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With a massive lack of Asian related action last week we really struggled to find a suitable fighter to cover in this week's "Five For...". Sure we saw Jeo Santisima fight in a high profile bout, but the reality is...he didn't shine. He was competitive, at times, with Emanuel Navarrete, but it was clear he wasn't on the Mexican's level.
Rather than finding someone to talk about that didn't fight we're instead going to take things in a slightly different direction than usual. Rather than focusing on an Asian fighter and looking at 5 options he could face, we're instead going to look at 5 Asian's who could challenge Emanuel Navarrete later in the year. Thankfully we have a lot of Asian fighters competing at Super Bantamweight, and a lot could give Navarette a very different type of bout to the one we saw from Santisima. 1-Hiroaki Teshigawara (21-2-2, 14) Japanese fighter Hiroaki Teshigawara is someone who has began knocking on the door of a world title fight on merit in recent years. The talented, and heavy handed, boxer-puncher has stopped his last 4, including former world title challenger Shohei Omori and Teiru Kinoshita, he has proven to be tough, dangerous and tricky. Whilst he's not the most polished he does have under-rated skills, and at 5'7" he's one of the few who could physically match the Mexican world champion. Given the styles and mentality of the two men this would be a very, very interesting match up and a huge chance for Teshigawara to get a world title fight be the end of 2020. 2-Albert Pagara (32-1, 23) Once tipped as future star for the Philippines Albert Pagara has seen his career really fail to develop as hoped. Thankfully for "Prince" Albert he's rebuild well since his 2016 loss to Cesar Juarez, and has notched up 6 straight wins to remain in the title mix. At the age of 26 it's probably best for ALA to roll the dice with Pagara rather than continue to leave him treading water. ALA are struggling as a gym and need a big win, and you don't get those without taking risks. Also Pagara will have seen Santisima have moments against Navarrete, and will believe he's a better boxer than his ALA stablemate. Of course this would be a really big ask of Pagara, but the reality is that his going has become rather aimless, and it would seem better to to take a big, high profile bout like this, than to continue fighting in obscurity. 3-Jhunriel Ramonal (17-8-6, 10) Staying with Filipino's a bout with Navarrete would be a good reward for the heavy handed Jhunriel Ramonal, who scored two huge wins on the road last year, stopping both Shingo Wake and Yusaku Kuga in Japan. On paper Ramonal might not look the most testing but with his brutal power, high level experience and will to win he'd certainly make for a better than the likes of Santisima, who seemed to accept he'd not be able to win relatively early on. Ramonal isn't a rounded fighter, he's not the best move, or the smartest, but he's full of confidence, punches like a mule, unbeaten in more than 5 years and would be an easy fighter to get in the ring. Whilst we wouldn't give the Filipino much of a chance with the champion we have been surprised by him in the past and he's a fighter you write off at your peril. 4-Tomoki Kameda (36-3, 20) Maybe the way to beat Navarrete is by relying on speed and boxing, rather than trying to have a fight with him. With that in mind a bout against Tomoki Kameda would certainly be an interesting proposition. Kameda lacks power, especially at Super Bantamweight, but is a tough, talented boxer-mover with quick hands and the ability to pick his shots very well. He was easily beaten by Rey Vargas last year, but that was a stylistic nightmare for Kameda, whilst a bout against Navarrete would be a lot, lot more interesting. This would a big name for Navarrete, and a second chance for Kameda to become a multi-weight world champion. A mouth watering match up and one of the more intriguing ones the division could give us. Also the bout could easily be staged in Mexico, given Kameda's long established links to the country. 5-Murodjon Akhmadaliev (8-0, 6) We've saved the best to last with the final option being a potential triple title unification bout between Navarrete, the WBO champion and the unified WBA and IBF champion Murodjon Akhmadaliev, of Uzbekistan. The bout would be an excellent one to decide the clear #1 in the division, it would match the most destructive against the most impressive. On one hand the Mexican champion had looked good against lower level opponents, whilst establishing a long reign, but he needs a defining win. Akhmadaliev has a defining win, over Daniel Roman, but now needs to prove it wasn't a fluke. This would be the bout that would let both men answer serious questions, and the winner would come out of the bout with 3 titles and the legitimate claim of the best in the division.
