Just over a week ago fight fans at Korakuen Hall saw the talented Yudai Shigeoka (3-0, 2) claim his first title, winning the Japanese Youth Light Flyweight title with a TKO win against fellow youngster Ryu Horikawa. The win was an impressive one for Shigeoka, who showed his skills, power, strength and speed to overcome a very highly skilled fighter who will almost certainly rebuild from the loss and go on to achieve success of his own.
Aged 23 the future promises a lot for Shigeoka, who can easily make a name for himself at either Minimumweight or Light Flyweight, and follow his brother, Ginjiro Shigeoka, to the top of the sport. With the latest win behind him we've decided to take a look at 5 potential bouts for Shigeoka when he next steps into the ring as we give Shigeoka the "Five For" treatment. 1-Kenichi Horikawa (41-16-1, 14) With Shigeoka getting his first taste of silverware recently we suspect he'll be wanting more, and more. With that in mind we suspect Shigeoka will be taking a look at some of the other title holders at 108lbs and 105lbs. One of the potential options for a senior title would see Shigeoka take on veteran Kenichi Horikawa, the current OPBF Light Flyweight champion. On paper this would be a massive jump up on class for Shigeoka, to take on a genuine battle hardened veteran with more than 50 bouts to his name and over 400 professional rounds. Horikawa is a tough test for anyone on the domestic scene, however at the age of 40 his best days are best him and he is slower than he was. If Shigeoka uses his speed and skills he could end up getting a huge win here against a very well respected veteran. 2-Reiya Konishi (17-3, 7) Whilst we suspect Shigeoka will be wanting to claim his second professional title an alternative option is that he looks to score a win of note in a non-title bout. If that's an option that he finds exciting then the perfect opponent for the youngster would be former 2-time world title challenger Reiya Konishi. At his best Konishi is a handful, and he gave Carlos Canizales a really tough bout in 2018, with little to split the two men. Since then however he has looked poor, and losses to Felix Alvarado and Katsunari Takayama in his last two have shown that Konishi is perhaps not the future world champion he once seemed. Takayama's game plan against Konishi showed a tactic that worked and we suspect Shigeoka could replicate that against Konishi to take a clear win. Despite favouring Shigeoka against Konishi, this would be a gut check for the youngster, and just the type of fight he would need to prove himself. 3-Riku Kano (17-4-1, 8) Going back to the idea of Shigeoka wanting more titles, another potential belt for him to chase is the WBO Asia Pacific Light Flyweight title. That is currently held by Riku Kano, who won the belt last year with a decision over Ryoki Hirai. Kano was once viewed as a super prospect himself and even fought for a world title when he was just 18, but since then his career has repeatedly faltered and he really needs to build on his title win. With that in mind a Kano may well see a win over Shigeoka as the type of victory that would help boost his career in the right direction. Kano also has the edge in experience and has proven he can go 12 rounds. On the other hand Shigeoka is probably the bigger, stronger man, and he'll be confident that he will have too much for Kano, much like stablemate Shin Ono had a few years ago. We would favour Shigeoka, but this would be close to a 50-50 and a very well matched bout. 4-Kai Ishizawa (7-1, 7) Talking about well matched bouts, one we think could be amazingly well matched would be a contest between Shigeoka and the thunderously hard hitting Kai Ishizawa, with this one taking place at Minimumweight. Ishizawa is a thunderous puncher and a legitimate threat on the Japanese title scene, as we've seen in his bouts against the likes of Tatsuro Nakashima, Yuga Inoue and even Masataka Taniguchi, who he dropped before losing a close decision to. Ishizawa is a dangerous man at 105lbs, and if he catches an opponent clean he can take them out, and that includes Shigeoka. However he can be lazy at times, and he can be out boxed, and Shigeoka has got the size, skills and speed to out box Ishizawa. This would be a great test of boxer vs puncher, and would be a fantastic match up, but would see both men taking a real risk in facing the other man. This, sadly, might be one we need to wait a while for, but boy would we love to see this! 5-Lito Dante (17-11-4, 9) II The first 4 names on this list are all Japan, and as we write this it seems likely that anyone fighting in Japan will only be able to face Japanese opponents for the foreseeable future, at least if they are fighting at home. If Shigeoka can, however, wait until later in the year to return to the ring the obvious next match up for him would be a rematch with OPBF Minimumweight champion Lito Dante. These two fought in late 2019, when Shigeoka, in his second professional bout, defeated Dante in a 6 rounder. Now, in 2021, it would be great to see Shigeoka face off with Dante once again, this time over 12 rounds for the OPBF title. It would be a serious ask for Shigeoka to beat Dante over the longer distance, but it certainly isn't out of the question for the talented Japanese youngster to keep his range, box, mover and control the pace of the bout. This would be a massive step up from facing Dante over 6 rounders, but we dare say that a win here would suggest that Shigeoka was pretty much ready for a world title fight.
