When we talk about the greatest Japanese fighters of all time Fighting Harada and Hiroyuki Ebihara will make any short list. They are two of Japanese boxing's all time legends and two men who will always be regarded very highly by anyone who knows about boxing in Japan. A man who was regarded as better than the pair when they all began their careers in the early 1960's is the now often forgotten Katsutoshi Aoki. He was so good that even Harada himself described Aoki as the most talented, and the trio were all expected to have massive success in their careers, being dubbed the "Shōwa no sanbagarasu", or the "Trio of Showa" relating to the Showa period of Japanese history. Sadly Aoki had so many issues that he is now rarely remembered by Japanese fight fans, and when he is, he's regarded as one of the nation's biggest boxing disappointments. A man that many believe should have been a world champion, but is better known for issues with drink and crime. 1-Despite being an excellent natural talent Aoki hated training, and did all he could to avoid road work and sparring. Stories from Japan suggest things were so bad that when he was doing unsupervised road work he covered himself in pond water to convince his team he'd worked up a serious sweat. This was a huge part of why he under-achieved in the ring. 2-Aoki was a genuine problem drinker. He would often drink on the morning of fights, and have trouble sleeping the night before fights, mixing alcohol with sleeping pills to try and help him sleep. For some fights he had only 2 hours of sleep. 3-His power saw him being given the moniker of "Megaton Punch". 4-Aoki would lose, by stoppage, to both Ebihara and Harada. His loss to Ebihara saw him lose his unbeaten record, and fall to 16-1-1 (7) whilst the loss to Harada came when Aoki was the OPBF Bantamweight champion and Harada, who was world ranked #1 at the time, was looking to move towards a Bantamweight world title fight. 5-The bout between Aoki and Harada was dubbed "Battle of the Century" in Japan and had a reported attendance of 11,000. Although Aoki wasn't defending his OPBF title, in fact the bout was a 10 round none-title fight, it was seen in Japan as being a world title eliminator for a bout against Eder Jofre. 6-Although his career was a huge disappointment Aoki did achieve a decent amount. Beating the likes of Leo Espinosa, Piero Rollo and Kenji Yonekura and becoming a 2-time OPBF Bantamweight champions, a world title challenger. Amazingly he was just 19 when he first won an OPBF title, showing just how prodigious his talent was. 7-After making his debut, aged 17, on June 6th 1960, Aoki would go 18-1-1 within a year of being a professional fighter. That's 20 fights within a calendar year, one of the most active schedules of any Japanese boxer in history. That level of activity did slow, but he would manage to fight 66 fights into a career that lasted just over 7 years and saw him retire at the age of 25 8-Despite being a heavy drinker, Aoki blamed a lack of luck, not his issues with alcohol or his dislike of training, for his disappointing career. 9-Since retirement Aoki has been arrested a number of times for things ranging from assault, theft, property damage, fraud and possessing illegal stimulants. He had also attempted to commit suicide, at least once. He has also been hospitalized, at least once, for alcoholism. 10-Aoki is featured on the reprinted version of "O Galo De Ouro", a biography about Eder Jofre. Although not on the original 1962 version Aoki is on the reprinted version from 1979, where him being knockdown by Jofre is the cover image, hence the image at the top of this article. Extra Fact - Aoki had spoke about becoming a kick boxer in 1969, though nothing ever came of this. Extra Fact 2 - Aoki would lose 10 of his last 12 bouts, including losses to future world title challenger Takao Sakurai and future world champions Kuniaki Shibata and Hiroshi Kobayashi Extra ...rumour-Over the last 20 years or so news of Aoki has been very limited, and one rumour is that he had been killed by a homeless friend. There is little to support this rumour, but we felt it worthy of including here.
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This past Thursday we saw the very long awaited return to the ring of the hugely popular Daigo Higa (16-1, 16), who stopped Jason Buenaobra in 6 rounds, after almost 2 years out of the ring. Although expressed some really worrying comments after the bout, at least for fans wanting to see him in the ring long term, his return did leave us salivating at the potential bouts he could be involved in, if he sticks around.
