55 years ago

Date: 15th February 1969

Venue: Araneta Coliseum, Quezon City, Philippines

Title: vacant WBC World Super-featherweight Title

Rene Barrientos
( 26 - 4 - 6 )
Weight: 129 1/2 lbs

Ruben Navarro
( 14 - 1 - 2 )
Weight: 129 1/2 lbs

For Filipino Rene Barrientos, this was the second attempt at becoming a world champion after his March 1968 challenge to Japan's WBC and WBA world super-featherweight titleholder Hiroshi Kobayashi in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. The fight was declared a majority decision draw.

Navarro would go on to challenge WBC and WBA world lightweight champion Ken Buchanan in February 1971, but this was his first attempt at world honors even though he was coming off a loss and a draw in his previous two outings.

For Barrientos, this was second time lucky as he came away with a unanimous decision win to hold the world title aloft.

He would lose the title in his first defence in April 1970 to Japan's Yoshiaki Numata in Tokyo on a split decision and then lost in the rematch, again by split decision.