2010-Poonsawat Kratingdaenggym retains
Thailand's Poonsawat Kratingdaenggym had held the "interim" WBA Super Bantamweight title back in 2005-2006 and then again 2009. Eventually he claimed the full version of the title in 2009, stopping Bernard Dunne in Dublin. His first defense saw him travel to Tokyo to face hard hitting Japanese challenger Satoshi Hosono, who was unbeaten at 16-0. Poonsawat, a real world class fighter, was given problems by the hard nosed challenger, who marched forward through out, but did enough to retain the title with a majority decision. Sadly for the Thai he would only actually record one more successful defense, over-coming Shoji Kimura, before losing in October to Ryol Li Lee, in what was a real upset. Sadly for the Thai his career would never these loft peaks again, retiring in 2012 with a record of 48-2 (33) following the chance discovery of a serious blood disorder ahead of a bout with Guillermo Rigondeaux. The bout was cancelled with the Cuban and Poonsawat retired. For Hosono things were disappointing, he would lose in another world title fight to Celestino Caballero, suffer a technical draw with Chris John and then suffer late career losses to Jonathan Victor Barros and Reiya Abe, to fall to 33-4-1 (22). 2010-Takashi Uchiyama becomes king! On the same card as the Poonsawat Vs Hosono bout we saw Takashi Uchiyama announce himself on the world stage, with a 12th round KO win against Juan Carlos Salgado for the WBA Super Featherweight title. Salgado was looking to make his first defense following a shock win over Jorge Linares in October 2009. He was however unable to over-come "KO Dynamite", who was in the lead before closing the show in the final round. The win began a reign of terror from Uchiyama which lasted until he was upset by Jezreel Corrales in 2016. A second loss to Corrales sent Uchiyama into retirement with a record of 24-2-1 (20). During his reign Uchiyama managed an impressive 11 title defenses, with 9 TKO's, including wins over Takashi Miura, Jorge Solis, Daiki Kaneko and Jomthong Chuwatana. He has now opened up his own boxing gym, the KOD Lab Boxing Gym. 2002-Veeraphol Sahaprom retains When we talk about Thai greats it's impossible not to talk about Veeraphol Sahaprom, who in his prime was truly feared. He was a sensation fighter with spiteful power, a solid jab and very under-rated skills.He would win the WBC Super Flyweight title in just his 4th bout and despite having a short reign was still regarded as a major player. He moved up to Bantamweight soon after losing the Super Flyweight title and began his real reign of terror, at Bantamweight. Sahaprom took the WBC Bantamweight title from Japanese star Joichiro Tatsuyoshi in December 1998 and made 14 defenses of the belt. The 8th of those came on this day in 2002, when he faced off with Mexican tough guy Sergio Perez. Perez was an undeserving challenger, with a 23-9 (16) record but has never been stopped and showed his toughness in going 12 rounds with Sahaprom, in what was a wide decision loss. Notably Perez wouldn't be stopped until 2012, when Abner Cotto stopped him in 7 rounds and he then suffered stoppages in his final 2 bouts. Sahaprom's reign would continue until April 2005, when he lost a close decision to Hozumi Hasegawa in Japan. A rematch with Hasegawa saw Sahaprom being stopped. He would never reclaim a world title but he would continue on until 2010 when he retired with a record of 66-4-2 (46). 1966-Yoshinori Nishizawa's birthday We're also saying happy birthday to Japanese veteran Yoshinori Nishizawa, who had a very interesting career as a fighter before linking up with the Ohashi gym recently as a trainer. Nishizawa made his debut back in 1986 and would fight for the last time as a professional in 2011, he career spanned more than 25 years and saw him fighting well into his 40's. In his pomp Nishizawa won the Japanese Middleweight title, in 1997, and then won the OPBF Super Middleweight title, in 1999, and again in 2001. Although a relative unknown in the West Nishizawa would challenge the WBA Super Middleweight champion Anthony Mundine and WBC champion Markus Beyer, both in 2004, before moving up in weight to claim the OPBF Light Heavyweight title at the age of 40! From there his career meandered for a few years before he retired with a record of 31-21-6 (19) Last year he joined the training team at the Ohashi Gym and is now a key figure there bringing on the next general of talent through one of the top gyms in Japan. With his experience, know how and proven ability to perform in older age he is an ideal mentor to the fighters at the Ohashi gym, along with Hideyuki Ohashi himself, and Koji Matsumoto.
