The career of WBC strawweight champion Wanheng Menayothin will proceed as planned.
Noted for his 54-fight unbeaten record, the weary-sounding Thai posted an abrupt retirement message on his Facebook page last month, sending his promoters and sponsors scrambling in panic ahead of a lucrative debut in America for Golden Boy Promotions.
The next word from Thailand was that Wanheng (54-0, 18 KOs) had ‘reconsidered’ and that has now been confirmed by Golden Boy President Eric Gomez.
“It had a lot to do with the pandemic. There is a lot of uncertainty and sadness in the world. I think he felt frustrated with everything going on. I think he said it out of emotions,” Gomez told Sky Sports.
“We have spoken to his handlers who told us it was something emotional. He saw what is going on around the world and boxing isn’t so important right now. But, luckily, they came back and said: ‘He will consider fighting again, he was just being emotional’. We said: ‘Great, we will support him’.
“We really want to bring him to the US so people can see how talented he really is. Once we get a date going for him, then we’ll look at opponents. But right now? We’re just happy he isn’t retired and is fighting again.”
Wanheng has made 12 successful defences of the WBC crown he won in November 2014, but is yet to campaign outside of Thailand.
Main image: Sumio Yamada, WBC.