As fans we would love to see Higa's motivation return, but for that to happen he'll need fights that excite him and get the juices going. No easy bouts, just tough, testing, exciting ones. With that in mind, here are Five For... Daigo Higa. 1-Guillermo Rigondeaux (20-1, 13) If we're looking at bouts that intrigue us there are very, very, very few times we'll ever list Guillermo Rigondeaux, however we would love to see how his defense, movement, and 39 year old legs hold out against the incessant, high octane pressure of Higa. If Higa needs a fight to excite him, get his motivation up and make him want to fight, a bout against a world level name, for the WBA "regular" title should be the type of bout that does just that. Yes this is an extremely tough bout for Higa, but maybe the type of bout he needs to reignite his love for the sport. 2-Nawaphon Sor Rungvisai (48-1-1, 38) Of course Higa isn't the only fighter who has moved up from Flyweight to Bantamweight in recent years, and another was Thailand's Nawaphon Sor Rungvisai. On paper a bout between Higa and Nawaphon might not excite those looking to see top names clashing but in reality this would be so much fun to watch. Both guys are aggressive, and style wise this should be a lot of fun. Higa would be favoured, but that doesn't change the fact that this style a really fun and interesting bout between two fighters who like to come forward and like to let heavy leather go. More notably than the style is the significance of this bout, with Nawaphon being ranked #2 by the WBC and said to be pushing for a world title fight. Higa Vs Nawaphon in a world title eliminator? Yes please! 3-Zolani Tete (28-4, 21) If Higa can't get a true top level name, then it'd be fun to see him face a recent champion, and an interesting possibility there would be Zolani Tete. Tete was stopped last year, by Johnriel Casimero, but is still an awkward out for anyone in the division, has a decent name and would ask questions of Higa. If Higa isn't motivated then Tete would expose than, jab his head off and take a clear win, likely sending Higa into retirement, but if Higa can get up for this, he could potentially take out Tete and prove his value in the Bantamweight division. It's a very winnable bout, if Higa can get up for it. 4-Petch Sor Chitpattana (54-1, 39) Given Higa's only world ranking at the moment is the WBC it's worth looking at who's around him in the WBC rankings, and once such fighter is Petch Sor Chitpattana, who is ranked really close to Higa. Not only are both world ranked but both men love to come forward, both like to let leather go, both are tough and stylistically this should be something truly special. It would be one of the rare times that Higa would be up against a man who may be able to match him physically, and take his punishment, and would be a really fun fight to watch. It lacks something in terms of importance, but as a spectacle this would be sensational to watch. 5-Emmanuel Rodriguez (19-1, 12) We're back to thinking of Higa against a recent champion, and why not go up against someone known in Japan for being a previous Naoya Inoue opponent right? So with that in mind Emmanuel Rodriguez seems a perfect choice. Like Petch and Nawaphon the Puerto Rican former world champion is ranked in the WBC, in fact he's #3 with the WBC, behind Nonito Donaire and Nawaphon, and a bout between Higa and Rodriguez would be something to get very excited about. Rodriguez is still a solid name in the division, he's world ranked, and would give Higa an opponent who can ask questions of him. Style wise this isn't the best out there for Higa, but it's certainly a very significant bout, and could, potentially, even help him secure a US debut, which could play a major part in helping with his motivation. By Oriana Johnson
Suicide is a tragedy which can ripple through a family, through friends, through colleagues and the wider community. It's a constant grief which doesn't end. A sad case of death by suicide is of Seiji Takechi [竹地盛治], who was 24 when he died, ending his promising boxing career. Takechi was a Japanese super welterweight who's professional career spanned from 1997 to 2001, during which time he amassed a 10-3-2 (2) professional record. Whilst that alone isn't too remarkable his career left us with a lot of questions, questions that really came to the fore when he ended his career, with his suicide. At the time Takechi was the OPBF Light Middleweight champion, winning a belt in his 4th attempt, and did so by inflicting the first loss on Nobuhiro Ishida. Sadly Takechi never went on to defend the title, or build on his career defining win. Sadly taking his own life only a few months later. Takechi died by hanging, ruled a