Carlos Antonio Cañizales Civira (born 11 March 1993) is a Venezuelan

professional boxer Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional fights are supervised by a regulatory auth ...

who held the

WBA (Regular) The World Boxing Association (WBA), formerly known as the National Boxing Association (NBA), is an international professional boxing organization based in Panama. The WBA awards its world championship title at the professional level. Founded i ...

light flyweight title from 2018 until 2021.

Professional career

WBA light–flyweight champion

Cañizales was scheduled to face Reiya Konishi for the vacant WBA (Regular) light flyweight title on 18 March 2018, at the Portopia Hotel in

Kobe, Japan Kobe ( ; , ), officially , is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. With a population of around 1.5 million, Kobe is Japan's List of Japanese cities by population, seventh-largest city and the third-largest port city after Port of Toky ...

, and was broadcast by Fuji TV NEXT domestically. Cañizales was at the time the #1 ranked WBA light-flyweight contender, while Konishi came in as the #2 ranked contender. Cañizales won the fight by unanimous decision, with scores of 116–111, 115–112 and 114–113. The pivotal moment came in the third round when Cañizales knocked Konishi down with a right, which ended up putting Cañizales ahead on two of the judges' scorecards. Cañizales made his first WBA Regular light-flyweight title defense against Lü Bin, in what was Bin's second professional bout, following a moderately successful amateur career. The title fight was scheduled for the undercard of the Manny Pacquiao vs. Lucas Matthysse welterweight championship fight on 15 July 2018. Cañizales began to take over from the fourth round onward, and knocked Bin down with a right in the eleventh round, which also opened a cut above his right eye. Cañizales knocked Bin down once more in the 12th round, which forced referee Gustavo Padilla to stop the fight at the very last second. Cañizales made his second title defense against the former

WBO The World Boxing Organization (WBO) is an organization which sanctions professional boxing bouts. It is recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) as one of the four major world championship groups, alongside the World Boxin ...

flyweight Flyweight is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Flyweight is a class in boxing which includes fighters weighing up to and including 51 kg (112 lb) for a title fight. Professional boxing The flyweight division was the last of boxin ...

champion Sho Kimura on 26 May 2019 at the Fuzhou Sports Center Gymnasium in

Fuzhou, China Fuzhou is the capital of Fujian, China. The city lies between the Min River (Fujian), Min River estuary to the south and the city of Ningde to the north. Together, Fuzhou and Ningde make up the Eastern Min, Mindong linguistic and cultural regi ...

. The bout was streamed by the WBA on their website. Cañizalez won the fight by a dominant unanimous decision, with scores of 118–110, 119–109 and 119–109. Cañizales was scheduled to make his third title defense against Esteban Bermudez on 28 May 2021, following a two-year absence from the sport. Bermudez won the fight by a sixth-round knockout. He staggered Cañizales with an overhead right, and dropped him with a right hook shortly after. Although Cañizales was able to beat the eight count, he was knocked out just two seconds later.

Post title-reign

Cañizales was scheduled to face German Valenzuela on 29 October 2021, in his first fight post title loss. He won the fight by unanimous decision, with scores of 98–92, 98–92 and 99–91. Cañizales dominated from the start, managing to outwork the taller Valenzuela for the majority of the fight. On January 27, 2022, the WBA allowed Esteban Bermudez to make a voluntary title defense against Cañizales, as Kyoguchi withdrew from a scheduled purse bid due to an injury. However, Cañizales opted to face

Ganigan López Ganigan López (born 12 November 1981) is a Mexican professional boxer who held the WBC light flyweight title between 2016 and 2017. Professional career López turned professional in 2003 and earned his first world title opportunity in 2015 a ...

for the vacant WBA Continental Americas flyweight title on 26 March 2022. He won the fight by a fourth-round knockout, flooring López with a right hook at the 1:45 minute mark. Cañizales faced Armando Torres for the vacant WBA Fedecaribe flyweight title on August 20, 2022, at the Blackberry Auditorium in

Mexico City, Mexico Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

. He won the fight by a first-round technical knockout, as Torres' corner threw in the towel at the 2:05 minute mark of the opening round. Cañizales faced the #1 ranked WBA light flyweight contender, and former interim titlist, Daniel Matellon in a WBA title eliminator on June 10, 2023, at the Casino Buenos Aires in

Buenos Aires, Argentina Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

. He won the fight by technical decision, with two scorecards of 77–73 and one scorecard of 76–74. The fight was stopped at the end of the eighth round, on the advice of the ringside physician, due to a cut above Cañizales' left eye caused by a second-round headbutt. Matellon was deducted a point in both the second and the eighth round for repeated headbutts. On 26 December 2024, Cañizales fought

Panya Pradabsri Panya Pradabsri (; born: 21 February 1991), known by his ring name Panya CPF (previously Petchmanee Kokietgym and Petchmanee CP Freshmart), is a Thai professional boxer. He has held multiple world championships in two weight classes, including t ...

for the vacant WBC light-flyweight title at

Rajadamnern Stadium Rajadamnern Stadium (; ), also spelled ''Ratchadamnoen'', is a sporting arena in Bangkok, Thailand. Along with Lumpinee Boxing Stadium, Rajadamnern is one of the two main stadiums for modern Muay Thai. It hosts fights every Monday, Wednesday, ...

, Bangkok in Thailand, losing by majority decision with one ringside judge scoring the fight a 114–114 draw while the other two had it 115–113 and 116–112 respectively for his opponent.

Professional boxing record

References

External links