We've all heard of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, and we've decided to put our spin on things with "Six degrees of separation" looking to connect Asian fighters you may never have assumed were connected! Today we connect former 2-time WBC Bantamweight champion Joichiro Tatsuyoshi to former Japanese fighter Yuji Watanabe, himself a 2-time world title challenger.
Just as ground rules, we're not doing the more basic "A beat B who beat C who beat D" type of thing, but instead we want to link fighters in different ways. As a result we will limit A fought B connections, and try to get more varied connections together, as you'll see here! We also know there are often shorter routes to connect fighters, but that's not always the most interesting way to connect them. 1-September 29th 1989 was when Joichiro Tatsuyoshi made his professional debut, on a card at the Prefectural Gymnasium in Osaka. Also on that card was a 23 year old Flyweight called Takahiro Mizuno, who scored a 4th round KO over Yasuo Yamamoto. 2-It's fair to say that Takahiro Mizuno is not a particularly well known fighter, in fact very few reading this will be aware off him. However he did fight several notable fighters, the most well known of which was Yuri Arbachakov, who he faced for the Japanese Flyweight title in 1991. That bout was for the vacant title which had been stripped from Puma Toguchi, who was supposed to defend against Arbachakov. 3-The heavy handed Yuri Arbachakov was one of a a number of fighters who signed with Kyoei Gym in the late 1980's and early 1990's. Arbachakov made his debut on the same show as many of those Kyoei fighters, including Viachaslau Ianouski, Vyacheslav Yakovlev and, most notably Orzubek Nazarov. 4-Hard hitting Lightweight Orzubek Nazarov made his mark by becoming the first Kyrgyzstani world champion, winning the WBA Lightweight title in 1993 and holding it until 1998. During his successful reign he notched up 6 defenses of the title, and scored defenses in South Africa, the USA and Japan. Sadly his reign came to an end in 1998 when he lost a decision in France to Jean-Baptiste Mendy. On the same show as that loss Kazakh born Russian Anatoly Alexandrov claimed the WBO Super Featherweight title. 5-Sadly Anatoly Alexandrov is better known for his title loss than any of his successful defenses, and that was due to the fact he lost the title in brutal fashion to Brazilian great Acelino Freitas in terrifying fashion. The bout lasted just 101 seconds but saw Alexandrov left out cold for several minutes. Despite his title loss being brutal it's worth noting he managed to go 12 rounds in a close decision loss to Genaro Hernandez in 1997. 6-The fantastically talented Genaro Hernandez didn't face many Asian fighters during his career, which ended in 1998 following a loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr, though he did face two Japanese challengers in 1992, when he was the WBA Super Featherweight champion. The second of those was the then 10-0 Yuji Watanabe, who he stopped in 6 rounds.
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We've all heard of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, and we've decided to put our spin on things with "Six degrees of separation" looking to connect Asian fighters you may never have assumed were connected! Today we connect former WBC Flyweight champion Medgoen Singsurat to former 2-time WBC Bantamweight champion Joichiro Tatsuyoshi.
Just as ground rules, we're not doing the more basic "A beat B who beat C who beat D" type of thing, but instead we want to link fighters in different ways. As a result we will limit A fought B connections, and try to get more varied connections together, as you'll see here! We also know there are often shorter routes to connect fighters, but that's not always the most interesting way to connect them. 1-Thailand's Medgoen Singsurat is best known for his WBC Flyweight title win, which came against Manny Pacquiao in 1999. Sadly Singsurat's reign was a short one, and lasted just 8 months, before he lost the belt in his second defense, against Filipino fighter Malcolm Tunacao. 2-The often over-looked and forgotten Malcolm Tunacao has a lengthy career that ran from 1998 to 2014, and his world title win came less than 22 months after his professional debut. Sadly his reign was also a super short one, and he also lost in his second defense, being stopped inside a round by Pongsaklek Wonjongkam, who would go on to have a legendary career after his win over Tunacao. 3-The talented Pongsaklek Wonjongkam managed to really make the division his in the early part of the 2000's, making 21 defense of the title over his 2 reigns with the belt. Rather interestingly there haven't been that many 2-time WBC Flyweight champions, in fact Wonjongkam was only the 5th man to recapture the title, and the first in over 20 years. The previous man to achieve that feat was fellow Thai Sot Chitalada. 4-The talented Sot Chitalada was one of the more well travelled Thai's from the 1980's and 1990's. In fact from his 31 professional bouts 7 were away from home, and they took place in countries as far afield as Jamaica, Kuwait and the United Kingdom. His final fight on the road was his amazing 1990 bout with Jung Koo Chang in Seoul. on the same day at a different venue in Seoul, Yong Soo Choi suffered his first professional loss. 5-During much of the 1990's Korean fighter Yong Soo Choi was a must watch action fighter, with a string of thrilling battles, including a trilogy with Yamato Mitani, 2 thrilling wars with Takanori Hatakeyama, and a brutal clash with Lakva Sim. His final world title bout came in 2003 when he lost to Sirimongkol Singwancha in Thailand. 6-Thailand's Sirimongkol Singwancha had a bizarre career that saw him fight more than 100 bouts, serve prison time, feature in a gay magazine and win world titles at both Bantamweight and Super Featherweight. One of his most famous bouts was his WBC Bantamweight title loss, which came in a sensational 7 round bout with Japanese star Joichiro Tatsuyoshi in 1997! We've all heard of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, and we've decided to put our spin on things with "Six degrees of separation" looking to connect Asian fighters you may never have assumed were connected! Today we connect rising Japanese fighter Ginjiro Shigeoka to former WBC Flyweight champion Medgoen Singsurat.