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Dear all,
One thing I try not to do too often is write an open letter to you, our readers. They tend to be an annual update at the turn of the year, usually when I'm tipsy thanking you all, but other than that they are rare, and my personal life doesn't get shared too much and what goes on behind the scenes isn't really revealed. It has nothing to do with boxing in Asia or Asian fighters. The recent suspension of boxing in Japan however does lead us to needing to write something, not so much about Coronavirus as such, I'm not a doctor, but about how our output is going to drop, significantly, over the coming weeks. Over the last few years the site has been heavy weighted towards Japanese content. The country is, but far, the most significant in Asia right now, and has been since we started the site. The JBC's suspension of boxing means that we are being limited in the content we can post, and the fights we can cover. Before we go any further, let it be clear that we COMPLETELY AGREE with the action being taken by the JBC to suspension boxing, and expect other countries and sports to follow Japan and prevent events from taking place. However it's clear that it will negatively effect what we do. I want to just make it clear that whilst the output of content will, obviously, drop off, we're not closing the site, or anything like that. Our regular historical pieces (such as our 10 facts series and closet classics) will continue to run, videos and news will continue to be posted and previews will be posted for bouts that do take place. What will happen however is I will be taking some of the time whilst we're in a big downturn to recharge my batteries a little. They have become pretty burnt out in recent weeks. Since early December I've pretty much ran myself into the ground. I think this has been pretty obvious in some recent things. On a site level, of course it's bad that boxing around will likely be suspended, but personally it's coinciding at a point where probably I needed to cut my work time. Also to add, any bouts that have previously had articles written but not posted, such as previews and ones to watch, will be released in the future, if the bouts in question fall through having been scheduled, as part of a short series. These include 3 different articles done as "Ones to Watch" and a host of previews that have been completed but not yet posted. News, and results, as always will be reported, however things like "Introducing", "Ones to Watch", "Who are you?", "The Hot Take", "Awards" and "The Good the Bad and the Ugly" will be put on hold until boxing picks up again. Thanks for your time, patience and continued support Scott Noburu Kataoka, but he holds a weird place in Japanese boxing, as an oddity, as a first, and a man who's name has only really been mentioned in passing in recent years.
Thankfully if you read these weekly segments this isn't like the last two, this isn't about a fighter who has taken their own life, or a fighter who has done some sort of crime. Instead this is just an oddity, that we felt the need to talk about, and shine a light one someone who holds a genuinely unique little place in boxing. If you didn't recognise the name don't worry. You're not alone. As a boxer Kataoka fought just 6 times a a professional. He debuted on September 17th 1956 and ended his career on May 4th 1957. He went 4-2 (2) in the ring, and actually only fought 3 people, but more about his career a little later. Born in August 1932 Kataoka had originally been a sumo wrestler before joining the Fuji Boxing Gym as part of a special project they were running in the 1950's. The gym, set up by Fuji Okamoto in 1934 in Kanagawa City, had hoped to develop Japanese Heavyweights. Kataoka was the only real success from the project. On his debut Kataoka would face Iwao Murashita, another fighter who had converted from sumo wrestling to boxing. On the scales Kataoka was just above the Light Heavyweight limit, in an era before the Cruiserweight division. Murashita was around 12lbs heavier but lost the decision to Kataoka. Prior to Kataoka making his debut Takeo Yamanaka had made his move from Middleweight to Heavyweight, and had had no success, losing to fighters he had a 20lb advantage over. He had however done enough to convince the powers that be that he deserved to be ranked, and was some how given a #3 ranking, behind Kataoka and Murashita. It wasn't be relevant however, as he never fought after Kataoka made his debut. A month after his debut Kataoka would suffer his first loss, a blow out to Charlie Tims. Things aren't totally clear when it comes