James Callaghan
When we talk about fighters who have been lost to history one man who appears to never be talked about is James Callaghan (6-0, 4) who is a boxing oddity in a lot of ways. Especially when it comes to Asian Boxing. It may surprise you however that he was in fact a Asian boxing legend.
Callaghan was born in Liverpool, England in 1956 and despite being born in Britain he was much better known for his fights in Asia. That was because he was half English-half Japanese and fought his entire professional boxing career in Japan where he set a national record before he was unfortunately forced into an early retirement.
As an amateur Callaghan's boxing talent was clear from an early age and he managed to record an exceptional amateur record of 24 wins from 25 fights.
Following his tremendous success as an amateur Callaghan signed a professional contract with a Japanese promotional outfit.
On debut Callaghan defeated fellow novice Eiji Tanaka in the 5th of a scheduled 6 rounds. It was clear he was talented though unfortunately it was a struggle to find Callaghan an opponent. He was a young, strapping fighter in the Middleweight division, a division Japan hadn't really developed very well at the time. The problem with matching Callaghan with domestic opponents saw his team needing to import opponents and in just his second professional contest Callaghan fought in a 10 rounder with Ghana's Ibrahim Mohammed.
Mohammad, who was known as Mohammed Matsumoto at one point, showed the typical "teak toughness" associated with Ghanaian's though dropped a hard fought decision to Callaghan who had managed to go 10 rounds in impressive fashion for such a young novice.
Just months before Callaghan had defeated Mohammed the Japanese Middleweight title had been won by the limited Katsuo Esashi. It was obvious that Callaghan had the ability to, one day challenge for the title and would probably have beaten Esashi had they fought there and then. Instead however Dynamite Matsuo got to Esashi before Callaghan got a chance and the English-Japanese fighter had to earn his chance.
Callaghan, fighting just 10 days after Matsuo had won the title, took his third fight and faced the former 2-time Japanese title challenger Minoru Ono. Ono had previously lost in Japanese title fights at both Welterweight and Light Middleweight though seemed to think that a move to Middleweight would help his title dreams. Unfortunately for Ono he was no match for Callaghan and in the 9th round Ono was stopped, suffering the 7th stoppage loss of his career.
The win over Ono had seen Callaghan rewarded with his title shot and, after just 3 fights and just 15 months as a professional, Callaghan would get his hands on Japanese Middleweight champion Dynamite Matsuo. Matsuo, like his name hinted, was a big puncher and had scored 13 of his 15 wins coming by way of T/KO. The power of Dynamite didn't help him against Callaghan who stopped him in the 8th round of a scheduled 10 rounder.
The victory over Matsuo saw Callaghan creating a record for fewest fights to win a Japanese national title at just 4 fights and although it was set over 30 years ago it still stands today, although it has been tied by 4 other fighters Modesty Napunyi, Akinobu Hiranaka, Joichiro Tatsuyoshi and Naoya Inoue.
Although Callaghan was the Japanese national champion his first fight after winning the belt wasn't a title fight. Instead he faced Thai Welterweight Jong Satherigym and was taken the 10 round schedule for the second time in his career. Sadly this was the penultimate fight in Callaghan's career with his final fight coming just a few months later as he successfully defended his title against Tsumoru Okamoto via 8th round KO.
Having run up an impressive 6-0 (4) record Callaghan was forced into retirement in 1980. Although we're not certain what curtailed his promising career we have read that an unidentified illness forced him away from the ring. The sad thing is that he was just 24 years old when he last fought and there is every chance he would have been able to go on to claim the OPBF belt, as long as he was matched well.
A small bit of trivia surrounding Callaghan is that he shared his name with a British politician who became prime minister in 1976 and served as the leader of the country until 1979. Whilst that James Callaghan is well remembered for his political career it seems that James Callaghan the boxer has been forgotten in both the land where he was born and the land where he fought professionally.
Callaghan was born in Liverpool, England in 1956 and despite being born in Britain he was much better known for his fights in Asia. That was because he was half English-half Japanese and fought his entire professional boxing career in Japan where he set a national record before he was unfortunately forced into an early retirement.
As an amateur Callaghan's boxing talent was clear from an early age and he managed to record an exceptional amateur record of 24 wins from 25 fights.
Following his tremendous success as an amateur Callaghan signed a professional contract with a Japanese promotional outfit.
On debut Callaghan defeated fellow novice Eiji Tanaka in the 5th of a scheduled 6 rounds. It was clear he was talented though unfortunately it was a struggle to find Callaghan an opponent. He was a young, strapping fighter in the Middleweight division, a division Japan hadn't really developed very well at the time. The problem with matching Callaghan with domestic opponents saw his team needing to import opponents and in just his second professional contest Callaghan fought in a 10 rounder with Ghana's Ibrahim Mohammed.
Mohammad, who was known as Mohammed Matsumoto at one point, showed the typical "teak toughness" associated with Ghanaian's though dropped a hard fought decision to Callaghan who had managed to go 10 rounds in impressive fashion for such a young novice.
Just months before Callaghan had defeated Mohammed the Japanese Middleweight title had been won by the limited Katsuo Esashi. It was obvious that Callaghan had the ability to, one day challenge for the title and would probably have beaten Esashi had they fought there and then. Instead however Dynamite Matsuo got to Esashi before Callaghan got a chance and the English-Japanese fighter had to earn his chance.
Callaghan, fighting just 10 days after Matsuo had won the title, took his third fight and faced the former 2-time Japanese title challenger Minoru Ono. Ono had previously lost in Japanese title fights at both Welterweight and Light Middleweight though seemed to think that a move to Middleweight would help his title dreams. Unfortunately for Ono he was no match for Callaghan and in the 9th round Ono was stopped, suffering the 7th stoppage loss of his career.
The win over Ono had seen Callaghan rewarded with his title shot and, after just 3 fights and just 15 months as a professional, Callaghan would get his hands on Japanese Middleweight champion Dynamite Matsuo. Matsuo, like his name hinted, was a big puncher and had scored 13 of his 15 wins coming by way of T/KO. The power of Dynamite didn't help him against Callaghan who stopped him in the 8th round of a scheduled 10 rounder.
The victory over Matsuo saw Callaghan creating a record for fewest fights to win a Japanese national title at just 4 fights and although it was set over 30 years ago it still stands today, although it has been tied by 4 other fighters Modesty Napunyi, Akinobu Hiranaka, Joichiro Tatsuyoshi and Naoya Inoue.
Although Callaghan was the Japanese national champion his first fight after winning the belt wasn't a title fight. Instead he faced Thai Welterweight Jong Satherigym and was taken the 10 round schedule for the second time in his career. Sadly this was the penultimate fight in Callaghan's career with his final fight coming just a few months later as he successfully defended his title against Tsumoru Okamoto via 8th round KO.
Having run up an impressive 6-0 (4) record Callaghan was forced into retirement in 1980. Although we're not certain what curtailed his promising career we have read that an unidentified illness forced him away from the ring. The sad thing is that he was just 24 years old when he last fought and there is every chance he would have been able to go on to claim the OPBF belt, as long as he was matched well.
A small bit of trivia surrounding Callaghan is that he shared his name with a British politician who became prime minister in 1976 and served as the leader of the country until 1979. Whilst that James Callaghan is well remembered for his political career it seems that James Callaghan the boxer has been forgotten in both the land where he was born and the land where he fought professionally.
