On December 14, 2021, the 25-year-old WBO strawweight world champion, Wilfredo Méndez (16-1, 6 KOs), faced a 27-year-old Japanese boxer Masataka Taniguchi (14-3, 9 KOs), in a title defense fight.
Méndez came in to the fight on a 7-fight win streak with a 35% KO rate, and was fighting after a gap of 1 year, 10 months, and 6 days. Taniguchi was on a 3-fight win streak with a 52% KO rate, and fighting after a layoff of 6 months and 7 days.
Masataka Taniguchi stopped the champion via TKO in the 11th round of the 12-round world-title fight, winning the first world title of his career, and is crowned the new WBO strawweight champion. Taniguchi improves his record to 15-3 (10 KOs), while Méndez adds a loss to his record at 16-2.
On March 17, 2018, a 21-year-old Wilfredo Méndez (9-0, 4 KOs) and Leyman Benavides met in the ring in a strawweight bout.
Méndez came in to the fight on a 9-fight win streak with a 44% KO rate, and was fighting after a gap of 2 months and 23 days.
Wilfredo Méndez lost to Leyman Benavides via unanimous decision in the 11-round strawweight fight, and adds an loss to his record at 9-1.