to this bout, but one source does suggest that Tims was a former US amateur. Interestingly this bout came on a card at the Ryogoku International Stadium and also featured Masaki Kanehira, the future founder of the Kyoei Gym. The need for a domestic opponent for Kataoka was needed. He had beaten Murashita and Yamanaka served no purpose. The loss to Tims, who appears to have been a legitimate Heavyweight for the era, was a bump on the road, but didn't end the dreams of the Fuji Boxing Gym. A domestic opponent was finally found in March 1957 with Kataoka facing Yutaka Nakagoshi in the first bout between the two men, held on March 23rd. This resulted in an 8th KO win for Kataoka. Amazing the men would clash twice more that month, with Nakagoshi winning their second bout in 3 rounds, on March 26th, and Kataoka winning the rubber bout on March 30th, with a 6th round KO. After fighting 3 times in the space of days the two men would clash for the fourth, and final, time on May 4th less than 2 months after their first clash. This time there would be something on the line, with the bout being the inaugural Japanese Heavyweight clash. After 10 rounds Kataoka had his arm raised, but the few felt the bout had been anything to get excited about. One local fighter of the era, who had attended the bout, "the two people were slow, I it was not fun to watch...Speaking of heavyweight, it didn't much interest public at the time". The bout was also criticised for being a "a battle without speed and stamina", with both men said to have looked exhausted for most of the bout. At the time of the win it Kataoka created several bits of history. He wasn't just the first Japanese Heavyweight champion but set the record for the fewest fights needed to become a Japanese national champion. That record was beaten in 1959, when Kenji Yonekura claimed the Japanese Flyweight title in his fifth bout With no more heavyweights coming on to the Japanese scene Kataoka was unable to find a challenger. He wouldn't fight again after winning the title, and instead the title was deactivated at the start of 1958. It wouldn't be seen again until 2013, when Kyotaro Fujimoto defeated Okello Peter fore the belt, reactivating the title for the first time in over 50 years. Amazingly between Kataoka's reign and Fujimoto there was no real demand for the title to return. Fighters like Kong Saito in the 1970's and Yosuke Nishijima in the 1990's, but a lack of domestic level competition saw no demand for the title to be brought back into service until Fujimoto's emergence. From what we could find Kataoka is still alive, at the age of 87. Since he retired we've seen 2 Japanese champions being crowned, Fujimoto and Ryu Ueda, and 5 title bouts. The Heavyweight scene might not be a staple of the Japanese boxing yet, but things have changed massively since Kataoka and Nakagoshi had their quadriology in 1957. Kataoka might not be a huge name in Japanese boxing, but he etched his name into the history books, and no one will ever take that away from the former Japanese Heavyweight champion. One of the most notable gym's in Japan in recent years is the Watanabe Gym, a successful and well established gym in Tokyo which has created a number of champions at every of the sport.
Whilst we expect many fans have seen Watanabe gym fighters in action, and have likely seen the Watanabe gym logo, there is a lot to the gym. So here are some facts about the gym in Gotanda, as we cover the Watanabe in our latest "Did you know...?" -The gym was set up by former fighter Hitoshi Watanabe, who boxrec list as having gone 8-5-2 as a fighter in the late 1960's and early 1970's. Mr Watanabe was a Middleweight and reached a #3 ranking on the Japanese domestic scene before retiring. -The gym was founded in July 1981 -The first fighter from the gym to win a title of any kind was Hiroyuki Yoshino, who won the Japanese Welterweight title in 1988. -The first fighter from the gym to challenge for a world title was Kimio Hirano in 1991, who faced the sensational Ricardo Lopez. The bout, at the Kusanagi Gymnasium, Shizuoka, saw Lopez stop Hirano in the 8th round. -The gym's first world champion was a female fighter! That was Naomi Togashi, who won the WBC "interim" female Light Flyweight title in 2008 and was later upgraded to the full champion. The first man from the gym to win a world came in 2010, when Takashi Uchiyama won the WBA Super Featherweight title. -The gym has a relationship with TV. It has had it's fighters featuring on TV Asahi, NTV, Sky A Sports +, TV Tokyo and most recently TBS. Of those only really their on going relationship with TBS is in place, though their fighters