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How did Pancho Villa become a major figure in Asian boxing history?

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Floyd Mayweather Jr., wearing black and gold trunks, lands a left punch on Manny Pacquiao, in yellow trunks, during their welterweight title fight in a boxing ring. — boxing Manny Pacquiao (right) and Floyd Mayweather, Jr., in their 2015 welterweight bout; Mayweather won in a unanimous decision.

Pancho Villa became a major figure in Asian boxing history by becoming the first Asian boxer to win a world championship.1

A native of the Philippines, Villa began his boxing career in 1919. After moving to the United States, he quickly established himself by knocking out the American flyweight champion, Johnny Buff, in 1922. He reached the pinnacle of the sport on June 18, 1923, when he knocked out the Welsh boxer Jimmy Wilde to claim the world flyweight title.2

Villa’s success helped establish the Philippines as a significant nation in the international boxing landscape, paving the way for future Filipino champions and the country's long-standing reputation as a hub for the sport. His career, which included 73 wins, ended prematurely in 1925 due to complications from an infection, and he was later inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1994.12