suicide, which occurred on August 10th 2001, just 3 months after his victory over Ishida. He was found hanged near the canal at the Kotohira-gu Shrine at 6.40am by local police. The biggest question left after a death by suicide is "why?" Why did they chose to end their life? When it comes to Takechi's death there are rumours of an affair, although unverified, and rumours of an issue present at the Gym where he trained, but these are also unverified. Both are situations where a person might feel they are at rock bottom. But as stated Takeji Seiji was the OPBF Light Middleweight champion at the time of his death by suicide. A champion can hit rock bottom, and most likely suffered a great deal of pain, either emotionally or through a psychological condition. Another theory, is that Takechi achieved what he wanted to achieve, and after that what was left for him? This is backed up by research into Japanese suicide's, which explained a large number of suicides by young adults in the country was because they had lost the value in their own life, or existential suffering (Ozawa-de Silva, 2008). Takechi was the champion, and died as the champion. The champion, unfortunately, with no tomorrow. If you are struggling with your mental health; please seek out support and help from your local crisis centre. You are not alone. On February 11th 1990 the sport of boxing got one of the biggest upsets in history, as the supposedly invincible Mike Tyson came un-done and was stopped by the unheralded James "Buster" Douglas. The bout is one that every fan knows about and most fans have seen, numerous times. It's a bout that has been debated, due to a supposed long count, for years, and it's still a bout that gets brought up regularly in conversation.
Whilst the bout is famous, to say the least, there are a lot of details that are under-reported, with so much focus on the betting upset and the behind the scenes stuff with both fighters. We all know that Douglas's mother died in the build up to the fight whilst Tyson was going through his messy break up with Robin Givens, with the two finalising their divorce in 1989. So today's "Did you know" looks at some details of Tyson Vs Douglas that fans may not be aware of, or may have forgotten. -The bout was actually sold under the banner "Tyson is Back!" -The fight was the second time Tyson had headlined at the massive Tokyo Dome, where he had beaten Tony Tubbs in 1988. As we write this this was actually the last boxing event at the Tokyo Dome, most 30 years ago! Though there is now talk of the venue being used to stage a potential Ryota Murata fight. -On the under-card were two future world champions, Joichiro Tatsuyoshi and Eloy Rojas. -As well as the future world champions the card also featured a trio of world title challengers. Yuichi Hosono, a future 3 time world title challenger, Hitoshi Kamiyama and Noree Jockey Gym, who both challenged for titles once. -On the subject of the under-card and Noree Jockey Gym the show featured Noree's rematch with Naoto Takahashi. The bout failed to live up their thrilling first bout, which had taken place 9 months earlier, and was the start of the end for Takahashi. -This was the only time Douglas, who fought more than 40 times as a pro, would have a professional bout outside of the USA. -According to Compubox Tyson threw just 214 punches by the time was stopped. Given we were almost half way through round 10 this works out as less than 23 punches a round. Douglas on the other hand had thrown 441 punches, and landed more than Tyson had actually thrown! -Although regarded as a ridiculous under-dog Douglas was ranked in the top 5 by the IBF (#2), WBC (#3) and WBA (#4). He was a top contender, though was regarded as such an under-dog to Tyson's destructive reign. -Two of the three judges were Japanese, and both seemed to give Tyson the benefit of the doubt where they could, the third official, American Larry Rozadilla, was the only judge to have Douglas winning. 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 a former Thai world champion to a former Japanese world, as we connect Venice Borkhorsor and Japanese bad boy Jiro Watanabe. 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-In the early 1970's Venice Borkhorsor was the WBC Flyweight champion, winning the belt in 1972 before vacating it to move up in weight. Another Thai southpaw who held that title was Pongsaklek Wonjongkam, who pretty much monopolised the title during his pomp. 2-The legendary Pongsaklek Wonjongkam had a number of notable rivals, but his biggest rivalry was with Daisuke Naito. The two men fought 4 times during their rivalry, and it really was a well matched 4 bout series. 