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2012-Takao Sakurai passes
On this day former Japanese fighter Takao Sakurai, who had the Olympic gold medal at Bantamweight in the 1964 Olympics, passed away at the age of 70. He was the first Japanese fighter to win an Olympic gold medal, and even now he is one of just two fighters to achieve that feat with Ryota Murata being the other. Following his Olympic success in 1964 Sakurai turned professional, making his debut in 1965, and would win his first 22 fights before challenging the then WBC and WBA Bantamweight champion Lionel Rose. Rose would defeat Sakurai by majority decision, giving the Japanese hero his first loss. He would rebuild from that set back and earn a shot at Ruben Olivares in 1969 and would be stopped in 6 rounds by the Mexican great. He would end his career by winning the OPBF Bantamweight title, before hanging up the gloves with a record of 30-2 (4). Sakurai's death was from esophageal cancer. Incidentally he was trained by Hitoshi Misako, who celebrated his 78th birthday the same day that Sakurai passed. 1988-Bong Jun Kim comes up short in historical bout In 1988 Venezuelan fighter Leo Gamez travelled to Korea to battle against Bong Jun Kim, for the newly created WBA Minimumweight title. At the time Gamez was 16-0 (11) whilst Kim was 14-4-3 (5), with a notable win over Hideyuki Ohashi. Sadly for Kim he would lose a razor thin decision, losing on all 3 scorecards by a single point, as Gamez became the first ever WBA Minimumweight champion. Gamez would later go on to win titles at Light Flyweight, Flyweight and Super Flyweight to become the first man to claim world titles in the lowest 4 divisions. Kim however would become the second man to win the WBA Minimumweight title, beating Agustin Garcia for the belt after Games vacated it. Kim would go on to make 5 defenses of the belt before losing it to Hi Yong Choi in 1991 then fail in an attempt to win the WBA Light Flyweight title, coming up short to Hiroki Ioka. He would retire in the mid 1990's with a record of 24-10-3 (10). 1964-Myung Woo Yuh's birthday Although the aforementioned Bong Jun Kim failed to win the WBA Light Flyweight title the same cannot be said of Korean legend Myung Woo Yuh, who turns 55 today! "Sonagi" was one of two Korean icons at Light Flyweight, along with Jung Koo Chang, and held the WBA title from 1985, when he defeated Joey Olivo, to 1991 when he lost to Hiroki Ioka. He would reclaim the title from Ioka the following year and scored 1 more defense in 1993. Yuh's career would see him go 38-1 (14) in a career that began in 1982 and ended after his final bout in 1993. During that time he fought in 21 world title bouts, going 20-1 in them, beating not only Olivo and Ioka but also Rodolfo Blanco and Leo Gamez, among others. Yuh would later be inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame and work in promoting boxing in Korea. 1934-Hitoshi Misako's birthday Having previously mentioned Hitoshi Misako it seems right to talk a little bit more about Mr Misako, who was a notable fighter in the 1950's and runs one of the oldest and most well established gyms in Japan, the Misako gym. As a fighter Mr Misako fought between 1950 and 1958, running up a 31-14-5 (6) record. Although not amazing on paper he did win the Japanese and OPBF titles and shared the ring with the likes of Leo Espinosa, Tanny Campo and Pone Kingpetch. The Misako gym was set up in 1960 and is still running today, albeit having moved location. 2006-Eagle Den Junlaphan retains
The most recent bout of note on this day, at least in Asia, saw Eagle Den Junlaphan retain the WBC Minimumweight title with a decision win over Japan's Ken Nakajima. The bout was the first for Eagle Den since he regained the WBC title from Katsunari Takayama in August 2005. The bout showed that Eagle Den, who has been out of the ring prior to beating Takayama due to a shoulder injury, still had it and he actually went on to stop Nakajima in the 7th round, in what was Eagle Den's only stoppage win at world level. The Japanes based Thai would continue his reign on until late 2007, notching notable defenses against Rodel Mayol, Lorenzo Trejo and Akira Yaegashi, before losing to Oleydong Sithsamerchai. After the loss to Sithsamerchai we saw Eagle Den retire from the ring with a record of 18-2 (6). 1984- Isao Kimura passes Japan's Isao Kimura is certainly not a name that we expect many readers to be familiar with, but he was a fighter who debuted in 1979 and sadly lost his life in 1984, following injuries suffered in a bout with Rikuo Watanabe, who he had previously lost to twice previously. He was just 28. His career had seen him cram 25 bouts into less than 5 years as a fighter, during which time he suffered 7 stoppage losses, including one to Watanabe. His career ended in worrying fashion with 5 stoppage losses in just over 18 months before his death. The rules in Japan now have prevented thins like this happening, it's clear that his death was one that was avoidable 1983-Katsuo Tokashiki retains Japanese fighter Katsuo Tokashiki had a short yet packed career. He debuted in December 1978 less than 3 years later he would upset Hwan-Jin Kim and claim the WBA Light Flyweight title, in his 16th bout. From then on all but 1 of his career bouts was a world title bout, until his retirement in 1984. In less than 6 years he had debuted, fought in 9 world title fights and left a notable mark. On this day in 1983 Tokashika scored his last win a world title bout, and his second career win, as he defeated former champion Hwan-Jin Kim, in a rematch over 15 rounds to retain the WBA title. The bout came 13 months after their first clash and again saw Tokashiki take the win. This was 4 Tokashiki's 4 defense of the title. Tokashiki's reign came to an end just 6 month later, losing the second of 3 bouts with Lupe Madera who he had previously drawn with. His career would then end in 1984 following a TKO loss to the rampant Jung Koo Chang. His record was 19-4-2 (4). Incidentally Kim never fought again after losing to Tokashiki the second time, retiring with a record of 22-2-2 (8). 1988-Tae Shik Jun's debut
