Milan Melindo saw a sour ending to his 2017 as he bowed to Ryoichi Taguchi in their unification bout for the WBA and IBF World light flyweight titles Sunday at Ota-City General Gymnasium in Japan.
The taller Taguchi used his two-inch reach advantage on Melindo (37-3-0) landing crisp long-range shots to keep his distance en route to a unanimous decision victory, 116-112, 117-111, 117-111.
Taguchi (27-2-2) was even able to land uppercuts as Melindo closed the distance.
The Japanese also added the vacant Ring Magazine light flyweight belt after defending the WBA strap for a seventh time since 2014.
This was supposed to be Melindo’s second defense of the IBF belt after he won the title from Hekie Budler in September.
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