3-Talking about 4 bout series between Thai and Japanese fights at world level it's impossible not to mention just how amazing the 4 fight series between Veeraphol Sahaprom and Toshiaki Nishioka. That series saw the two men battling for the WBC Bantamweight title, and although Nishioka failed to win any of the 4 bouts it helped establish him as a top contender, and helped further strengthen Veeraphol's reputation as an top tier fighter. 4-Another legendary rivalry at Bantamweight was between the iconic pairing of Eder Jofre and Fighting Harada, both of whom are widely considered the best their nations have ever had. Jofre, a brilliant Brazilian, only ever lost to Harada, with both of his defeats coming to the Japanese great. 5-Prior to beating Eder Jofre for the unified Bantamweight titles Fighting Harada had already established himself as a solid fighter and had previously won the WBA Flyweight title, way back in 1962, more than 2 years before his first bout with Jofre. Prior to winning a world title however Harada's first notable achievement as a professional was winning the 1960 All Japan Rookie of the Year, beating future friend and world champion Hiroyuki Ebihara in the final. 6-Another All Japan Rookie of the Year Flyweight winner, who beat a future world champion in the final, was Jiro Watanabe. Watanabe won the 1980 tournament, stopping future WBC Flyweight champion Koji Kobayashi in the final. (Images courtesy of JPBF and Komthai) One of the great things about running this site is that people get in contact about fighters who we never expected would get too much interest. Back in December one such reader got in touch about former WBC Flyweight champion Venice Borkhorsor, who held the WBC Flyweight title in the early 1970's, before vacating the title and moving up in weight. Despite being a world, OPBF and Thai champion he was never someone who was particularly on our radar and not someone who'd really figured there much interest in, but there was so little information out there about him.
Whilst he's certainly not one of the big names of Thai boxing his place in history is significant, and he's certainly a fighter who deserves more attention that he's got over the years. With that in mind we thought he was the perfect fighter to include in our "10 facts you probably didn't know about..." series. So here we bring you 10 facts you probably didn't know about...Venice Borkhorsor". 1-Borkhorsor comes from a family of fighters, with his Grandfather, brother and uncle all reportedly being fighters, though it appears they were all Muay Thai. 2-Borkhorsor was the first Thai world champion to fight as a southpaw. Incidentally he was the 4th Thai to win a world title, and like the previous 3 he was a Flyweight champion. 3-Sadly for Borkhorsor he simply out grew the Flyweight division, ending his reign after just a single defense. The move up really did hamper his success, even more so when he moved up to Super Bantamweight in the later stages of his career. In his first 35 bouts he lost just once, in his 10th professional bout, but went 15-7 in his final 22. Whilst that did coincide with facing generally better competition losses to Saul Montana and Neptali Alamag and Detkat Kiatboonyong do stand out as being losses to weaker opponents than the fighters he had beaten at Flyweight 4-Although Borkhorsor only made a single defense of the WBC Flyweight title it was a notable one for Thailand, as he defeated Filipino fighter Erbito Salavarria. The talented Salavarria had not only beaten Chartchai Chionoi, taking the WBC Flyweight title from Thailand's second world champion, but had also beaten Berkrerk Chartvanchai, taking Chartvanchai's unbeaten record. Incidentally Chartvanchai would go on to become Thailand's third world champion! Rather coincidentally Salavarria's final bout, in 1978, came against Netrnoi Sor Vorasingh, the 6th world champion from Thailand. 5-Despite being relatively unknown today Borkhorsor was a bit of a globe trotter. Not only did he fight in Thailand but also in Mexico, USA, South Korea, Australia, Venezuala, South Korea and the Philippines. 6-Borkhorsor world title win in 1972, when he stopped the fantastic Betulio Gonzalez, had more than 30,000 people in attendance. Included in those was the Thai king Bhumibol Adulyadej, who shook his hand after the bout. The two would meet again following the bout, when the fighter was invited to the King's palace and was famously pictured with the king. 7-At the time of writing Borkhorsor is the only one of the first 6 Thai world champions to still be alive. When we think about that it's actually quite sad, especially given the 6th champion Netrnoi Sor Vorasingh, was only 23 when he passed away in 1982. 