do appear on some G+ cards. -In total the gym has created 7 world champions. These include not only Togashi and Uchiyama but also Kohei Kono, Ryoichi Taguchi, Hiroto Kyoguchi, Yunoka Furukawa and Kayoko Ebata. -In 2010, when Takashi Uchiyama became the WBA Super Featherweight champion, the gym became the first Japanese gym to have had both a male and female world champion. Since then Ohashi, Shirai Gushiken and Shinsei have also managed to have both make and female world champions. -The gym was the second gym in Japan to have guided multiple women to world titles, following on from Futur gym. -The gym hosts shows under the "Watanabe Family" moniker, which features the Wtanabe gym fighters along with fighters from gyms run by former Watanabe gym fighters. These include the EBISU K's Box gym, TEAM 10 COUNT and RK Boxing Gym. These gyms really show how well established Watanabe are to have had multiple fighters from the gym setting up their gyms after retirement.  We've all heard of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, and we've decided to put our spin on things with "Six degrees of separation" looking to connect Asian fighters you may never have assumed were connected! Today we connect former Thai world champions Khaosai Galaxy and Chartchai Chionoi...but probably not in the way you'd expect! Just as ground rules, we're not doing the more basic "A beat B who beat C who beat D" type of thing, but instead we want to link fighters in different ways. As a result we will limit A fought B connections, and try to get more varied connections together, as you'll see here! We also know there are often shorter routes to connect fighters, but that's not always the most interesting way to connect them. 1-Thai Super Flyweight great Sohla Saenghom, better known as Khaosai Galaxy is often regarded as one of the hardest hitting fighter the Super Flyweight division has ever seen. He was unfortunate to come in a relatively weak era of the then rather new Super Flyweight division but his power cannot be questioned and his lengthy reign as the WBA champion was impressive, and destructive. In many ways the one thing he missed was an elite nemesis to really let us see how good he actually was. During his career he only fought outside of Thailand a handful of times, one of those bouts saw him beating Ellyas Pical at the Bung Karno Stadium in Jakarta. 2-Whilst the Bung Karno stadium will never go down in the annals of history as one of the sports most notable venues, and is certainly not on par with Madison Square Garden for example, it did play host for several notable fighters. In 1973 one of those fighters was the legendary Muhmmad Ali, who beat Rudi Lubber there in a 12 round fight. 3-Muhammad Ali, was one of the few fighters who proved his was a global star, showing his excellence all around the world. Not only did he fight in Jakarta, but he also famously fought in places like Kinshasa, Toronto, London, Manila and Kuala Lumpur. Whilst the Thrilla in Manila is his most famous Asian bout, it's worth noting that he did fight in Tokyo, when he beat Mac Foster at the Nippon Budokan.  4-The first ever world title fight at the Nippon Budokan saw the legendary Fighting Harada defeat Alan Rudkin to retain the undisputed Bantamweight throne in 1965, in what was Harada's first defense of the Bantamweight titles after beating the legendary Edder Jofre.
5-Whilst the brilliant Fighting Harada beat Alan Rudkin it wasn't the only time Rudkin faced an Asian fighter, in fact less than 16 months after Harada had beaten Rudkin the Brit would stop Kiichi Tsuganezawa. In 1983 Rudkin would take another win over an Asian fighter, as he took a narrow decision over little known Thai foe Pornchai Poprai-ngam. 6-Although Pornchai Poprai-ngam is not a name we expect many fans to be too familiar with the Thai had a really odd career. In his 19 fights that are on boxrec Pornchai only actually fought in Thailand twice, and the other 17 bouts were really all over the place, and ranged form Mexico to the UK and the US to Guam. During his career he fought several notable fighters, not just Rudkin but also the likes of Efren Torres, Chucho Castillo, Ruben Oliveras and Chartchai Chionoi, who stopped Pornchai in 1996, in Pornchai's final recorded bout in Thailand!  Fight fans of the Japanese scene likely recognise the name "Puma Toguchi". The popular Flyweight from the 1990's was one of the countries biggest stars, and ran up an impressive looking record of 23-4 (19). He was tipped for big things, and whilst he failed to live up the expectations on his shoulders he remained a hugely popular fighter, who was rarely in a dull bout.
