Celes Kobayashi

One of the many faces that Western fight fans who follow the Japanese scene will see a lot of, but may not recognise them, or their face, is former fighter Celes Kobayashi (24-5-3, 14). He may not be one of the biggest names of the Japanese scene but he is regularly featured in a TV role for the likes of G+ and in the past NTV. He also runs a gym and the mentor for the likes of Ryosuke Iwasa at the Celes Gym. Prior to his current roles, as a owner and a commentator, he was a pretty notable fighter in the lower weights, and a great example of what happens when you build from set backs.
Shoji Kobayashi was born in Ibaragi in February 1973, he would later change his name to Celes, taking the name of his employers and following the custom of the International boxing sports gym, which saw fighters taking adoptive first names. This saw him following the likes of Royal Kobayashi, Trash Nakanuma and his mentor Leopard Tamakuma, a former WBA Flyweight champion.
Shoji Kobayashi was born in Ibaragi in February 1973, he would later change his name to Celes, taking the name of his employers and following the custom of the International boxing sports gym, which saw fighters taking adoptive first names. This saw him following the likes of Royal Kobayashi, Trash Nakanuma and his mentor Leopard Tamakuma, a former WBA Flyweight champion.
Kobayashi would make his professional debut in 1992, at the age of 19, fighting fellow debutant Isao Mori in a Bantamweight bout. Unfortunately Kobayashi would lose a decision to Mori and then have a pretty underwhelming first few years to professional boxing life. He moved down in weight, and found some success at Super Flyweight, but that success was limited to preliminary bouts. Even the success he did have ended in disappointing fashion, fighting to a draw with Akira Taiga in the 1994 All Japan Rookie of the Year final, with Taiga becoming the Rookie of the Year due to rules in place for a draw.
By the end of 1996 Kobayashi had run his record up to 13-3-1 (7), he had started to find success, but nothing major. He wouldn't get his first title fight until late in 1997, when he faced off with Japanese based Filipino fighter Nolito Cabato for the Japanese Flyweight title. Sadly the bout ended in the third round, with a technical draw leading to Cabato retaining the title. A rematch in 1998 saw Cabato retaining the title with a split decision as Kobayashi's career continued to show promise but falter. In 1999 Kobayashi finally managed to have break through win, beating Cabato by majority decision in what was a third bout between the two men. This saw Kobayashi winning his first title, in what was his 24th professional contest. It was a massive win for his career and proved that even with the set backs he had had that he wasn't someone willing to just accept being second best. In his first defense Kobayashi took on former amateur standout Hideyasu Ishihara, who had beaten Cabato on his debut and was attempting to claim a Japanese title in just his third professional bout. Ishihara was seen as someone with the ability to be put on an insane fast track, and a win over Kobayashi would have seen him setting the record for few fights to a Japanese title. Thankfully for Kobayashi's future he would be successful in his first defense, stopping Ishihara in the 7th round of the bout. Notably Ishihara would later go on claim the OPBF Super Flyweight title and twice face Martin Castillo for the WBA world title, showing that he was actually a solid fighter despite the loss to Kobayashi. Ishihara would also go on to work with Kosei Tanaka, passing on his knowledge and experience. Kobayashi's second defense came against Shin Terao, who was stopped in the 9th round. This was the third straight loss for Terao, who is best known for being taken out inside a round by Manny Pacquiao, in what is Pacquiao's only bout in Japan. Kobayashi would score his third defense with a decision win over Katsuhiro Akita before securing his 4th defense in 2000 with a 7th round TKO win over Hayato Asai, who would go on to challenge the then WBC world champion Pongsaklek Wonjongkam in 2001. Having made 4 defenses of the title Kobayashi would vacate the belt and begin to chase a world title. Just 4 months after beating Asai he would go on to challenge WBC Flyweight champion Malcolm Tunacao, who was defending the belt for the first since taking it from Medgoen Singsurat 3-K Battery 3 months earlier in Thailand. Sadly for Kobayashi that bout would end in a draw, in what was a really hotly contested and thrilling bout, with both men trading blows through out the contest. The bout was competitive through out, and the judges struggled to split the two men, despite Tunacao having 2 points deducted. Following the draw with Tunacao we'd see Kobayashi move up in weight and challenge WBA Super Flyweight champion Leo Gamez. Gamez had claimed the title in late 2000, stopping Hideki Todaka in the 9th round, to become the first man to win world titles in the lowest 4 weight classes, something that wasn't done against until Roman Gonzalez did it in 2016. Kobayashi would go on to stop Gamez in the 10th round taking out the Venezuelan following a number of solid southpaw left hands through the round, dropping him hard with a huge one around 2 minutes into the round. In Kobayashi's first defense he would take on another fighter well known to Japanese audiences, Jesus Rojas. Rojas had fought to a draw with Kobayashi's mentor in 1990, before returning to Japan to score wins over Puma Toguchi, Takashi Oba, Satoshi Ooda, fighting twice with Hideki Todaka and beating the previously mentioned Hideyasu Ishihara. Kabayashi would narrowly retain his title against Rojas, earning a razor thin split decision over the Venezuelan veteran. This could have easily gone the other way and it seemed like Kobayashi's reign could have ended there and then. In his second defense Kobayashi would take on the then 21-0 (21) Alexander Munoz, another Venezuelan. Sadly for Kobyashi, and many others at the time, Munoz's power was simply too much. The defending champion would be dropped in round 2 and struggle to compete with the slingy style of Munoz. Despite struggling Kobayashi would dig deep, and take the fight to Munoz in the middle rounds, but never managed to really hurt Munoz who would put Kobayashi down again in round 7 before closing the show in round 8. Kobayashi wouldn't fight again after this bout, turning down a potential bout with Masamori Tokuyama to instead retire. Interestingly Munoz would get a reputation as a Japanese killer winning 6 subsequent bouts in Japan, including one over Nobuo Nashiro to become a 2-time champion, before suffering a loss to Koki Kameda in 2010 to have a 7-1 record in the Land of the Rising Sun. As mentioned he now runs a gym and works for TV channels in Japan. His face is a regular one on TV, along with that of Tsuyoshi Hamada and Satoshi Iida, and his work at the Celes Gym is to be regarded well with a promising generation of fighters, such as Jin Minamide and Koki Koshikawa, looking like they could break through in the coming years. (Image courtesy of the JPBA) |
|