8-Following his boxing career Borkhorsor has had an interesting life. He worked an office job, started a recruitment company, which failed, and later became an ordained monk, in the. He has also helped train boxers, including Oley Kiatoneway. 9-In 2014 Borkhorsor looked to become a politician, though wasn't elected. 10-Sadly the latest reports from Thailand reveal that Borkhorsor is currently living in poverty, receiving support from the Thai government and the WBC, though together the payments provided certainly aren't huge amounts. In part the financial situation is due to the failure of the recruitment company he set up. One thing that is pretty interesting about boxing is just how much of an impact an unexpected shock can give the sport. Not every upset leads the fighters to greatness, but today's "What a shock" looks at an upset so big it ended up leaving the winner on the radar of fans around the globe right through the end of his career. It also ended up destroying the aura of invincibility the other fighter had. Date April 9th 2011 Venue MGM Grand, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA Fighters Nobuhiro Ishida (22-6-2, 7) Vs James Kirkland (27-0, 24) Coming in to this bout James Kirkland was the "Mandingo Warrior", a huge punching bad boy. He was a wrecking ball and was looking to make up for lost time. He had been an emerging contender in 2008 before out of the ring issues slowed his climb to a world title fight. After ending 2008 with a 24-0 (21) record he would go on to stop Joel Julio in early 2009 before being out of the ring for almost 2 years due to issues with the law. After returning in 2011 Kirkland had notched two blow out wins in the space of 13 days to get some more traction in his career before meeting with little known Japanese fighter Nobuhiro Ishida a few weeks later. This was supposed to be another easy win for Kirkland against a little known Japanese fighter who was expected to get blitzed and allow Kirkland to shake some more ring rust and look good in the process. Available as a 35/2 under-dog Nobuhiro Ishida was supposed to be the next fall guy for Kirkland. He was supposed to be there to make Kirkland look good on a card headlined by Marcos Maidana facing Erik Morales. With just 7 stoppage wins in 28 bouts the 6'1" Japanese fighter was given no chance. He had only fought outside of Japan once before, losing to Saul Alvarez's brother Rigoberto Alvarez in Mexico 6 months prior to facing Kirkland, and his best wins up to this point were two decisions against Venezuelan puncher Marco Antonio Avendano. Coming into the bout he hadn't beaten a single fighter that American fans would recognise at the time and hadn't scored a stoppage in over 3 years and was now 35 years old. The commentary made it known what was expected here. They explained it was a "stay busy fight for Kirkland", "build Kirkland back up to the top" and a "showcase fight". Their was no buttering this up from Max Kellerman and the folks at HBO who were clear. This will be easy for Kirkland. Despite coming in as a man being given almost no chance by anyone Ishida shocked everyone by putting Kirkland down with a left hand after around 20 seconds, incorrectly called by Jim Lampley as a counter right. Ishida would keep the pressure on Kirkland and drop his man again after just 70 seconds. Kirkland got back to his feet but Ishida continued to land counters as Kirkland tried to fight back. In less than 2 minutes Kirkland was dropped for a third time. This resulted in Joe Cortez stopping the bout, giving Ishida a monstrous upset win, and his first ever opening round T/KO victory. The post fight showed just how over-looked Ishida was with HBO having no translator on hand to help interview Ishida before speaking to Kirkland. Things were then made worse with Kirkland suggesting it was a poor stoppage, drawing loud boos from the crowd. After this bout Ishida would go on to have an interesting run of fights which saw him facing off with Paul Williams, Dmitry Pirog and Gennady Golovkin all in the space of 2 years. He would later challenge for the Japanese Heavyweight title, losing to Kyotaro Fujimoto, before retiring and setting up his own gym in Japan. Kirkland on the other hand fought at recently as last year, and since losing to Ishida he has gone 7-1 (6), with his only loss since Ishida coming to Saul "Canelo" Alvarez. This past weekend we saw Uzbek sensation Murodjon Akhmadaliev (8-0, 6) claim the WBA "super" and IBF Super Bantamweight titles with an excellent win over Daniel Roman. The performance, in just his 8th professional bout, was a real statement from Akhmadaliev, despite a bizarre 12th round, and a sign of the rising wave of the Uzbek fighters, which include the likes of Israil Madrimov, Bektemir Melikuziev and Bakhodir Jalolov.