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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 Thai former world champion Ratanapol Sor Vorapin to legendary Filipino Little Dado.
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-Talented Thai boxer Ratanapol Sor Vorapin is best known for being one of the best Minimumweight's of his era, being a 2-time IBF champion. He is also known for being one of two fighting brothers in the family, with his brother being fellow former world champion Ratanachai Sor Vorapin, who is a former WBO Bantamweight champion. 2-Way back on April 19th 1992 Thailand's Ratanachai Sor Vorapin made his professional debut, , stopping Wittaya Por Tawatchai in the 1st round. On the very same day as the then 15 year old Ratanachai scored his first win, Indonesian fighter Boy Aruan scored his 18th win, beating a fighter who is recorded as being "Sanchai". 3-Although never a world champion himself Indonesian southpaw Boy Aruan was a genuine contender at one point and managed to get a WBC world title fight in 1995, when he challenged the brilliant, and often forgotten, Hiroshi Kawashima. That bout was the first Japan Vs Indonesia world title bout, and sadly for Aruan he was stopped in round 3 by the brilliant Kawashima. 4-The high skilled Hiroshi Kawashima was one of the many champions developed by the Yonekura Gym. That was the gym owned by the talented, smart, and incredibly important Kenji Yonekura, who founded the gym and ran it right through to when the gym closed, with Yonekura closing the gym due to his age and ailing health. 5-Despite being regarded as a heavy hitter by Argentinian great Pascual Perez Japan's Kenji Yonekura only scored one stoppage when he, himself, was a fighter. The very talented Yonekura went 13-10-1 (1), giving us one of the most misleading records in the sports history. Another notable fighter who only recorded a single stoppage was Yoichiro Hanada, who's record of 93-37-28-1 (1) is a real oddity in the sport. 6-We've quickly mentioned Yoichiro Hanada's record and obviously he fought a number of notable names. Included in those are the likes of Speedy Akira, Yoshio Shirai, Hiroshi Horiguchi and the legendary Little Dado, who defeated Hanada in 1936! We're in the middle of another week and it gives us another chance to shine a light on one of the many forgotten figures of Asian boxing. This time we're going to look at former 3-time world title challenger Yuichi Kasai.