Just as ground rules, we're not doing the more basic "A beat B who beat C who beat D" type of thing, but instead we want to link fighters in different ways. As a result we will limit A fought B connections, and try to get more varied connections together, as you'll see here! We also know there are often shorter routes to connect fighters, but that's not always the most interesting way to connect them. 1-We saw talented Japanese youngster Ginjiro Shigeoka make his professional debut in 2018, when he stopped Sanchai Yotboon at Korakuen Hall. Just over 15 months later he scored a massive win over former world title challenger Rey Loreto, from the Philippines. 2-Despite a less than impressive looking record Filipino fighter Rey Loreto has scored numerous notable wins during his exciting career. The most famous of those was his 2014 KO win over South African fighter Nkosinathi Joyi, which took place in Monaco ad was aired in the UK on Boxnation. On the same card as that bout we saw Gennadiy Golovkin stop Adama Oasumanu in 7 rounds. 3-In 2012 the plan for hard hitting Kazakh Middleweight Gennadiy Golovkin was for him to unify the WBA title with the WBO belt held by skilled Russian fighter Dmitry Pirog, who sadly had to cancel those plans due to injury issues. 4-Due to his various injuries Dmitry Pirog retired in 2012 as the reigning WBO Middleweight champion. At that point in his career he was 20-0 (15) and, as a result, he is one of the few world champions to retire unbeaten. Another such fighter was Korean Super Bantamweight Ji Won Kim, who held the IBF Super Bantamweight title in 1985 and 1986. 5-As already mentioned Ji Won Kim is a former IBF Super Bantamweight champion, and during his reign he made 4 defense of the that title before vacating it. Another former IBF Super Bantamweight champion who recorded 4 defenses before vacating the belt is Filipino great Manny Pacquiao, who held the title from 2001 to 2003. 6-Prior to winning the IBF Super Bantamweight title Manny Pacquiao has previously held several other belts, the most notable of which was the WBC Flyweight title. That title was lost on the scales, when he failed to make the 112lbs limit for what would have been his second defense. Despite failing to make weight he went into the scheduled fight and ended up getting stopped, in 3 rounds, by the then unbeaten Medgoen Singsurat. We've all heard of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, and we've decided to put our spin on things with "Six degrees of separation" looking to connect Asian fighters you may never have assumed were connected! Today we connect 2012 Olympic bronze medal winner Satoshi Shimizu to touted Japanese youngster Ginjiro Shigeoka.