With his win at the weekend it's going to be interesting to see what Akhmadaliev does next. The Super Bantamweight division is a very interesting one, and as a double champion there are some very interesting potential moves for "MJ" going forward. So with that in mind lets look at Five for... Murodjon Akhmadaliev 1- Ryosuke Iwasa (27-3, 17) The obvious next next fight for "MJ" is a mandatory defense of his titles against IBF "interim" champion Ryosuke Iwasa. If MJ avoids this fight, for whatever reason, he'd likely be stripped of the IBF title and given how he spoke about being a unified champion we don't imagine him wanting to relinquish either belt any time soon. In the ring this would be a really interesting match up. It would be the first time MJ has fought a hard hitting southpaw, though he has faced two lefties already in his career, and would also see whether or not Iwasa has figured fellow southpaws himself, or whether his performance against Marlon Tapales was a fluke. Given the heavy hands both men have we wouldn't be surprised to see this one end inside the schedule and for both to be rocked at some point. 2- Emanuel Navarrete (30-1, 26) Whilst Akhmadaliev may be a unified champion there are still titles out there for him to go and capture. The reality is that a bout between "MJ" and WBC champion Rey Vargas wouldn't be an enjoyable watch, however a fight between the unbeaten Uzbek and marauding Mexican Emanuel Navarrete would be something special. It would be beautifully brutal, with both men firing off heavy shot. It would be "Vaquero's" pressure, against MJ's movement and boxing ability, it would be champion against champion, and it would be stylistically the most pleasing and exciting unification bout the division could give us right now. This would be something to get very, very excited about. 3- Daniel Roman II (27-3-1, 10) Lets be honest the first fight between Akhmadaliev and Daniel Roman was good, really good...so good we want to see it again! Of course with the bout being a WBA mandatory there's no obligation for "MJ" to give Roman a rematch, but it did seem like both wanted to do it again, and we sure as hell would love to see them go again. Their first bout showed they were well matched, and with 12 rounds already between the men we would love to see what changes they make for a rematch. We would expect more output from Roman in the early going, especially given the way he seemed to have Akhmadaliev in trouble in the final round, whilst we expect Akhmadaliev to pace himself just a tough more and be able to fight hard in the final round. Alternatively the first 12 rounds may have allowed one man to find a weakness in the other they could exploit early in a rematch. Although we don't expect this to be next, we do expect this to be excellent when, and if, it happens. 4- Brandon Figueroa (20-0-1, 15) Another really interesting match up from a style point of view would see "MJ" take on "The Heartbreaker" Brandon Figueroa. Whilst Akhmadaliev is the WBA "Super" champion Figueroa is the "Regular" WBA champion, so it would get rid of one of those pesky WBA belts, at least temporarily. MJ would certainly be favoured over the unbeaten Figueroa, but that doesn't take away from the fact this would be very, very exciting to watch and would see him up against a big, strong, powerful and aggressive foe. In many ways this would be like Akhmadaliev facing a lesser quality version of Emanuel Navarrete, and would work as a nice tune up for a bout with the Mexican down the line. 5- Naoya Inoue (19-0, 16) Possibly entering to the realms of a dream fight here, but "MJ VS The Monster" is a mouth watering proposition, and potentially something we'll see somewhere down the line. In terms of height and reach the guys are very similiar, but both are also very different. MJ is probably the better boxer, and the better mover, but we suspect Inoue is the better puncher, and and the slightly quicker on the trigger. Either way we would love to find out, in what would be arguably the most intriguing bout either could have. This would see Inoue stepping up in weight again, attempting to become a 4-weight champion, but again given the fact the men are so similar in size, we wouldn't imagine that being a problem. In fact instead size being the key to victory it would be what they can do in the ring, and we would love to see match up of sensational young champions at some point, preferably sooner rather than later. The name Andreas Seran is one that very few fans will be aware of, with the former Indonesian fighter only fighting 17 times as a boxer, running up a 10-6-1 (8) record. As well as being a professional boxer Seran also fought as a kick boxer, but his success there wasn't massively notable either.
