Akira Yaegashi
Courtesy of Ohashi Gym
When it comes to the most consistently over-looked Japanese boxers few rival the teak tough and often highly exciting Akira Yaegashi (24-5, 12) [八重樫 東] who at the moment may well be the best pound-for-pound action fighter in the world, unfortunately however his career is coming to an end.
Born in Kitakami, Iwate back in 1983 Yaegashi has been a product of the Japanese amateur system which has been one of the keys to the recent Japanese boxing success. As an amateur Yaegashi went an impressive 56-14. Those wins helped him claim an interscholastic title and a title at the National Sports Festival of Japan.
Yaegashi would make his professional debut soon after his 22nd birthday and like many highly tipped youngsters in Japan he started off in 6 round contests against stiff opponent. On debut Yaegashi became the first man to stop Tomoyoshi Nakayama (who was fighting for the 20th time). Despite the fact the bout was scheduled for 6 rounds the promising youngster needed just 80 seconds to put his man.
The young Yaegashi wouldn't need much longer in his following he took out Poonsawat Eausampan (KO1) and Danchai Sithsaithong (KO2) within 6 months of his debut. Despite the fact he had been scheduled in 22 total rounds (his debut of 6 rounds and the following 2 contests of 8 rounds), he had only needed a combined 4 rounds to put away his first 3 opponents.
It wasn't until Yaegashi's 4th professional contests that he even saw the beginning of round 3. In his 4th bout he was taken the full 10 rounds by the tough Elmer Gejon of the Philippines. Although Yaegashi had been pushed hard by the more experienced Filipino he had still done enough to claim a decision and prove that he had the stamina for 10 rounds.
Yaegashi would claim his first professional title in his 5th professional contest as he stopped Thai Minimumweight champion Weerasak Chuwatana for the vacant OPBF title, a title he defended once stopping Liempetch Sor Veerapol inside a round.
Born in Kitakami, Iwate back in 1983 Yaegashi has been a product of the Japanese amateur system which has been one of the keys to the recent Japanese boxing success. As an amateur Yaegashi went an impressive 56-14. Those wins helped him claim an interscholastic title and a title at the National Sports Festival of Japan.
Yaegashi would make his professional debut soon after his 22nd birthday and like many highly tipped youngsters in Japan he started off in 6 round contests against stiff opponent. On debut Yaegashi became the first man to stop Tomoyoshi Nakayama (who was fighting for the 20th time). Despite the fact the bout was scheduled for 6 rounds the promising youngster needed just 80 seconds to put his man.
The young Yaegashi wouldn't need much longer in his following he took out Poonsawat Eausampan (KO1) and Danchai Sithsaithong (KO2) within 6 months of his debut. Despite the fact he had been scheduled in 22 total rounds (his debut of 6 rounds and the following 2 contests of 8 rounds), he had only needed a combined 4 rounds to put away his first 3 opponents.
It wasn't until Yaegashi's 4th professional contests that he even saw the beginning of round 3. In his 4th bout he was taken the full 10 rounds by the tough Elmer Gejon of the Philippines. Although Yaegashi had been pushed hard by the more experienced Filipino he had still done enough to claim a decision and prove that he had the stamina for 10 rounds.
Yaegashi would claim his first professional title in his 5th professional contest as he stopped Thai Minimumweight champion Weerasak Chuwatana for the vacant OPBF title, a title he defended once stopping Liempetch Sor Veerapol inside a round.