Born Takato Toguchi in 1969 we suspect that many fans who have seen the name of Puma Toguchi perhaps aren't that familiar with him. Fans maybe aware of his name, without being too aware of the fighter himself. With that in mind, here are 10 facts you probably didn't know about...Puma Toguchi. 1-Prior to beginning his career Toguchi dropped out of Nihon University, where he was attending the School of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine 2-As an amateur fighter Toguchi went an incredible 53-5 (40), having trained under the legendary Shinkichi Kaneshiro, who also helped mould the likes of Tsuyoshi Hamada and Satoshi Shingaki. Although not well known in the west Kaneshiro was one of the most important men in Japanese boxing, and was regarded as having an amazing eye for, and ability to develop, talent. 3-Toguchi, along with Katsuya Onizuka and Joichiro Tatsuyoshi, made up the "Heisei no sanbagarasu", the Trio of Heisei. Toguchi was the only one of the trio not to win a world title, and in many way's was comparable to Katsutoshi Aoki, who was part of a previous trio dubbed the "Trio of Showa". 4-Toguchi lost in the 1987 Inter High School Flyweight final to Hiroshi Kawashima, who later went on to become the WBC Super Flyweight world champion. Despite the loss Toguchi did get revenge in the professional ranks the following year, stopping Kawashima in the East Japan Rookie of the Year Final. 5-In his first 6 bouts Toguchi would beat 2 men who later went on ton win world titles. There was Kawashima, as mentioned, and Manny Melchor, who later won the IBF Minimumweight title. During his career he would also beat former world champions Dodie Boy Penalosa, Tacy Macalos, Eric Chavez and Rolando Pascua 6-One thing we've heard a few times in recent years is the JBC indefinitely suspending a fighters license. Toguchi actually suffered that same fate in 1991, after a scheduled fight with Yuri Arbachakov, then fighting as Yuri Chakov, was cancelled. Officially the bout was cancelled due to Toguchi suffering a right ankle sprain, though it appears there was much more to it, much much more to it and he would have a notable falling out with the Victory gym at the time. Rumours circulated that he'd gotten injured whilst drunk, and things were rather a mess at that point for Toguchi, who's suspension lasted more than 2 years. The poster that was being used for this bout is the one we've featured at the top of this article. 7-In his first bout back after the suspension he faced former world champion Jesus Rojas, after almost 2 and a half years out and without any type of easy comeback bout 8-Despite the issues in 1991, when Toguchi was originally supposed to fight Arbachakov, the two men did finally fight in 1996. That bout saw saw Arbachakov retain the WBC Flyweight title with a 9th round TKO over Toguchi, who fought under his birth name of Takato Toguchi 9-In December 1998 Toguchi was pencilled in to fight the then WBA Super Flyweight champion Satoshi Iida. That fight was cancelled when Toguchi had a suspected stroke. It later turned out that he had been misdiagnosed, and it took a lengthy time for him to return to the ring. In his return he was stopped by domestic journeyman Motonari Kashima, in what would be the final bout for both men. 10 - During his boxing career Toguchi fought for 4 different gyms and was regarded as a tricky man to handle. Extra Fact 1 - In 1993 Toguchi married got married, he and his wife had 3 children before getting divorced in 2006. Extra Fact 2 - Toguchi has been suffering from Dementia Pugilistica, and in 2019 the symptoms had worsened to the point where he was having repeated seizures, memory problems, forgot his age and where he lived. Things got so bad that his eldest daughter quit her job to take care of him. Worryingly, due to his health he didn't recognise her. Extra Fact 3 - The 1996 bout between Toguchi and Arbachakov won the Japanese Fight of the Year. Incidentally that same year Arbachakov took the skills Award and former foe Kawashima took the Best Fighter award, essentially the MVP. This past weekend we saw popular Japanese fighter Sho Kimura (19-3-2, 12) take a 2nd round win over fellow former world champion Merlito Sabillo. Following that win Kimura spoke about getting back into the mix for a world title. At the moment it's unclear whether Kimura will be fighting at Flyweight or Light Flyweight, but which ever option he takes there are a lot of potentially exciting opponents out there for him, and some amazing match ups he could be involved in.
