(FEB 9) The Women’s International Boxing Association (WIBA) will attempt to fill a vacancy for their world title in the mini flyweight division on March 16. The division is better known as the minimumweight division (weight limit of 105 pounds), although it is also known as strawweight by the WBC. The WBO and IBF recognize the division as mini flyweight. Ryu Kyung Suh of South Korea will face Riyuna Yoshikawa of Japan.  The fight will be in Seoul, South Korea. Ryu Kyung Suh is rated the No. 32 mini flyweight contender in the world by the WIBA.  She is rated the No. 14 contender by the computerized ratings of the International Boxing Organization (IBO). Her opponent from Japan is rated higher and rated by more sanctioning bodies. Riyuna Yoshikawa is rated the No. 16 contender by the WIBA. Yoshikawa is rated the No. 9 contender by the IBO. She is also rated No. 7 by the WBO, No. 9 by the IBF, and No. 13 by the WBC.

Ryu Kyung Suh has a career not only as a professional boxer, but also as a medical doctor which is unusual for an active boxer. She is a pediatrician and neonatal specialist, so she specializes in the medical care of children and newborn infants. She currently works in a neonatal intensive care unit at a hospital which provides care for premature or ill newborn infants. Even though the careers are different in that a doctor intends to heal whereas a boxer intends to hurt, she sees similarities between her two occupations. In being a physician and a boxer, she must concentrate and make accurate decisions. Her upcoming fight is promoted by DND Promotion and Boxing Management. All her fights except for her pro debut are on the YouTube channel for Boxing Management which is Boxing M - KBM. Five of her seven wins were by TKO. She won the vacant South Korean light flyweight (weight limit of 108 pounds) title last year against Chan Mi Lim by TKO in the eighth round. Her record is 7-0-1, 5 KOs. She is 32 years of age.

Riyuna Yoshikawa has a record of 6-2-1, 1 KO. At 22 years of age, she is about a decade younger than Ryu Kyung Suh. She has faced better opposition than her future opponent which is one reason why she is rated higher. She won the vacant WBO Asia Pacific mini flyweight title in 2022 against Norj Guro. Guro is currently rated No. 9 in the world by the WBC in the atomweight division (weight limit of 102 pounds) which is the lightest weight class in professional women’s boxing. Yoshikawa made one successful title defense in 2023 against Kaoru Iga. Iga is currently rated No. 8 in the world by the WBO in the atomweight division. About one month ago in January 2024, Yoshikawa lost her title by a close majority decision to top ten contender Mayumi Nakano of Japan in an eight-round bout. The scores of the judges were 77-75, 77-75, and 76-76. After winning the WBO Asia Pacific mini flyweight title because of her victory over Yoshikawa, Nakano is now the No. 4 contender by the WBO. Nakano is also rated No. 8 by the WBA in the light minimumweight division which is also known as atomweight.

The Korea Boxing Member’s Commission (KBMC) will be overseeing the WIBA title fight. WIBA President and CEO Ryan Wissow will be the supervisor of the fight. Obviously, the fight being in South Korea is an advantage for Ryu Kyung Suh. It is scheduled for 10 rounds of 2 minutes each. The fight will probably go the distance. Yoshikawa has never lost by knockout and she lost a very close decision to a top ten contender. The fight poster has Ryu Kyung Suh with her South Korean light flyweight title. The poster has the logo of tvN Sports Live which is a South Korean television network. Their YouTube channel is tvN Sports. It is possible that the WIBA title fight will be shown on their YouTube channel, but it could be uploaded to YouTube a week later. Wissow stated that this upcoming WIBA title fight is getting a lot of publicity and that Ryu Kyung Suh is very well known in South Korea. It should be a great fight between two worthy contenders!

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