August 18 in boxing: four WBC title fights remembered over time

Four WBC title bouts associated with August 18 span 1979 to 2018. The dates include a hard-fought light heavyweight defence, a ninth-round stoppage in South Korea, a Mexican world-title change and a body-shot knockout in Belfast.

In 1979, Matthew Saad Muhammad retained the WBC light heavyweight championship against Britain’s John Conteh. The American won by unanimous decision after 15 rounds at the Convention Center in Atlantic City, New Jersey. It was Saad Muhammad’s first successful defence of the belt and one of the most demanding fights on the date.

Five years later, Jung-Koo Chang kept his WBC light flyweight title by stopping Japan’s Katsuo Tokashiki in the ninth round. The championship bout took place at Pohang Gymnasium in Pohang, South Korea, where Chang secured another successful defence against his Japanese challenger.

The 1985 entry featured an all-Mexican contest for the WBC super bantamweight crown. Guadalupe Pintor defeated Mexican-American champion Juan “Kid” Meza by unanimous decision over 12 rounds at the Palacio de los Deportes in Mexico City. Pintor also put Meza on the canvas twice during the fight before taking the title on the judges’ scorecards.

The most recent bout in the group came in 2018, when Nicaragua’s Cristofer Rosales defended the WBC flyweight championship against Ireland’s Paddy Barnes. Rosales ended the contest in the fourth round at Windsor Park in Belfast, using a body hook to stop Barnes.

Together, the four fights show August 18’s place in WBC history across four weight divisions: light heavyweight, light flyweight, super bantamweight and flyweight. The outcomes also cover the main ways a world title can be settled, with unanimous decisions in 1979 and 1985 and stoppage wins in 1984 and 2018.