Here we look at Five For...Sho Kimura, and we'll consider options at both Light Flyweight, where he is currently world ranked, and Flyweight, where he fought at last time. 1-Moruti Mthalane (39-2, 26) The most likely of the world champions for Kimura would be Moruti Mthalane. Although Kimura isn't ranked by the IBF, at the moment, changes are going to be made shortly, and with IBF #3 Giemel Magramo and #7 Junto Nakatani set to fight for the WBO title there will opening in their rankings. Mthalane has shown a willingness to travel to Japan, his last two bouts have been there, and we wouldn't be too surprised to see him return, if the right offer is made. Kimura could easily be slipped on to a bigger card as the second title bout, and deliver this bout. On paper this would be an amazing fight between two strong, solid, fighters and would see Kimura back at his natural weight, Flyweight. 2-Artem Dalakian (20-0, 14) At the start of the month Kimura was ranked #10 by the WBA at Light Flyweight, but as we know he's probably better off fighting at Flyweight any way so a move up in weight to take on Artem Dalakian would be a smart one. Given Dalakian's reign so far he needs a legitimate challenge, otherwise his reign will become an even bigger joke, and Kimura would be a genuine challenge, for anyone at Flyweight. Kimura's style would force Dalakian to show all he has in his locker and would bring the type of pressure that the Ukrainian has never seen before. This is the sort of bout that makes sense for both men. It gives Kimura another shot, and gives Dalakian a worth while foe. Also, given Kimura still isn't well backed in Japan financially, he would likely jump at the chance to go to Europe for the bout. It's worth noting only one Japanese fighter has won a world title in Europe before, and that was Naoya Inoue last year. 3-Julio Cesar Martinez (15-1, 12) Bring the violence! WBC Flyweight champion Julio Cesar Martinez has got a bout set for February 29th against Jay Harris, but if he gets through that he'll be looking for a bigger name opponent, and why not former WBO champion Sho Kimura? On paper this would be brutal, two heavy handed, aggressive, exciting fighters meeting center ring and letting their blows go. Martinez, the younger man, would be the favourite and would likely get the bout secured for the US, or Mexico, thanks to his link up with Eddie Hearn, and if you offer Sho Kimura a bout on US soil he would almost certainly snap your hand off. This bout, as part of a big Stateside card in the US would be a great bout, and from a business sense, could help DAZN Japan get a show of interest. Also it would be a rather cheap bout to make, and guaranteed war. 4-Elwin Soto (17-1, 12) if Kimura intends to fight at Light Flyweight we wouldn't like to see him in with Carlos Canizalez again, however a bout with WBO champion Elwin Soto could be brilliant, brutal and thrilling. Although that is dependent on Kimura making 108lbs with no issues. Soto is a talented youngster, with big power, and exciting style. If Kimura can make 108lbs comfortably it would be great to see whether his pressure and tenacity could break down Soto, or whether Soto has the power to chip away and stop Kimura. This bout would be brutal, exciting, action packed and absolutely amazing to watch. Like the Martinez bout this could take place in the US and be part of a DAZN card, this time from Golden Boy Promotions. 5-Hiroto Kyoguchi (14-0, 9) We return to Japan for the final bout on this list, a potential all Japanese show down with WBA "Super" Light Flyweight champion Hiroto Kyoguchi. Kyoguchi isn't expected back until around April, plenty of time for Kimura to prepare for the move down in weight, and would be a very easy bout to make. This would be a brilliant fight for TBS to put on one of their broadcasts, and could work as a major support for a bigger name, such as the potential Kazuto Ioka Vs Kosei Tanaka bout. Kyoguchi is the more rounded boxer, but it would be very interesting to see him trying to beat off Kimura's pressure for 12 rounds. Like the Soto bout however this really depends on how easily Kimura can make Light Flyweight.  Boxing has so many sad tales that those careers that end badly, in one way or another, massively out numbers those that end perfectly. For every fighter who "gets out at the right time", there are tens of fighters who have taken life changing punishment. Today we sadly look at another fighter who took their own life, and was really a damaged man after his career, which was very punishing and lasted just over a decade.