Just as ground rules, we're not doing the more basic "A beat B who beat C who beat D" type of thing, but instead we want to link fighters in different ways. As a result we will limit A fought B connections, and try to get more varied connections together, as you'll see here! We also know there are often shorter routes to connect fighters, but that's not always the most interesting way to connect them. 1-Japan's Satoshi Shimizu really made his name in the amateur ranks, where he competed at 2 Olympic games, fighting at the 2008 games in Beijing and the 2012 Olympics in London. His most notable amateur achievement was his Olympic Bronze medal, which he won in London. Interestingly his opponent in the 2012 Olympic semi-final was Englishman Luke Campbell, the eventual Gold medal winner. 2-English fighter Luke Campbell wasn't the only British fighter to win a Gold medal at the 2012 London Olympics. In fact Campbell was one of 3 British fighters to achieve the feat along with Nicola Adams and Anthony Joshua. 3-Whilst the Olympic Gold medal at the London Olympics is the defining moment of Anthony Joshua's amateur career it was certainly not the only major triumph he has had in the sport, becoming a multi-time unified Heavyweight champion in the professional ranks. Among his most notable wins was his victory over Joseph Parker, on March 31st 2018. That very same day Kosei Tanaka defeated Ronnie Baldonado in Nagoya. 4-Although well known for winning 3 world titles in just 12 bouts Kosei Tanaka's first title wasn't a world title, but instead the OPBF Minimumweight title, which he won in 2014 when he stopped Ryuji Hara in 10 rounds. Surprisingly the OPBF Minimumweight title has rarely seen a champion dethroned by T/KO, though in 2019 we saw that happen when Lito Dante stopped Tsubasa Koura in the 12th round of their bout. 5-Following his OPBF title win Lito Dante would sit on the sidelines for the better part of a year, until he returned for a non-title bout, almost 9 months after his title win. That non-title bout saw the tough Filipino lose a 6 round decision to the the talented Yudai Shigeoka, who was fighting in just his second professional bout. 6-Although very talented in his own right, as both an amateur and professional, Yudai Shigeoka's career so far has been overshadowed by that of his younger brother, Ginjiro Shigeoka, who is widely tipped to be a mega-star of the future for Japanese boxing. We've all heard of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, and we've decided to put our spin on things with "Six degrees of separation" looking to connect Asian fighters you may never have assumed were connected! Today we connect former Chinese world champion Xiong Zhao Zhong to hard hitting Japanese fighter Satoshi Shimizu.
Just as ground rules, we're not doing the more basic "A beat B who beat C who beat D" type of thing, but instead we want to link fighters in different ways. As a result we will limit A fought B connections, and try to get more varied connections together, as you'll see here! We also know there are often shorter routes to connect fighters, but that's not always the most interesting way to connect them. 1-In 2012 Chinese Minimumweight Xiong Zhao Zhong won the WBC Minimumweight title, becoming the first Chinese man to win a world title. Since then he has been followed by several other fighters, including former WBO Flyweight champion Zou Shiming. 2-Despite Zou Shiming not managing to be the break through star that many though he would be for Chinese professional boxing, he was one of the first Chinese fighters to be a star on the amateur ranks, and he really was an amateur star. In fact Shiming was a 2-time Olympic champion and a 3-time World Amateur Champion. Another 3-time World Amateur Champion was Azeri Super Heavyweight Mahammadrasul Majidov. 3-Hard hitting Mahammadrasul Majidov turned professional in 2019, following an excellent amateur career, with his first professional bout coming on September 13th 2019, when he stopped Ed Fountain at Madison Square Garden. Earlier that same day Ryo Sagawa won the Japanese Featherweight title, with a decision win over Reiya Abe in Tokyo. 4-Earlier this year Ryo Sagawa lost the Japanese Featherweight title, in his third defense, when he was stopped in 7 rounds by the highly touted Hinata Maruta. This was a mandatory defense by Sagawa of the title, albeit one that was delayed by almost a year due to the Covid19 pandemic and was supposed to take place in the first half of 2020. 5-The highly skilled Hinata Maruta fights out of the Morioka Gym in Hyogo, a gym that was originally set up by former fighter Eiji Morioka. Sadly however Mr Morioka passed away in 2004 before he got the chance to see Maruta having his success and winning the Japanese title. 6-Before setting up the Morioka Gym Eiji Morioka had a notable career as a fighter. His professional career was a short one, going 6-4 (3) but he was a very good amateur and at the 1968 Olympic games he won a bronze medal at, Bantamweight. Another Japanese fighter who won a Bronze Olympic medal in the Bantamweight division was Satoshi Shimizu, who achieved his feat at the 2012 London Olympics. We've all heard of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, and we've decided to put our spin on things with "Six degrees of separation" looking to connect Asian fighters you may never have assumed were connected! Today we connect former world title challenger Angky Angkotta to former Chinese world champion Xiong Zhao Zhong.