Although not too well known in the West Kasai was a major figure in the Super Bantamweight division. He won the Japanese and OPBF titles and challenged 3 times for the WBA title, losing to Wilfredo Vazquez in 1994 and Antonio Cermeno, in 1996 and 1997. Despite finishing his career in 1997 Kasai has remained a notable figure in Japanese boxing, though has essentially left professional to focus on other things in recent years. With that all said, let us bring you 5 Midweek Facts about Yuichi Kasai. 1-As an amateur Kasai amassed a fantastic record of 44-4 (24) and was runner up in the 1987 National Sports competition and the winner of the 1987 High School Championship. 2-Kasai went to the same high school, and was in the same year as, fellow fighter Koji Matsumoto. Interestingly they both went to the same university, both dropped out in the same and both went on to become not only world title challengers but also top trainers. 3-Given the reputation of Japanese fighters not fighting away from home it's worth noting that 9 of Kasai's 29 professional bouts took place outside of Japan. These included 7 bouts in the US and 2 bouts in Venezuela. During those 7 bouts he went 5-2, losing in Venezuela to Ramon Guzman and in the US to Antonio Cermeno, who also travelled to Japan and beat Kasai in what was Kasai's final bout. 4-After retiring from in ring competition Kasai became a trainer at the Teiken gym, where he went on to receive the Eddie Townsend Award, essentially the Japanese Trainer of the Year award. During his time at Teiken he trained the likes of Toshiaki Nishioka, Takashi Miura, Toshiyuki Igarashi and Akifumi Shimoda. Incidentally Koji Matsumoto also won the Eddie Townsend award, though did it as a trainer at the Ohashi Gym. 5-In 2017 Kasai left his role as a trainer at Teiken and set up his own gym, the GLOVES gym. The gym is a boxing fitness gym, and encourages people to get healthy through community based boxing activities, promotes boxing the wonders of boxing, and welcomes everyone, regardless of age and gender. Last week we spoke about Korean fighter Young Kyun Park in this series, and this week we'll discuss a man he fought, Koji Matsumoto (26-6-1, 15). Although he never became a world champion Matsumoto is an interesting individual who challenged for world titles in the 1990's, and then retired but remained a notable figure within the sport. Even now he's someone who continues to cultivate talent within Japan and is very highly regarded within the sport.
Of course this series is the 10 facts you probably didn't know about..., series and today we bring you 10 facts you probably didn't know about... Koji Matsumoto, someone you really should get to know, as his role in boxing isn't going to end any time soon. 1-Matsumoto is a second generation fighter. His father, Hiroshi Matusmoto was himself a semi-successful fighter who won the East Japan Rookie of the Year at Welterweight in 1957. Hiroshi's full record isn't available on Boxrec but the excellent http://fanblogs.jp/boxingmeikan report that Matsumoto senior went 6-4 (2). 2-As an amateur Matsumoto racked up a 37-6 (21) record. 3-Matsumoto went to the same high school and University as Yuichi Kasai, himself a former fighter. In fact they both dropped out of University and debuted in the same year. Both have now gone on to have very well respected careers as trainer after losing in 3 world title bouts. The two are close friends and Matsumoto has helped out at Kasai's GLOVES gym in Tokyo. 4-Matsumoto boxed out of the legendary Yonekura Gym. For those who don't follow the Japanese gym scene, that's the same gym that brought us world champions like Kuniaki Shibata, Guts Ishimatsu, Shigeo Nakajima, Hideyuki Ohashi and Hiroshi Kawashima. 5-After losing to Young Kyun Park, in a WBA Featherweight world title bout, the two men developed a solid friendship, and Park has been over to Japan in recent years to see bouts on the invitation of Matsumoto. Park revealed that Matsumoto treats him like a brother and is the only fighter he fought who is still in contact with him. 6-More than half of Matsumoto's career was spent in title bouts. He fought 33 professional bouts with 17 title contests. They included 3 world title bouts, 1 OPBF title bout and 13 bouts for the Japanese Featherweight title. His overall record in these bouts was 12-5. 7-Since retiring from in ring participation Matsumoto has become a trainer at the Ohashi Gym, linking up with former Yonekura Gym mate Hideyuki Ohashi. Since being a trainer he has worked heavily with Akira Yaegashi, Satoshi Hosono and Katsushige Kawashima. 