Toshiaki Nishioka - WBC Super Bantamweight Title

WBC Super Bantamweight Title

Nishioka captured the WBC super bantamweight interim title against Thai's Napapol Kiatisakchokchai at the Pacifico Yokohama on September 15, 2008. Just after the fight, Veeraphol whom he fought four times, and who served as Napapol's special coach, climbed into the ring to congratulate Nishioka. Nishioka inherited the fullversion of the WBC super bantamweight title on December 18 of that year, when its previous holder, Israel Vázquez, was stripped for medical reasons. He defended that title by knocking out Mexico's Genaro García in the final round, again at the Pacifico Yokohama on January 3, 2009.

On May 23, 2009, Nishioka successfully defended his title against Jhonny González in front of 12,000 spectators mostly cheering for González at the Monterrey Arena in Mexico which had an outbreak of the H1N1 influenza. Nishioka recovered from a knockdown on the first round and went to knock out González in the third round. Nishioka's left blows including his left crosses have often been called Monster Left from those days. He succeeded in the third defense via a third round technical knockout (TKO) against Ivan Hernández at the Yoyogi National Gymnasium on October 10 of the same year. Nishioka was presented with the 2009 WBC Knockout of the Year. He defeated Filipino Balweg Bangoyan via a fifth round technical knockout at the Nippon Budokan on April 30, 2010 to have four consecutive title defenses all by knockout. The effects of trunk strengthening from the late 2009 have appeared, his balance has improved markedly.

On October 24 of the same year, Nishioka fought a mandatory bout against Rendall Munroe at the Ryōgoku Kokugikan, and defeated him by a convincing unanimous decision to extend his defending streak to five matches. Nishioka strongly desired a unification match with the other organizations' champion especially after that. When Nishioka was named Japan's Fighter of the Year in 2010, he received a video message from Fernando Montiel demanding a fight at the awards ceremony in January 2011. Nishioka said he was willing to fight anytime soon afterward and his camp intended to arrange a match, but the contract was not finalized as Montiel lost to Nonito Donaire in February. On April 8, 2011, he knocked out Argentina's Mauricio Javier Muñoz in the ninth round in his sixth defense which was moved from the Ryōgoku Kokugikan in Tokyo to the World Memorial Hall in Kobe due to the Tōhoku earthquake.

In his seventh defense on October 1, 2011, Nishioka fought against Rafael Márquez, who had been marked as one of his targets from around October 2003, at the MGM Grand Marquee Ballroom in Las Vegas. Márquez's long, well-extended jabs were effective in the early rounds. At the end of four rounds, all three judges scored it identically at 39–37 in favor of Márquez. Nishioka fully concentrated every second from the beginning of the fight. He landed well-timed left and right blows while circling right to nullify Márquez's right cross, and although not in principle for a southpaw, often circling left to negate Márquez's left hook and to throw his quicker and sharper angled left, to win the bout by a unanimous decision. Although Márquez did not admit his defeat and demanded a rematch, there was no disgust nor booing among the spectators.

In March 2012, Nishioka competed with Yuriorkis Gamboa for The Ring pound for pound Top 10, and barely missed it. The WBC granted Nishioka the Emeritus Champion status on March 15, 2012.

Nishioka lost to Nonito Donaire by technical knockout in 1:54 in the ninth round at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California on October 13, 2012. He had been ranked the number one super bantamweight in the world by The Ring, but was dropped to number three after the fight.