I rate him at #11 all time at Flyweight. He had 2 x reigns & went a combined 6-2 in lineal Flyweight world championship fights. If you consider his defeat to the great Masao Oba, when Chionoi was 30-years old and possibly on the slide, as being past prime, then I suspect (there are no weights recorded for some of his non-title fights) that he only ever lost twice in fights contested at or around Flyweight during his prime, once to Efren Torres, on an eye injury, sandwiched between 2 x victories, and the other to Erbito Salavarria. In fights contested at or around Flyweight, he beat Efren Torres x 2, Walter McGowan x 2, Berkrek Chartvanchai, Fritz Chervet, Ernesto Miranda and Mimoun Ben Ali. Chionoi was a strong, aggressive and fairly powerful Flyweight, and that's a pretty impressive win resume. For context, my top 20 at Fly: 1) Wilde 2) Canto 3) Perez 4) Wolgast 5) Lynch 6) Genaro 7) Villa 8) Kingpetch 9) Oba 10) Accavalio 11) Chionoi 12) B. Gonzalez 13) Kane 14) Wonjongkam 15) Chitalada 16) Davies 17) R. Gonzalez 18) Ebihara 19) Burruni 20) Arbachakov
I rank Chionoi #15 amongst the ATG Flyweights - and rate Betulio Gonzalez one place ahead of him, with very little in it. From what I can recall seeing of him, Chionoi is a great watch, but erratic - and I do not just mean from one performance to the next. I think he could, in a single bout, shift through different styles, looking a sublime boxer-puncher with conservative, technical precision in one frame and then just start throwing a wild swing or three to appear an unwieldy slugger in the next. Collectively, Chionoi has a good body of work but he does appear to have been quite inconsistent, which is perhaps reflected in his ledger.
Watched the Ohba-Chio fight yesterday. Very impressive showing for both fighters. Ohba died that same month sadly. Am I crazy for thinking Chio's resume could've been possibly better?
I suspect Chionoi was past prime vs Oba, though I think Oba had developed into an exceptional fighter by then too. Incidentally, the parallels between Oba and Salvador Sanchez are spooky in a way that's almost harrowing - both extremely talented champions with incredible resumes for fighters so young, top 10 ATGs in their respective weight divisions, both tragically killed in automobile accidents aged 23. As for your question, no, you're not crazy, though I suppose every fighter could have a better resume in theory. I know what you mean, as is often the case for fighters with his style, I think Chionoi had a relatively brief period when he was absolutely primed. His trilogy with Torres around this time more than hints at the level he'd attained. Based on whole careers and work done in their respective primes, I consider my top 10 had better records overall.
