Yuko Kuroki
The female boxing scene is picking globally, with golden girls like Nicholas Adams and Claressa Shields both getting a lot of international attention, along with Irish superstar Katie Taylor, and the rise of Mikaela Mayer also seems set to be something rather significant with US TV already getting behind her.
Although female boxing is getting bigger in the Western world it's been a relative success so far in Mexico, Argentina and Japan, with all three countries producing some very notable fighters. Among the Japanese fighters who have made a name for themselves is Yuko Kuroki (18-5-1, 8) [黒木優子], who has both the talent and the looks to be a star.
The 27 year old from Fukuoka has been compared to former star Tomomi Takano, with both being very photogenic fighters, but unlike Takano we've seen Kuroki deliver in the ring and the former WBC female Minimumweight champion is a real talent between the ropes. Not only is she a talent but she is also committed to the sport and despite flirting with some out of the ring activity she hasn't ignored the sport to follow other careers, something that seemed to befall Takano.
Although now dedicated to boxing Kuroki's first sporting love was skiing, something she started at a very young age. She was encouraged to box in junior high school, to help with her overall fitness, and seemed to quickly fall in love with the sport.
Kuroki would pass her pro-test bout in April 2008 and would debut in December. Sadly for the then 17 year old she would lose on debut, suffering a narrow decision defeat to Kumiko Nishida. That was one of two early career defeats for Kuroki, who would also suffer a narrow defeat in her third professional bout, against future world champion Naoko Shibata.
Having a record of 1-2 after 3 fights it would have been easy for Kuroki to write off boxing and move to something else. Instead she stuck with boxing, and would score her first stoppage win in December 2009 when she defeated Korean based Canadian Amy Berezowski in 2 rounds. That began an impressive winning run for Kuroki that would see her advance her record to 9-2 (5) and claim her first title, the WBC Youth Female Atomweight title.
The impressive run of Kuroki would see her climb up the world rankings and her reward was a showdown with the then WBA female Minimumweight champion Etsuko Tada. Tada, then 11-0-2 (2), was making her 9th defense of the title that she had won back in 2009. Despite a game effort from Kuroki it was a clear win for Tada over the 10 round distance, with the champion's higher level of experience being a part of the difference between the two. That set back was unfortunately the start of a poor period of results for Kuroki, who would fight to a decision with Saemi Hanagata at Atomweight, then fight Hanagata to a draw at Minimumweight, in an OPBF female title bout.
Although female boxing is getting bigger in the Western world it's been a relative success so far in Mexico, Argentina and Japan, with all three countries producing some very notable fighters. Among the Japanese fighters who have made a name for themselves is Yuko Kuroki (18-5-1, 8) [黒木優子], who has both the talent and the looks to be a star.
The 27 year old from Fukuoka has been compared to former star Tomomi Takano, with both being very photogenic fighters, but unlike Takano we've seen Kuroki deliver in the ring and the former WBC female Minimumweight champion is a real talent between the ropes. Not only is she a talent but she is also committed to the sport and despite flirting with some out of the ring activity she hasn't ignored the sport to follow other careers, something that seemed to befall Takano.
Although now dedicated to boxing Kuroki's first sporting love was skiing, something she started at a very young age. She was encouraged to box in junior high school, to help with her overall fitness, and seemed to quickly fall in love with the sport.
Kuroki would pass her pro-test bout in April 2008 and would debut in December. Sadly for the then 17 year old she would lose on debut, suffering a narrow decision defeat to Kumiko Nishida. That was one of two early career defeats for Kuroki, who would also suffer a narrow defeat in her third professional bout, against future world champion Naoko Shibata.
Having a record of 1-2 after 3 fights it would have been easy for Kuroki to write off boxing and move to something else. Instead she stuck with boxing, and would score her first stoppage win in December 2009 when she defeated Korean based Canadian Amy Berezowski in 2 rounds. That began an impressive winning run for Kuroki that would see her advance her record to 9-2 (5) and claim her first title, the WBC Youth Female Atomweight title.
