Ryoichi Taguchi to defend in May, possibly against a Thai or Korean challenger

Earlier today Watanabe held a press conference to announce the immediate future of Ryoichi Taguchi (21-2-1, 8). The main of the announcement was that Taguchi, who won the WBA Light Flyweight title about 3 weeks ago, had now resumed full training ahead of his first world title defence which is expected in May.

Part of the conference saw Taguchi talk about being a champion and although he holds the WBA champion he seems to know that he still needs to improve. He's developed over the last few years but seems happy to accept he's not the complete article and wants to continue to grow into being a champion.

At the moment no set date or opponent has been nailed down for Taguchi's return though it does seem likely it'll come on the same show as defence by stable mates WBA Super Featherweight champion Takashi Uchiyama (22-0-1, 18) and WBA Super Flyweight champion Kohei Kono (30-8-1, 13). 

At the moment speculation about opponents include a Thai and a South Korean who are both said to have made offers to Taguchi's camp. From what we understand the Korean is Myung Goo Yuh (24-4-1, 19), who is ranked #12 by the WBA at Flyweight however the Thai is more difficult to identify with Paipharob Kokietgym (27-0, 20) being the most likely given that he is ranked #12 by the WBA at 108lbs.

(Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp)

---