The long-vacant No. 1 slot has finally been filled in the WBA’s junior flyweight ratings.
Daiya Kira, who had been No. 2 for five straight months, received the upgrade in the sanctioning body’s regularly scheduled ratings update, which was released on January 1.
The previous No. 1 was Kyosuke Takami, who dethroned Erick Rosa for the WBA belt at 108lbs in July. Takami subsequently lost in his first defense, a unification bout with WBO titleholder Rene Santiago last month.
Kira is 4-0 (3 KOs). The 22-year-old Tokyo resident turned pro in June 2024 as a junior bantamweight and subsequently entered the WBA’s ratings at 115lbs at No. 15. Kira was then rated in the No. 15 spot at flyweight for four months before starting off 2025 as the WBA’s No. 12-rated man at 108lbs.
He moved up and down without performing himself, to ninth, then 10th, then eighth and sixth. In May, Kira outpointed the 11-2-2 Jackson Zapata – both men came in just shy of 110lbs for the bout – and was moved up to No. 5.
By this past summer, again without another fight, Kira sat all the way up at No. 2. In his second and last bout of the year, he needed less than four minutes to dispose of the 13-4-1 Ivan Garcia Balderas on New Year’s Eve.
Coming after Kira in the WBA’s rankings at 108lbs are Shokichi Iwata, Aaron de la Cruz Escobedo, Takami, Rosa, Ronald Chacon, Rodrigo Ramirez, Jairo Noriega, Masataka Taniguchi, Gustavo Perez Alvarez, Byron Rojas, Azael Villar, Jeremy Vera, Yuga Ozaki and Toshiki Kawamitsu.
David Greisman, who has covered boxing since 2004, is on Twitter @FightingWords2. David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” is available on Amazon.