Just as ground rules, we're not doing the more basic "A beat B who beat C who beat D" type of thing, but instead we want to link fighters in different ways. As a result we will limit A fought B connections, and try to get more varied connections together, as you'll see here! We also know there are often shorter routes to connect fighters, but that's not always the most interesting way to connect them. 1-During his long career Indonesian fighter Angky Angkotta fought a relative who's who, including a notable WBO Super Flyweight title bout in 2010 against Jorge Arce. Sadly for Angkotta he is better known for his losses, rather than his wins, however there are some notable victories on his record, including a very notable 2004 win over the then unbeaten Donnie Nietes. The win is regarded as hugely controversial one, with Angkotta missing weight by 6lbs and still only managing a split decision, at home, but it is still a win on his record, and his biggest win by far. 2-Despite the loss to Angkotta the talented Donnie Nietes would bounce back and go on to record one of the most amazing careers of any Filipino fighter. He would have world title reigns at Minimumweight, Light Flyweight, Flyweight and Super Flyweight, and would record wins over a genuine who's who, of who, from the lower weight classes. He would also, rather notably, have success outside of his homeland. Among his many international jaunts was a win over Manuel Vargas in Mexico in September 2009. On that very same card was a bout featuring exciting American Brandon Rios. 3-At his best Brandon Rios was a thrill a minute fighter, with rather limited technical skills but an incredible work rate, toughness and will to win. During his career he would have a number of amazing bouts, including his first 2 with Mike Alvarado, a brilliant fight Urbano Antillon and a criminally under-rated one with Miguel Acosta. Notably however he only won one world title, the WBA "regular" Lightweight title, which he won in 2011. That title was, several years earlier, held by Yusuke Kobori. 4-Fight fans outside of Japan are unlikely to recall much off Yusuke Kobori's career, but a good chunk of his career he was the Japanese Super Featherweight champion and even unified that title with the OPBF title before taking the WBA "regular" Lightweight title late in his career. His world title win saw him stopping Nicaraguan Jose Alfaro in a tremendous 3 round fight and came just 8 months after he gave Takashi Miura his first professional loss. 5-On July 15th 2017 we saw Takashi Miura step into the ring for the final time as a professional fighter, losing a 12 round decision to WBC Super Featherweight champion Miguel Berchelt. On that very same day WBA Minimumweight champion Knockout CP Freshmart retained his title with a unanimous decision win over Filipino slugger Rey Loreto. 6-Sadly since winning the WBA Minimumweight title Knockout CP Freshmart has had an awfully underwhelming reign with very few impressive performances or notable wins over major names. One of the few notable fighters he has beaten during his career was former Chinese world champion Xiong Zhao Zhong, who he beat in China in 2018, in what would be Zhong's final professional bout. We've all heard of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, and we've decided to put our spin on things with "Six degrees of separation" looking to connect Asian fighters you may never have assumed were connected! Today we connect Filipino former world champion Dodie Boy Penalosa to former Indonesian world title contender Angky Angkotta.
Just as ground rules, we're not doing the more basic "A beat B who beat C who beat D" type of thing, but instead we want to link fighters in different ways. As a result we will limit A fought B connections, and try to get more varied connections together, as you'll see here! We also know there are often shorter routes to connect fighters, but that's not always the most interesting way to connect them. 1-During his career Dodie Boy Penalosa became a 2-weight world champion winning the IBF Light Flyweight and IBF Flyweight titles in the 1980's. In fact Penalosa was the Inaugural IBF Light Flyweight champion, stopping Satoshi Shingaki in 1983 to win the title in Osaka. On the same show that Penalosa won the IBF Light Flyweight title South Korean fighter Ju Do Chun won the IBF Super Flyweight title. 2-During his reign as the IBF Super Flyweight champion Ju Do Chun ran up 5 defenses of the title which stood as a record for most defenses in a reign until very recently. The 5 defenses figure was matched by Robert Quiroga and Julio Cesar Boboa but wasn't broken until 2018, when Jerwin Ancajas recorded his 6th defense of the belt. 3-Filipino "Pretty Boy" Jerwin Ancajas is best known for his long and lengthy reign as the IBF Super Flyweight champion. For much off his career he was a relative unknown, fighting on low key shows in the Philippines and occasionally in China. His international debut came in 2011 when he faced off with Chinese fighter Jing Xiang, who was 1-0 at the time. 4-The highly skilled, but feather fisted, Jing Xiang has had a criminally over-looked career, with several other Chinese fighters overshadowing him. Despite that he has scored a number of very notable wins, including victories over Ben Mananquil, and former world champions Merlito Sabillo and Kompayak Porpramook. 