Tadashi Tomori
When we talk about all time great Japanese fighters we, of course, mention Light Flyweight legend Yoko Gushiken. What we don't often remember is that there was a fighter dubbed "Gushiken II.
"Gushiken II" would be the nickname of Tadashi Tomori (19-7, 5) another Japanese Light Flyweight world champion from Okinawa. He viewed as the future star of the region, though fell well short of the expectations that he come on his shoulders at an early age. He still, however, managed to achieve a lot more than many fighters could ever dream of.
As mentioned Tomori was from Okinawa, born in Naha City in 1959. He would shine as a teenager, winning the All Japan High School competition in 1977 at Mosquito weight. That natural talent shined through and it was clear he had developed a style in the amateurs that worked well for him, focusing on his speed, his movement and his reflexes. It was an amateur style, but a style similar to that of the top amateurs of the day and held him to a record of 16-4 (3) whilst focusing on his speed and movement.
"Gushiken II" would be the nickname of Tadashi Tomori (19-7, 5) another Japanese Light Flyweight world champion from Okinawa. He viewed as the future star of the region, though fell well short of the expectations that he come on his shoulders at an early age. He still, however, managed to achieve a lot more than many fighters could ever dream of.
As mentioned Tomori was from Okinawa, born in Naha City in 1959. He would shine as a teenager, winning the All Japan High School competition in 1977 at Mosquito weight. That natural talent shined through and it was clear he had developed a style in the amateurs that worked well for him, focusing on his speed, his movement and his reflexes. It was an amateur style, but a style similar to that of the top amateurs of the day and held him to a record of 16-4 (3) whilst focusing on his speed and movement.
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In 1978 Tomori signed his professional papers and joined the Misako Gym in Tokyo. He would make his debut as a professional that May, as an 18 year old, would quickly gain attention with female fans as a bit of a pretty boy fighter. Despite his reputation as a pretty he quickly showed he could fight and won his first 9 bouts in just 11 months. Whilst all those fights were against novices he would become the All Japan Light Flyweight Rookie of the Year in 1979. He would also make his international debut in that unbeaten run, beating Jung Il Han in South Korea, in what was a Japan Vs Korea card featuring 4 professional contests.
Sadly for Tomori his winning run would come to an end 364 days after his debut, as he lost a majority decision to the much more experienced Puma Koya over 8 rounds. Koya had been a 3-time Japanese title challenger, and would go one to challenge after this bout as well as fight for the OPBF title, and had more than 30 fights under his belt, whilst Tomori was fighting in his 10th bout and his first scheduled 8 rounder. Despite the loss to Koya we wouldn't see Tomori away from the ring for long and less than 2 months later he would be back in the ring beating Hammer Yoshida over 8 rounds. He would build on that win by stopping 2-time Japanese title challenger Phoenix Taniguchi in 7 rounds. That win would land Tomori his first title fight, a shot at Japanese Light Flyweight champion Kazunori Tenryu. The talented Tenryu had been the inaugural Japanese Light Flyweight champion, a former world and OPBF title challenger and a man who was 15-0 (5) in Japanese title fights. He would go on to take the decision win over Tomori, to record his 15th defense of the title and extend a reign that had began in 1975 and went into 1980 as a result of his win over Tomori. On Christmas eve 1979 Tomori would score a 2nd round KO win over Keisuke Yuguchi to earn a second bout with Tenryu. This time Tomori would be the man to come out on top, stopping Tenryu in the opening round with Tenryu being dropped twice, and was counted out from the second knockdown. This wouldn't just end Tenryu's reign but also his career, and Tenryu would never fight again following the loss. The win for Tomori saw him become the second Japanese Light Flyweight champion, though his reign was relatively short. Tomori's first bout after winning the title was a non-title win over Puma Koya, avenging his first professional loss. He would then make his first defense, over-coming Kazuyoshi Funaki in a very close 10 round decision. Another close decision saw Tomori then losing his title in Shuichi Hozumi. Hozumi would quickly vacate the title, to move up in weight, allowing Tomori to face Masaharu Inami for the vacant title. Inami would narrowly defeat Tomori to claim the title and leave Tomori's career hanging by a thread. He had gone from 9-0 to 15-4 and it appeared he had reached his peak. Following back to back losses Tomori was given a relatively easy assignment against novice Ryuji Ichinomiya. Tomori would stop Ichinomiya in the 4th round to get a confidence building win. It should be noted that Ichinomiya would end up with a career record of 1-7, with all 7 losses coming by T/KO. Tomori would then suffer another loss, coming up short in Korea to OPBF Light Flyweight champion Yong Hyun Kim in Korea, in a non-title bout. Kim, who had challenged Yoko Gushiken 19 months earlier, would take a decision win over Tomori in what would actually be one of his final wins. By October 1981 the Japanese Light Flyweght title had become vacant again and Tomori would face off with Hiroyuki Tada for the title. Tada had loses in bouts for the Japanese title, to Masaharu Inami, and the OPBF title, losing to Yong Hyun Kim, and this was a major must win for both Tada and Tomori. In the end Tomori would be the man who came out on top, taking a decision win over Tada to become a 2-time Japanese champion. Tomori would go on to defend the title in early 1982, defeating Yoshiaki Kanda by decision to score his first defense of his second reign. This would be the only defense of his second reign before he vacated the title and challenged Mexico's Amado Ursua for the WBC Light Flyweight title. Tomori, who was being trained by the legendary Eddie Townsend for the bout, showed real skill and sharpness against Ursua early on. He was accurate, busy and sharp, using his speed and movement fantastically well to out land Ursua. As the bout went on however Tomori slowed down and Ursua would come on strong as the scorecards closed up. Despite the scores tightening significantly Tomori had a big enough lead to take the win with a 15 round majority decision. Sadly Tomori's reign was a show one, losing the title just 3 months after winning it, with a split decision loss to Panama's excellent Hilario Zapata. Zapata, who had previously won the title from Shigeo Nakajima in 1980, would show case his skills again in Japan as he stop Tomori in a rematch in November 1982 sending Tomori into retirement. Interestingly, from an Asian perspective, Zapata would go on to lose the title to Jung Koo Chang, setting Chang's great reign through much of the 1980's. Tomori would step away from boxing for quite some time before joining the Shirai Gushiken Gym as a trainer passing his knowledge and experience on to a new wave of fans form Okinawa. (Image courtesy of the jpba) |
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