The Korean boxing scene isn't what it once was, however it's certainly not as dead as it was just a couple of years ago. Sadly we are a long way removed from the Gold age though it will only take 1 fighter to kick start the country's significance at world level. Amazingly it's 31 years ago that Tae Shik Jun made his professional debut. Jun's career what a short one, but a notable one. Just 16 months after his debut he had claimed the South Korean Featherweight title and he continued his rise through the ranks, before challenging countryman Young Kyun Park in 1993 for the WBA Featherweight title. Sadly Jun lost to his compatriot, with Park losing the title just months later to Eloy Rojas. Jun would only fight once more after losing to Park, retiring with a career record of 17-1 (10), winning his final bout against Ronnie Boy Pena in November 1993. 1975-Oguma loses to Canto In 1975 Japan's Shoji Oguma attempted to defend the WBC Flyweight title against Mexican Miguel Canta. Oguma has won the title 3 months earlier, defeating Betulio Gonzalez, but was narrowly beaten by Canto, with both men feeling they had deserved the win. It was razor thin, with Canto taking the majority decision. Despite the loss the Oguma wanted a rematch, and would actually get 2 of them in 1978. Sadly for Oguma he would lose both, the first rematch was a split decision win for Canto whilst the second rematch was unanimous decision for Canto. Despite Canto going 3-0 all 3 bouts were razor close, and Oguma is often a forgotten man in the division. Interestingly Oguma would reclaim the title in 1980, defeating Chan Hee Park, the man who had ended Canto's reign. Not only did he win the title back in 1980 but was also named the Ring Magazine Comeback of the Year fight for the year. 1959-Deuk Koo Kim's birthday Tragic Korean fighter Deuk Koo Kim was born on this day in 1959. The courageous Korean ran up a 17-1-1 (8) record before making his US debut and challenging Ray Mancini for the WBA Lightweight title in 1982. Kim would be stopped early in round 14, and sadly passed away a few days. The bout with Mancini forced boxing to change, with changes to the medical checks of the sport and the length of bouts, with various bodies cutting length of fights from 15 to 12 rounds. The WBC was the first to act, though all other followed suit in the years that followed. Prior to fighting Mancini Kim was a real unknown outside of Asia, where he had held and defended the OPBF title and had been unbeaten in 16 fights. Whilst he had good form on paper the bout was a huge step up in class. He was competitive, but in the end his desire to win and insane toughness came at the highest price. When looking for major events from the Asian boxing calendar to have taken place on January 7th we struggled to find many, though have come across 3 different ones, all form Japan.
2006- Shinsuke Yamanaka's debut It was on this day in 2006 that "God's Left" Shinsuke Yamanaka made his professional debut. He would take a wide 6 round decision win over Hitoshi Takahashi and begin his rise through the Bantamweight division. His rise saw him win the Japanese title in 2010, stopping Mikio Yasuda, defending it just once, stopping Ryosuke Iwasa, before moving on to win the WBC title. As the WBC Bantamweight champion Yamanaka's was a very impressive one, starting in November 2011 and running through to August 2017, when he was beaten for the first time by the controversial Luis Nery. Yamanaka would retire in 2018 with a career record of 27-2-2 (19) and victories over the likes of Iwasa, Vic Darchinyan, Tomas Rojas, Malcolm Tunacao, Suriyan Sor Rungvisai, Liborio Solis and Anselmo Moreno, and became one of the key figures at the Teiken Gym. 1979- Yoko Gushiken Retains title We are exactly 40 years removed from Yoko Gushiken's 7th defense of the WBA Light Flyweight title, which he notched by stopping Rigoberto Macano in their second bout. The two had fought in 1977, with Gushiken taking a 15 round split decision win over the Venezuelan. Marcano again put up a good fight, but was knocked out in the 7th round as Gushiken's reign continued into 1981, and he ended up setting a Japanese record 13 world title defenses, a record that still stands to this very day. Gushiken would go on to run a gym, which has Daigo Higa among it's fighters, and is still a popular figure among Japanese fight fans. 1976 - Kayoko Ebata's birthday Former Japanese world champion Kayoko Ebata was born on this day in 1976. Although a much lesser name in boxing than Yamanaka and Gushiken, Ebata has been a key figure in female boxing in Japan. She made her debut in 2007 and unfortunately for her she got a reputation as an almost lady, losing her bigger fights by close decision. In 2017 however she upset Erika Hanawa and became the WBO Female Minimumweight champion. She would hold the title until December 2018, when she was 42. With the fighter turning 43 today it's unclear what her future holds, though we suspect she will have some sort of a role as a trainer, or gym ambassador, in the future, highlighting just how much she has meant to female boxing in Japan, despite only holding a record of 12-8 (6). |
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