Sung Jun Kim We don't expect too many fans to be familiar with Sung Jun Kim, a Korean light Flyweight who fought from 1971 to 1982. He was 18 when he made his debut, and 29 when he hung up the gloves. In that time he had amassed a 28-14-6 (13) record, fighting 48 times in just over 11½ years he had been a world champion, but sadly gave the sport more than just great performances. He gave the sport his health and well being. Unlike many Korean fighters from the 1970's Kim didn't actually come from a poor background. His family were relatively wealth for a Korean family in the 1950's. That changed however when issues with Kim's father's business started to falter an the youngster left home, running away from his family. Away from his family Kim worked a number of jobs before finding something he was good at, being a pickpocket. He would begin stealing to eat, and given that Korean's at the time relied on cash, unlike now where card payments and digital wallets are widely used, picket pocketing was a very profitable skill. Despite being a skilled criminal it wasn't the world he was made for, and one time after stealing he ended up handing back over what he'd stolen one of his victims began crying. Kim's Career in the Ring Like many in the sport boxing turned out to be Kim's way out of crime, and he would begin his professional career in 1971. Sadly things didn't get off to a great start in boxing, losing on debut, and falling to 1-2-1 after his first 4 bouts. It was, however a steady climb through the rankings and in 1975 he became the South Korean Light Flyweight champion. He would defend the South Korean title twice before before his criminal past reared it's head in 1976, essentially costing him the Korean title, and almost his career. The prosecution would however give Kim a second chance, sentencing him to probation one, and rather than locking him up, and the lawyer involved world help support Kim, and his career going forward. After his legal issues were clear up Kim would recapture the Korean belt before making his international debut in 1977, losing a decision in Japan to future world champion Shoji Oguma. On his return back to Korea he notched two defenses of the national title. Another loss in Japan in late 1977 followed, but in early 1981 Kim claimed the OPBF Light Flyweight title, defending it twice, before losing to Sang Il Jung. Despite the loss Kim managed to get a world title fight just 2 months later, beating Thai youngster Netrnoi Sor Vorasingh in 3 rounds to become the WBC Light Flyweight champion, and the 5th Korean world champion. As the world champion Kim would make 3 defenses in just over 12 months, whilst noting up a trio of wins in non-title bouts. These wins saw Kim extend his record to 25-6-5 (11), and by this point he was a notable star in Korea, with an exciting style and crowd watching him on TV celebrating him as a national hero. That status was boosted thanks to his two amazing fights with Hector Melendez, which were crazy wars in 1979. Sadly however this was the start of the end for him as a world class fighter. The in ring downfall In Kim's fourth title defense he travelled to Japan to take on Shigeo Nakajima and lost a clear decision to Nakajima. Following this defeat Kim would go 3-8-1, with all 12 of those bouts coming in just 26 months, from May 1980 to July 1982. In fact removing his final career bout Kim fought 11 times in 19 months, and these were tough bouts. The bouts that Kim had during this stretch of his career included a 10 round losses to future Super Bantamweight title holder Seung Hoon Lee, a technical draw and a 10 round loss with OPBF Flyweight champion Hong Soo Yang, a 15 round decision to WBC Flyweight champion Shoji Oguma, a 10 round loss to the legendary Miguel Canto, a 10 round loss to 2-time world champion Rafael Orono, a 10 round loss to Hector Melendez, who he had twice defended the world title against and a loss to former world title challenger Sok Chul Bae. What you'll notice from those losses was that Kim was never stopped. He was never stopped at any point in his career, which was a testament to his toughness, but also a longer term problem. Following his world title win, in September 1978, Kim fought 18 times in less than 4 years, racking up 195 rounds in that stretch of time. No single fight was to blame, but when he retired he was suffering from dementia pugilistica. Out of the Ring issues and untimely death Having retired in 1982, a few fights later than he should have, Kim would go on to have financial issues, a failed business and get divorced. He had fallen hard from national boxing icon to someone who was unable to keep anything together, and like many who go on too long he did so, at least in part for the money, and in part because it was the life he knew. The sport had damaged Kim, but like so many it was his way out of crime. It had allowed him to turn his left around after years of petty crime. Sadly though the end of his career wasn't a good one, and didn't lead to more success. With Kim's health not great, the world he knew in the ring now behind him and things around him falling apart life was clearly tough for the former fighter. On February 2nd 1989, following the break up with his fiance, Kim made his way up a building in Chaoyang. On the 6th floor of the building he left various things, including a 30cm knife, before leaping to his death. At the time he was only 35.  With a host of big Heavyweight bouts coming up in the next few months, and a huge one this weekend, we thought this week's "Did You Know" should concern a Heavyweight bout, and why not go back to one of the first Heavyweight title bouts held in Japan!
