Panya Pradabsri and Carlos Canizales are as set for their rematch as they were for their first meeting.
Both boxers checked in at the same weight for Friday’s WBC 108lbs title fight sequel as they did when they squared off seven months ago. Thailand’s Pradabsri tipped the scales at 107.8lbs as the visiting titlist, while the locally based Canizalez was 107.5lbs for Thursday’s weigh-in ceremony at El Polidreo in Caracas, Venezuela.
The same venue will host their scheduled 12-round title fight this Friday, which will air live on ESPN Deportes.
Pradabsri, 44-2 (27 KOs), also weighed 107.8lbs ahead of his vacant WBC 108lbs title winning effort over Canizales last December. Canizales was 107.4lbs for that bout, only a tick lighter than his official weight for Friday’s rematch.
Last year’s title haul saw Pradabsri become a two-division titlist, albeit under dubious circumstances. Pradabsri was gifted a horribly scored majority decision over Canizales, 27-3-1 (19 KOs), on December 26 in Bangkok.
The outcome was so disputed that even WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman felt compelled to post his disgust on social media. An immediate rematch was ordered, though the finer details took a while to be worked out before the sides settled on what became a rare hometown title opportunity for Canizales.
Pradabsri will fight outside of Asia for the first time in his 11-year career.
It also marks just his second career title fight away from Thailand. The lone other occasion was in October 2023, when his WBC 105lbs title reign ended with a 12-round unanimous decision defeat to then-unbeaten Yudai Shigeoka in Tokyo.
Pradabsri held the WBC strawweight title for nearly three years prior to that point, though with just four successful defenses spread out over 35 months.
Canizales will be fighting at home for just the second time in his past 12 contests. He became a road warrior beginning with his March 2018 secondary WBA “world” 108lbs title win when he defeated unbeaten Reiya Konishi via unanimous decision in Kobe, Japan.
Successful title defenses followed in Maylasia and Cambodia, before Canizales suffered an upset knockout loss to Esteban Bermudez in their May 2021 meeting in Mexico City.
Canizales won his next four contests. He fought three more times in Mexico, followed by a technical decision win over then-unbeaten Daniel Matellon in a June 2023 WBA title eliminator in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The feat earned Canizales a shot at then-lineal, WBA and WBC 108lbs champ Kenshiro Teraji, who squeaked out a majority decision win in their nail-biter last January 23 in Osaka, Japan.
Teraji vacated his throne after that bout to instead campaign at flyweight. The move allowed for the WBC 108lbs title to be available in the first encounter between Pradabsri and Canizales.
