February 18th

February 18th hasn't been a huge day in Asian boxing but there has been a few notable events:
 
1990-Jung Il Byun's debut
Korean fighter Jung Il Byun only had a short professional career. It began on this day in 1990 and ended less than 5 years later. Despite how short it was he would fight 12 bouts as a professional, including 4 world title bouts. He would win the WBC Bantamweight title in his 9th bout, beating Victor Rabanales, and make a single defenses before suffering back to back losses to Yasuei Yakushiji.
 
His debut saw him beating Noel Cornelio with an 8 round decision and he was fast tracked from there winning a world title just over 3 years later before retiring with a record of 10-2 (4).
 
1962-Pero Adigue Jr's debut
Another notable debut on this day came way back in 1962 when Filipino fighter Pedro Adigue Jr began his professional career, fighting to a draw with Rod Doligon. Adigue's career began in 1962 and ended in 1977. Adigue won OPBF titles at 135lbs and 140lbs but would be best known for winning the WBC Light Welterweight title way back in 1968. During his career he would go 37-21-7 (15), beating the likes of Carl Penalosa, Rene Barrientos, Adolph Pruitt, Koichi Wajima and Lion Furuyama.
 
Although an accomplished fighter Adigue did suffer numerous notable losses, coming up short against the likes Yoshiaki Numata, Bruno Acari, Oscar Alvarado, Eddie Perkins, Nicolino Locche and Antonio Cervantes.
 
1959-Kenji Yonekura Vs Pascual Perez I 
One of the most notable bouts to have taken place on this day came back in 1959 when former amateur stand out Kenji Yonekura took on Flyweight champion Pascual Perez in their first bout. The contest, a non-title bout at the Nihon University Auditorium, saw Yonekura come up short, but do enough to earn a rematch with Perez later in the year. Yonekura would again come up short but show that he could hang with world class fighters. The following year Yonekura would get another world title fight, facing off with Bantamweight king Jose Becerra, though lost a split decision.
 
As a fighter Kenji Yonekura went 13-10-1 (1) but he would go on to set up the Yonekura gym, which would become a major gym in Japan. It would develop talents like Hideyuki Ohashi, Kuniaki Shibata, Guts Ishimatsu, Shigeo Nakajima and Hiroshi Kawashima, showing just how important he was, and still us, to the Japanese boxing scene.