With that in mind we decided to look at 1973's clash between Heavyweight champion George Foreman and Puerto Rican born challenger Jose Roman, which took place at the Nippon Budokan in Tokyo. -Foreman won the bout in the opening round, to record his first defense of the WBA and WBC Heavyweight titles. -The bout came after a 7 month lay off for Foreman, the longest of his career up to this point, though no where near the 10 year lay off he had from 1977 to 1987. -The fight was the first ever World Heavyweight title bout held in Japan, and would be the only one held there until Mike Tyson stopped Tony Tubbs in 1988! -The bout was shown on NET TV in Japan. This channel was the renamed Nihon Educational Television. In the years since the bout the channel has been renamed several times, and is now known as TV Asahi. -Foreman's purse for the fight was $1,000,000, that was 10 times bigger than Roman's purse of $100,000 -It was the third time Roman had faced an opponent called "George" after wins over George Ford and George George Holden. In the years that followed Roman would go on to beat George Jerome, twice, leaving his record against George's at 4-1 (3) -It took almost 15 years for the next round 1 T/KO defense of the Heavyweight titles, with Mike Tyson stopping Michael Spinks inside a round in 1988. In the time between the bouts James "Bonecrusher" Smith and Michael Dokes had both managed to claim the WBA title inside a round, but there hadn't been an opening round blow out defense. -On a similar note this was the first time the titles had been defended in the opening round since Muhammad Ali's controversial second bout with Sonny Liston -Roman entered the bout as the #9 ranked challenger by both the WBC and the WBA. -This was Roman's only world title fight and his only fight in Asia. More remarkably he was the first Puerto Rican to challenge for a world title! -On the under-card Ricardo Arredondo stopped Morito Kashiwaba to retain the WBC Super Featherweight title. This was Arredondo's fifth bout in Japan, the country that he won the title in in 1971. He would return to the country twice more and lose in both of those there, making this his final win in Japan. -Foreman would return to Japan more than 20 years later, beating Crawford Grimsley of the IBA Heavyweight title. This bout, the Grimsely one, was a bout that didn't take place under the auspices of the JBC but instead the ill fated IBF Japan, hence it being listed as an "unsanctioned show"  We've all heard of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, and we've decided to put our spin on things with "Six degrees of separation" looking to connect Asian fighters you may never have assumed were connected! Today we connect popular Hong Kong warrior Rex Tso to...former Korean world champion Chan Young Park. Just as ground rules, we're not doing the more basic "A beat B who beat C who beat D" type of thing, but instead we want to link fighters in different ways. As a result we will limit A fought B connections, and try to get more varied connections together, as you'll see here! We also know there are often shorter routes to connect fighters, but that's not always the most interesting way to connect them. 1-The all action Rex Tso was a major star in Hong Kong and one of the most exciting men in boxing with regular Fight of the Year contenders. Those who saw his wars with Ryuto Maekawa, Hirofumi Mukai and Kohei Kono will fondly remember them. Interestingly Tso actually shares his birthday with Baishanbo Nasiyiwula, with both men blowing out their candles on July 15th. 2-In December 2016 Baishanbo Nasiyiwula claimed the WBA International title at 140lbs, beating Leki Maka for the title. Baishanbo never actually defended the belt and it has been passed around a bit since he held it. Currently the belt belong to Uzbek amateur standout Shakhram Giyasov, who win the belt last April and has defended it once. 3-Whilst the WBA International 140lb title was Shakhram Giyasov's first title in the professional ranks he really was a former star in the amateur scene winning an Olmypic Silver medal in 2016 and World Amateur Championships gold medal the following year. Another man who won medals at those very same competitions is current world champion Murodjon Akhmadaliev.  4-The excellent Murodjon Akhmadaliev won world titles in his 8th bout earlier this year. Another man who won their first world title bout, in their 8th professional fight, was Japanese star Joichiro Tatsuyoshi, who stopped Greg Richardson for the WBC Bantamweight title in 1991.
5-We mentioned that Joichiro Tatsuyoshi won his first world title in 1991 but it's worth noting the venue where he won that bout the City Gymnasium in Moriguchi, had previously held 3 other world title fights, each of which featured Takuya Muguruma. Like Tatsuyoshi in 1991 Muguruma won his first world title there, back in 1987 when he stopped Azael Moran in 5 rounds to claim the previously vacant WBA Bantamweight title. 6-Sadly for Takuya Muguruma his reign was a short one, and he lost the WBA Bantamweight title less than 2 months after winning it, losing in 11 rounds to Korean fighter Chan Young Park. |
Thinking Out East
With this site being pretty successful so far we've decided to open up about our own views and start what could be considered effectively an editorial style opinion column dubbed "Thinking Out East" (T.O.E). Archives
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