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Undefeated strawweight champion Wanheng Menayothin, whose birth name is Chayaphon Moonsri, has announced his retirement from boxing at the age of 34.
Wanheng will leave the sport with a superb and unblemished record of 54-0 (18 KO), and as the reigning WBC 105-pound titleholder, a belt he won from Oswaldo Novoa in Nov. 2014 and defended a total of 12 times, while also still mixing in the occasional non-title fight during his reign.
The Thai star was set to finally make his U.S. debut earlier this year under the Golden Boy Promotions banner, but COVID-19 prevented that, and now it seems we’ll never see him fight outside of Thailand, where he turned pro in 2007 at the age of 21.
In his last outing, he defeated Simpiwe Konkco over 12 rounds in Chonburi on Oct. 25, 2019.
Wanheng did meet some criticism in his career, chiefly for never looking to unify titles or travel to fight outside of his home country, though again, he was ready to do the latter this year. But all in all he had an incredible run in a volatile weight class, and will go down as one of the greats in the division.