5-In 2011 Thailand's Kompayak Porpramook became the WBC Light Flyweight champion, beating Adrian Hernandez in arguably that year's Fight of the Year. For fans who haven't seen it, it needs to be watched, and it was a 10 round nail biting, action thriller well worthy of anyone's time. Sadly however Kompayak would lost the title in his second defense, in a rematch with Hernandez. His only successful defense of the title was a controversial technical decision win over Jonathan Taconing. The only other man to defend that title with a technical decision win was Jorge Arce, way back in 2003. 6-During his excellent, and other thrilling, career Jorge Arce fought a relative who's who, of who. Included in the long, long line of fighters Arce beat is Indonesian fighter Angky Angkotta, who Arce beat twice, first in 2010 and secondly in 2011. We've all heard of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, and we've decided to put our spin on things with "Six degrees of separation" looking to connect Asian fighters you may never have assumed were connected! Today we connect former Korean world champion Min Keun Oh to former 2-weight world champion Dodie Boy Penalosa of the Philippines
Just as ground rules, we're not doing the more basic "A beat B who beat C who beat D" type of thing, but instead we want to link fighters in different ways. As a result we will limit A fought B connections, and try to get more varied connections together, as you'll see here! We also know there are often shorter routes to connect fighters, but that's not always the most interesting way to connect them. 1-Korean fighter Min Keun Oh was moved quickly after turning professional and quickly won the IBF Featherweight title less than 4 years after his debut. Interestingly his debut, an 8 round decision win against Cesar Ligan, was on August 8th 1980. That was actually on a card that was headlined by the then OPBF Middleweight champion Chong Pal Park, who stopped Peter Piamonte to retained the OPBF title. 2-Following his OPBF title reign the big punching Chong Pal Park went on to make a mark at world level, and was one of the big stars of the Super Middleweight division. At Super Middleweight he had a very solid and notable reign as the IBF Super Middleweight champion, before later winning the WBA title. Another man who would later go on to win the IBF Super Middleweight title is American fighter Caleb Plant. 3-"Sweethands" Caleb Plant was born on July 8th 1992, on that very same day Chokchai Chockvivat was in action in Bangkok, where defeated Rojanadej Sor Thassanee to retain the Thai Flyweight title, for the first time. This win saw the then 24 year old Chokchai move to 14-1 (4) and it was an 11th straight win for the Thai Fly. 4-After defending the Thai title Chokchai Chockvivat went on to win the OPBF Flyweight title, taking the title in 1993. After defending it 8 times Chokchai travelled over to the Philippines to defend it against a then unknown 18 year old Manny Pacquiao, who completely decimated the then 29 year old Chokchai in 5 rounds, giving the Thai only his third career defeat, and his second stoppage loss. Interestingly Pacquiao would defend the title twice himself before travelling over to Thailand to win his first world title, the WBC Flyweight title, with an upset win over Chatchai Sasakul. 5-In the years that follow his OPBF title win Filipino fighter Manny Pacquiao went from unknown to boxing sensation, and one of the most well known sporting talents of his generation. A hero to the Philippines and one of the most fan friendly fighters in recent years. A lot of his late career success was put down to Freddie Roach, who developed Pacquiao from a crude but physically impressive 1-handed young Filipino to becoming a whirling dervish in the ring and a true sensation. Of course Pacquiao isn't the only Filipino Roach has worked with, with another being the often under-rated Gerry Penalosa. 6-The incredibly skilled Gerry Penalosa was one of a number of talented fighters from the Penalosa family. Others included his father, Carl Penalosa, along with Gerry's two brothers Jon Penalosa and Dodie Boy Penalosa! We've all heard of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, and we've decided to put our spin on things with "Six degrees of separation" looking to connect Asian fighters you may never have assumed were connected! Today we connect multi-time Japanese title challenger fighter Yuichi Kasai to former Korean world champion Min Keun Oh
