April 5th

On this day...
 
1943-Fighting Harada's birthday
Boxing Royalty was born on this day in 1943 as Japan's legendary and revered Masahiko Harada, aka Fighting Harada, was born in Setagaya-Ku, Tokyo. Harada would go on to have a truly legendary career, becoming a 2-weight world champion and coming close to being the first man to win titles at Flyweight, Bantamweight and Featherweight. Harada's influence on the sport in Japan is still fight today, more than 50 years after his final bout, and his all action style helped with the Golden Age of Japanese in the 1960's, alongside the like of Hiroyuki Ebihara. Harada would later be inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame, and is rightfully regarded as one of the greatest Asian fighters of all time.
 
1981-Saensak Muangsurin v Chung Jae Hwang
Record setting Thai Saensak Muangsurin had been rushed to a world title in 1975, winning the WBC Light Welterweight title in his 3rd professional bout. Sadly a long Muay Thai career, and a hard but short professional boxing career, had seen him pretty much a shell of his self in the 1970's. His final bout took place on this day in 1981, when he lost to OPBF Welterweight champion Chung Jae Hwang, retiring with a 14-6 (11) professional record. Hwang would remain a force on the regional seen until April 1982. Sadly Hwang was essentially ruined himself by the end of 1982 by some horrifically irresponsible management that had him fighting 7 times in 1981. 
 
1987-Seung Hoon Lee v Jorge Urbina Diaz
After winning the IBF Super Bantamweight title in January 1987 Korean Seung Hoon Lee returned to the ring for his first defense less than 3 months later, where he stopped Mexican-American challenger Jorge Urbina Diaz in 10 rounds to retain the title. In total Lee would record 3 defenses before South Korea ended their relationship with the IBF. Sadly for Lee, a criminally over-looked Korean from one of the countries' golden periods of boxing, he was never able to reclaim a world title after losing the IBF title outside of the ring. He did however fight to a draw with WBC champion Daniel Zaragoza in 1988 before retiring with a 45-6-1 (25) record.
 
2005-Muhammad Rachman Vs Fahlan Sakkreerin
Indonesian fighter Muhammad Rachman successfully defended the IBF Minimumweight title in a bout against former champion Fahlan Sakkreerin. The bout was sadly an anti-climatic one, ending in round 3 when an accidental head clash forced the bout to an early conclusion. This would would end Sakkreerin's career, leaving him with a 54-4-3 (23) record. As for Rachman this was his first defense of the title he had won the previous September, and he would make 2 more before losing to Florante Condes in 2007.