Despite his career not being notable Seran's name is one that is potentially well known, at least in Indonesia and New Zealand due to one fateful night in April 2009. That was a night that saw one young man being killed in what was a truly regrettable incident all round and caused the Indonesian embassy to apologise the family of Sean William Keith Headifen. On April 12th at the Bounty Bar in Bali Mr Headifen, aged 22, and his partner Sarah Whitburn, 19, were enjoying a night out, having a holiday and enjoying a break away from New Zealand. Around 2:30 in the morning they tried to make the most of a coupon for a drink. The bartender seemed to refuse them service before they away from the bar, with Mr Headifen knocking over a glass. According to multiple reports the bartender, Nengah Mustika, then threw something that hit Mr Headifen in the head, with reports suggesting it was either a fishbowl, a glass or a bottle. This ended up causing a serious brawl that saw that resulted in Nani Aplonius Efson Tafui and Mr Seran getting involved, with Mr Seran being friends with the bar's security. According to quotes attributed to Ms Whitburn "They had his arms held behind his back and the boxer guy was punching him in the stomach, that's where the internal damage was done. I jumped on his [Seran's] back to try and pull him off." Following Seran's attack on Mr Headifen he then swung at, and injured, Ms Whitburn. Sadly only a few hours later Mr Headifen would pass away from injuries to his head, with a coroner's autopsy showing that he'd been hit so hard on the back of his head that his skull had been forced into his brain. The barman was sentenced to 6 months in prison, a sentence described as sickening. Sadly we've not been able to track down any sentencing information in regards to Seran, who was awaiting trial in November 2009, before all news on the story seemed to suddenly end. Given the sentence of the barman however it would seem likely that Seran wasn't given much of a punishment. Sadly it appears that justice certainly wasn't served for Mr Headifen's untimely, and completely unnecessary death. The rise of Naoya Inoue has been one of the most significant talking points in world boxing the last few years, with Monster taking the boxing world by storm and becoming a 3-weight world champion in the space of just a few years. His success, along with that of his younger brother Takuma Inoue and their cousin Koki Inoue, has been remarkable and it's all been spearheaded by their trainer, Shingo Inoue.
Whilst most fans who have followed the rise of the Inoue clan will be aware of Shingo there is a lot that probably isn't know about the patriach of the Inoue family. So today we'll take a look at Shingo Inoue as he features in our "Did you know..." series. -Shingo's parents divorced when he was in elementary and he was brought up by his mother -Shingo was just 19 years old when he got married. He and his wife have now been married for close to 30 years and have 3 children, the eldest of which is a daughter, then there's Naoya then Takuma. -Although best known by fight fans as a boxing trainer Inoue is also the head of Meisei Paint Co., Ltd., who are a painting company based in Zama city. -Shingo has revealed that Naoya wanted to become a boxer after seeing Shingo himself training at home. At the time Naoya was 6 years old. -Whilst Shingo didn't turn professional did have a short amateur career, reportedly running up a 2-0 record. He didn't have the time to turn professional or do much gym work, due to his painting company. -Takahiro Shiraishi, a tenant at a condo that Shingo owned but didn't manage, killed 9 people in what was a massive news story. For those interested in more details on this Gabe Oppenheim did an interesting feature on it last year. -In 2015 Shingo became a published author, with his 256 page book "努力は天才に勝る!" ("Effort is better than Genius"). The book is currently available on the Japanese Amazon website. -Inoue shares his name with a Marathon and Ultra Marathon runner. |
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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