The impressive run of Kuroki would see her climb up the world rankings and her reward was a showdown with the then WBA female Minimumweight champion Etsuko Tada. Tada, then 11-0-2 (2), was making her 9th defense of the title that she had won back in 2009. Despite a game effort from Kuroki it was a clear win for Tada over the 10 round distance, with the champion's higher level of experience being a part of the difference between the two. That set back was unfortunately the start of a poor period of results for Kuroki, who would fight to a decision with Saemi Hanagata at Atomweight, then fight Hanagata to a draw at Minimumweight, in an OPBF female title bout.
Kuroki's record had quickly fallen from 9-2 to 9-4-1, but despite those setbacks she had actually proven more in her losses, and draw, to Tada and Hanagata than she had in her 8 fight winning streak and it was clear that she had a lot of potential at such a young age. That potential was shown in early 2014, when Kuroki stopped Filipino foe Aisah Alico in 3 rounds. That win was then followed by Kuroki hetting her second world title fight.
On May 17th 2014 Kuroki would face WBC female Minimumweight queen Mari Ando, in what was Ando's firse defense of the title. The bout was competitive throughout but the edge in youth helped Kuroki take the win with a unanimous decision, 96-94, twice, and 97-93. As the WBC female Minimumweight Kuroki seemed to come of age, and really grow into being a champion. Her first defense would come just 6 months after winning the title, as she faced former IBF champion Katia Gutierrez. The Mexican pushed Kuroki all the way, but the Japanese fighter did just enough to retain her title with a split decision. In her second defense Kuroki faced fellow Japanese fighter Masae Akitaya, taking a wide decision win over the then 37 year old challenger. It was another tough test but one that Kuroki seemed to deal with very easily in a mature and complete performance. That was then followed by a stay busy win over Thai Kanittha Ninthim, who was stopped in 3 rounds. Kuroki's third defense saw her stepping up in class again, taking on another former IBF champion Nancy Franco. The 26 year old Franco was regarded as one of the best in the division but Kuroki easily out pointed here, winning with a wide margin on al 3 cards she proved, again, that she deserved to be mentioned as one of the best in the division. Sadly after such a big win Kuroki's next outing was a big step down in class, as she defended her title against Norj Guro, who was counted out at the very end of the 8th round. Things would go full circle for Kuroki in her 5th defense, as she faced Mari Ando in their second meeting, which took pace in December 2016. Ando, who had lost the title to Kuroki in May 2014 would again be competitive at times but come up short to Kuroki, who turned it on late to claim a clear decision win. Sadly Kuroki's career would then be slowed down, as she took almost a year out of the ring, only returning in December 2017 to face the excellent Momo Koseki. The brilliant Koseki had unified the WBA and WBC Atomweight titles and set a Japanese title defenses record with her long reign as the WBC champion at 102lbs. Her talent shone through against Kuroki as she took a decision victory over the younger woman, becoming a 2-weight champion before retiring not long afterwards. Having lost the WBC female Minimumweight at the end of 2017 Kuroki restarted her career this past April when she took on Momoko Kanda and took a clear unanimous decision over 8 rounds. Kuroki's next bout will take place on September 29th and will see her face off with Saemi Hanagata, in what will be the third bout between the two women, as they face off for the vacant IBF Atomweight title. For Hanagata the bout will be a chance to claim a world title in her 5th world title challenge whilst Kuroki will be hoping to become a 2-weight champion. Stood at just over 5'0” Kuroki is an active southpaw boxer-puncher, she's smart in the ring, can fight at a high tempo and has respectable power. She's far from a 1-punch KO artist but she's got the power to make world class fighters think twice about charging in. Her boxing skills have been responsible for her wins over the likes of Gutierrez, Franco, Akitaya and Ando and despite the loss to Koseki her record is a very strong one. At just 27 Kuroki has several years left as a top fighter and although it's unlikely she'll have the same amount of defenses as Koseki or become a 5 weight champion like Naoko Fujioka she still looks like a fantastic fighter who will almost certainly continue to carve out a very impressive resume. |
|