On March 13, 2025, Shokichi Iwata (14-1, 11 KOs), the light-flyweight WBO champion, defends his title against the reigning WBO light-flyweight champion René Santiago (13-4, 9 KOs).
Shokichi Iwata is coming in to the fight on a 5-fight win streak with a 73% KO rate; his last fight was a 3rd round TKO victory over Jairo Noriega, 5 months ago. René Santiago is on a 1-fight win streak with a 52% KO rate, with his last fight being a unanimous decision win over Ricardo Astuvilca, 4 months and 13 days ago.
The winning odds are at 62.2-37.8 in favor of René Santiago. Shokichi Iwata also has a chance at winning but he will have to put up a really good fight to get the win.
René Santiago defeated Shokichi Iwata via unanimous decision and wins the WBO title — in his first world-title fight. Santiago improves his record to 14-4, while Iwata adds a loss to his record at 14-2.