Just as ground rules, we're not doing the more basic "A beat B who beat C who beat D" type of thing, but instead we want to link fighters in different ways. As a result we will limit A fought B connections, and try to get more varied connections together, as you'll see here! We also know there are often shorter routes to connect fighters, but that's not always the most interesting way to connect them. 1-Former multi-time world title challenger Yuichi Kasai began his professional career on August 12th 1989 with an opening round TKO win over Unchain Kaji at Korakuen Hall. That very same day future American star Shane Mosley picked up a win, over in Puerto Rico, in the World Junior Championships, stopping Mohamas Hassen Ali in the Lightweight division. 2-During his long and successful professional boxing career American star Shane Mosely faced a genuine who's who of who. Reading through his record makes it clear that he faced pretty much anyone who in, or around the his weight classes. Among the many great fighters he faced was Filipino hero Manny Pacquiao, who gave Mosley his 7th professional loss back in 2011. 3-Much, much earlier in his career Manny Pacquiao defeated Mexican fighter Gabriel Mira, stopping Mira in 4 rounds, after using Mira like a human yo-yo. The Mexican showed his guts and determination in the bout, but was dropped repeatedly during the 4 round massacre at the Araneta Coliseum. Interestingly this was Pacquiao's only successful defense of the WBC Flyweight title, with the Filipino icon losing the title on the scales less than 5 months later. 4-Whilst Gabriel Mira was embarrassed by the sensational Pacquiao it is worth being aware of the fact Mira wasn't a bad fighter. In fact he earned his WBC world title fight by out pointing talented Korean Young Soon Jang in 1998 and had previously won the WBC International Super Flyweight title. Another man who held that title was Thai fighter Oleydong Sithsamerchai, who actually made 8 defenses of the belt from 2011 to 2014. 5-At his best Oleydong Sithsamerhcai was a very talented Minimumweight, and he had a solid reign as the WBC Minimumweight champion before losing the title to a young Japanese sensational called Kazuto Ioka. Interestingly Oleydong, also known as Kittipong Jaigrajang, made his debut on September 6th 2002, the very same day that Orlando Salido defeated Carlos Gerena in Texas. A win that would help move Salido on to bigger and better things. 6-Among those bigger and better things for Orlando Salido was a reign as the IBF Featherweight champion, which he won in 2010 with a win over Cristobal Cruz. That was a title previously held by Korean Min Keun Oh. In fact Oh was the inaugural champion winning the belt in 1984 with a KO win against Joko Arter. We've all heard of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, and we've decided to put our spin on things with "Six degrees of separation" looking to connect Asian fighters you may never have assumed were connected! Today we connect former Korean world champion Soo Hwan Hong to former Japanese fighter Yuichi Kasai.
Just as ground rules, we're not doing the more basic "A beat B who beat C who beat D" type of thing, but instead we want to link fighters in different ways. As a result we will limit A fought B connections, and try to get more varied connections together, as you'll see here! We also know there are often shorter routes to connect fighters, but that's not always the most interesting way to connect them. 1-During his lengthy career Korean warrior Soo Hwan Hong held two world titles. The first of those was the WBA Bantamweight title before later becoming the inaugural WBA Super Bantamweight champion. Another fighter who later held the WBA title at 122lbs was Ryol Li Lee. Interestingly not only did the two men hold the same world title but both won the belt in results that were regarded upsets, with Hong beating Hector Carrasquilla in a legendary bout in Panama and Lee upsetting the brilliant Poonsawat Kratingdaenggym. 2-The talented Ryol Li Lee is one of the more forgotten recent world champions from Japan, only holding his world title for a matter of months before losing it to Akifumi Shimoda. Earlier in his career however he was regarded as a genuine prospect and in May 2006 he defeated Tomo Tanaka in an 8 round bout, in what was Lee's 4th professional contest. On that very same show Valentine Hosokawa made his debut, fighting to a draw with Yoshinori Kanzaki. 3-After drawing on debut Valentine Hosokawa went on to have a genuinely solid career. Whilst his crowing glory was a Japanese national title he also went on to challenge for the OPBF title, losing in a thrilling war with touted Korean Min Wook Kim in 2013. That was when Kim was regarded as the bright new hope of Korean boxing, and the man those in Korea hoped they could build behind. 4-As mentioned Min Wook Kim was a former OPBF champion, in fact he was a former OPBF champion at 140lbs, , with the Korean making 4 defenses of the belt. Another man who once held that title was Takeshi Fuji, who also went on to become one of the first Japanese world champions. 5-We mentioned that Takeshi Fuji was a former world champion, in fact he managed to hold both the WBA and WBC titles at 140lbs back in the 1960's. He was also one of the handful of champions trained by the legendary Eddie Townsend, who was one of the most notable trainers in Japanese boxing history. 6-Prior to becoming a trained Eddie Townsend was himself a talented fighter, though one who never managed to progress to the big time. Another fighter turned trainer, and in fact another man who had more success as a trainer than a fighter, was Yuichi Kasai, who used to be one of the top trainers at the Teiken gym. |
Thinking Out East
With this site being pretty successful so far we've decided to open up about our own views and start what could be considered effectively an editorial style opinion column dubbed "Thinking Out East" (T.O.E). Archives
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