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Despite having only been a professional for a little over 2 years Yaegashi's 7th professional bout saw him competing for a world title against the then WBC Minimumweight champion Eagle Den Junlaphan (otherwise known as Eagle Kyowa). It was an attempt to see Yaegashi break the Japanese national record for the fewest fights to become a world champion (a record then held at 8 fights)
Sadly for Yaegashi he would suffer his first career defeat as Junlaphan's experience paid dividends. Despite the loss Yaegashi showed he was a very talented fighter and had the heart of a warrior. He had actually started the fight well though several head clashes had lead to some rather painful injuries that were made worse by the fact Eagle kept landing his clean sharp shots to Yaegashi's head. The injuries Yaegashi had suffered, including major damage to his jaw, kept him out of the ring for close to 11 months before he returned and defeated Yasuhiro Hisada over 10 rounds. Just as it seemed Yaegashi was back to his best he would suffer another set back dropping a much debated decision to the more experienced Masatate Tsuji (who would unfortunately pass away 2 fights later). It wouldn't take long for Yaegashi to put his losses behind him and start to climb back up to a world title. Over the 9 months following his loss to Tsuji, Yaegashi would score 3 wins, including a stoppage over the debuting Srisaket Sor Rungvisai (who is currently the WBC Super Flyweight champion). In his 13th fight Yaegashi would claim his second title as he defeated Kenichi Horikawa for the Japanese national Minimumweight title. As the Japanese champion Yaegashi would defend his belt 3 times, defeating Junichiro Kaneda, Kosuke Takeichi and Norihito Tanaka all by decision. Having developed significantly as a fighter since his loss to Junlaphan, Yaegashi would finally get his second chance at a world title. It had been over 4 years since his loss to Junlaphan and he had matured as both a fighter and a man. Stood in Yaegashi's way this time was the recently crowned WBA Minimumweight champion Pornsawan Porpramook (who had defeated Muhammad Rachman in his previous bout). Whilst no one in the West really knew either fighter those in the East knew both. Thankfully those in the west however got introduced to them both in a fantastic fashion as they waged a war on each other before Porpramook was stopped late in the 10th round. The fight, widely regarded as the 2011 Fight of the Year made both men international boxing stars. Sadly for Yaegashi his reign as the WBA champion came to a premature end as he lost a highly controversial unification bout to the then WBC Minimumweight champion Kazuto Ioka. The bout, the first ever all-Japanese unification bout (of 2 different organisations) was another fantastic bout featuring Yaegashi who showed off his toughness and fought through a badly swollen eye to push the young Ioka very close to defeat. Having lost his world title many expected Yaegashi to take a long break from the ring and then try to fight for a vacant title as Ioka was moving up to Light Flyweight. Instead Yaegashi took a moderate break before returning to fight in the Flyweight division, completely skipping the 108lb division that Ioka had started campaigning at. On his Flyweight debut Yaegashi struggled past Saenmuangloei Kokietgym before finally stopping Kokietgym in the 9th round. Despite the struggle over his Thai opponent Yaegashi would decide that Flyweight was the division that he wanted to fight at and just a fight later he would compete in another world title bout. In a fight for the WBC Flyweight title Yaegashi would face fellow Japanese fighter Toshiyuki Igarashi. Igarashi had picked up the title by defeating Sonny Boy Jaro (who himself had defeated the great Pongsaklek Wonjongkam) but many had questioned just how good he actually was. As amateurs Igarashi and Yaegashi had history having fought 4 times, all of those amateur results had favoured Igarashi. As professionals however the tables were turned and Yaegashi would claim a clear decision in a bloody battle that saw both men deducted points and both men left with cuts around the eyes. Yaegashi made the first defense of his WBC title by defeating Mexican challenger Oscar Blanquet. Unfortunately despite scoring the victory over Blanquet the fight did little to excite the crowd as Blanquet seemed more intend on surviving than winning. He has since recorded a second defense as he relied on his movement and speed to over-come Edgar Sosa. In his third defense of the WBC Flyweight title Yaegashi overcame Odilon Zaleta via a 9th round TKO. This bout was close on the scorecards before Yaegashi got rid of Zaleta and in the process scored his first stoppage in well over a year. Sadly for the all action Yaegashi his reign came to an end in very next bout as he tried to go toe-to-toe with Nicaraguan sensation Roman Gonzalez. The bout was fantastic entertainment though sadly saw Yaegashi being stopped in round 9 as Gonzalez proved, once again, that he was one of the best pound-for-pound fighters on the planet. With this loss Yaegashi's future has been left in question, though hopefully he'll make a well thought out decision for the future, rather than rush a decision on the back of a loss to one of the modern greats. Sadly Yaegashi would lose a second successive bout as he was stopped by excellent Mexican Pedro Guevara in a Light Flyweight bout. Part of that performance was put down to the weight loss and Yaegashi quickly moved all the way up to 115lbs, where he managed to score an eye catching KO against Thai journeyman Songseanglek Phosuwangym. Despite dipping his toes at Super Flyweight Akira has since settled at Light Flyweight and recently became a 3-weight world champion at the end of 2015, as he out pointed Javier Mendoza to claim the IBF world title with a stirring performance against a man who had entered the bout the reputation of being a big puncher with an excellent engine. In his first defense of the title Yaegashi claims a narrow decision win over Martin Tecuapetla in a thrilling 12 round contest that saw both fighters needing to dig deep. |
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