Hiroto Kyoguchi
is a Japanese professional boxer. He is a two-weight world champion, having held the IBF mini-flyweight title from 2017 to 2018, and the WBA (Super) and The Ring light-flyweight titles from 2018 to 2022. As of October 2022, he is ranked as the world's best active light flyweight by ESPN, second by the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board and third by BoxRec. Professional career Early career Kyoguchi made his professional debut against Narathip Sungsut on April 17, 2016. He won the fight by a second-round knockout. This victory was followed by four consecutive stoppage victories, during which he defeated Taweechai Yuyuet by a first-round technical knockout, Kenichi Miyazaki by a third-round technical knockout, Michael Camelion by a 33-second knockout and Junuel Lacar by a third-round knockout. He was scheduled to fight Armando de la Cruz for the OPBF minimumweight title in his sixth fight, on February 28, 2017. He won the fight by a third-round knockout. Kyoguchi was scheduled to defend his OPBF minimum against Jonathan Refugio, on April 25, 2017. He beat Refugio by unanimous decision, with the judges scoring the bout 117–111, 118-111 and 119–109 in Kyoguchi's favor. IBF mini-flyweight champion Kyoguchi vs. Argumedo Kyoguchi was scheduled to fight the reigning IBF mini-flyweight champion Jose Argumedo in the latter's fourth title defense, on July 23, 2017. Due to his lack of professional experience and world title fight, Kyoguchi came into the fight as the betting underdog to the more accomplished Argumedo. The fight itself was a messy affair, with a lot of clinching and slipping to the mat. Kyoguchi scored the only knockdown of the fight in the ninth round, dropping Argumedo with a left. He won the fight by unanimous decision, with two of the judges scoring the fight 116–111 in his favor, while the third judge scored it 115-112 for Kyoguchi. He became the Japanese boxer to win a world title in the shortest amount of time, at 1 year and 3 months. Kyoguchi vs. Buitrago Kyoguchi was scheduled to make his first IBF mini-flyweight title defense against the former WBO and IBF mini flyweight champion Carlos Buitrago, on December 31, 2017. The fight was scheduled as the co-main event to the Ryoichi Taguchi and Milan Melindo fight. Kyoguchi established distance early on with the jab, and began accumulating damage on his opponent with a combination of body-head power shots. Kyoguchi won the fight by an eight-round technical knockout, which was the first stoppage loss in Buitrago's professional career. During the post-fight press conference, Kyoguchi stated his desire to fight either Hekkie Budler or Kenshiro Teraji. Kyoguchi vs. Paras Kyoguchi was scheduled to make his second IBF mini-flyweight title defense against the #15 IBF light flyweight contender Vince Paras, on May 20, 2018. It was the second consecutive time he fought on the Ryoichi Taguchi undercard, as Taguchi took on Hekkie Budler. Kyoguchi handed Paras his first professional loss, as he won the fight by a wide unanimous decision, with all three judges scoring the fight 117-110