this, Price’s punch output was greater and she was the more accurate of the two. Piñeiro’s come forward approach gave her success, but it was ultimately not enough to win rounds and get the victory.

René Santiago triumphs in competitive affair

René Santiago (16-4, 9 KOs) once again hit the road, this time defeating Masataka Taniguchi (21-6, 15 KOs) via unanimous decision.

Scores were 117-110, 116-111, and 114-113. Santiago remains the WBA and WBO light flyweight world champion with the victory. He won the WBO title last year with a win against Shokichi Iwata and has now made two defences of it. Santiago further unified last year by beating Kyosuke Takami.

Santiago-Taniguchi headlined an April 3 Treasure Boxing Promotion card at the Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan. Boxing fans in Japan could catch the action live on U-Next. Those in Latin America were able to do so with ESPN KnockOut.

Santiago utilized the entirety of the ring, ensuring that both men were mostly at an arm’s length away from each other. Both fighters threw several of their punches from that distance. There was plenty of tit-for-tat in each round. A major moment in the contest occurred with over two minutes to go in the fifth when Santiago dropped his opponent with a right hook to the head. Taniguchi had missed on a right uppercut thrown wildly and got knocked down with a counter as a result. Despite this, he did not appear to be hurt by the shot and got up fairly quickly.

Taniguchi continued to press forward in order to get closer and land his punches. Santiago’s movement off of the back foot allowed him to avoid getting hit with anything particularly damaging. It was always a close affair between the two, but the Puerto Rican appeared to do just enough to get his hand raised. The knockdown in round five most certainly helped in the end.

Sumire Yamanaka becomes a world champion once again

Sumire Yamanaka (10-1, 3 KOs) is once again a world champion thanks to a split decision win against Nao Ugawa (6-1, 0 KOs).

Although one judge had the action 96-94 for Ugawa, the other two saw it 97-93 and 96-94 for her opponent. Yamanaka wins the vacant IBF atomweight world title as a result. This will be her second reign, having previously held the same belt thanks to a victory over Mika Iwakawa in 2024. Yamanaka then lost the title to Tina Rupprecht, whose eventual retirement from boxing resulted in the title becoming vacant.

Yamanaka-Ugawa headlined an April 7 Shinsei Promotions card at the Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan. Boxing fans in Japan could catch the action live on Lemino.

Big Fight Weekend was unable to access footage for this fight. As such, we will provide a recap of the action at a later time.