8-In 2004 Matsumoto won the Eddie Townsend award for his work as a trainer. At the time he was the youngest trainer to win the award. 9-Matsumoto has released two DVD's, which are available on Amazon.jp. They are focused on training in boxing, as opposed to some of the fitness DVD's released. Interestingly fellow Yonekura gym fighter Hiroshi Kawashima has also released his own boxing DVD, with his focused on defense. 10-The Matsumoto boxing name is set to continue with a third generation fighter, as Koji's son Keisuke Matsumoto turned professional in 2020, joining the Ohashi Gym where he will continue to be trained by Koji. One of the best things about boxing is just how well hidden and even forgotten some things are. Today we have a great example of that in this edition of "Remarkable Rounds" which comes from the early 1980's. The bout is not one that we suspect many fans will have seen but every single fight fans owes it to themselves to watch, and then watch again. It’s less than a full 3 minutes, but it has more drama, action and twists than many 12 round bouts. Isaya Ikhoni (4-1, 4) vs Hiroshi Osumi (4-4-1, 4) Before we discuss the round we do need to introduce the two men involved in it. In one corner was Japanese based Kenyan Isaya Ikhoni, then fighting as Yonekura Ikhoni after taking the Yonekura name from the gym he was fighting out of. Prior to turning professional Ikhoni had been a successful amateur, with reportedly over 100 bouts and upon turning professional he looked really good. By just his third bout he was fighting in 10 rounds, and raced out to 4-0 (4) in just over 6 months as a professional. He was then beaten by Hikaru Tomonari and the loss seemed like a real setback for him. To rebuild his confidence he went in with the limited Hiroshi Osumi. Sporting a 4-4-1 record Osumi wasn’t a particularly good boxer, but he was a solid fighter, with fight changing power. He was crude, but if, and when he landed he could really mess people up. Despite his 4 losses it’s worth noting that 3 of those had come to Cheyenna Yamamoto, a future Japanese national champion and his draw had come to Masaharu Owada, another future Japanese champion. He had only been stopped once in his 4 losses coming into this, and that was against Cheyenne Yamamoto, in 6 rounds in their third bout, and he went in against Ikhoni with the intention of upsetting the talented Kenyan. From the very first seconds Osumi was pressing forward whilst Ikhoni was looking to box and move. Within 30 seconds we saw the first knockdown and it was a big one as a huge overhand right from Osumi dropped Ikhoni. Ikhoni got to his feet quickly but the Kenyan seemed to be in all sorts of trouble when Osumi waded in and the referee gave Ikhoni a standing count. The bout could have been stopped after the knockdown, it could have been stopped when the referee decided to give Ikhoni a standing count. It could also have been stopped soon afterwards as Osumi started to ragdoll his man around the ring. Ikhoni there to be taken out and Osumi knew it as he pursued his man. Ikhoni held, spoiled, tried to clear his head, slipped and ducked and did all he could to try and see out the aggressive charge of Osumi. He was then hurt again and decided his best plan was to fight fire with fire. After a huge flurry from Ikhoni we had the third knockdown of the fight, with Osumi hitting the canvas. He tried to get to his feet, and he tried to continue, but he couldn’t and he ended up being counted out after just over 2 minutes of the round. This was chaos. This was thrilling. This was a remarkable round and this is worth every second of your time to watch. A truly brilliant 1 round shootout. When we typically do these "What a Shock" articles we look at upsets scored by Asian fighters. Today we flip that on it's head and look at a big betting upset in 2018 against an Asian fighter. On paper the bout is perhaps not remembered as much of an upset but in regards to the betting this was a genuine surprise and one that sent the loser in to retirement. Date August 17th 2018 Venue Fantasy Springs Casino, Indio, California, USA Yoshihiro Kamegai (27-4-2, 24) Vs Greg Vendetti (19-2-1, 12) We're going to begin this by saying that the bookies can get it wrong, really wrong. That appears to have been the case in August 2018 when Japanese veteran Yoshihiro Kamegai was priced as 2/9 favourite with the UK bookies to beat American Greg "The Villain" Vendetti, who was a 3/1 under-dog. Of course of the two fighters Kamegai is the more well known, even in the US. He is well known as a fan favourite due to his thrilling action bouts and his wars. His fights against the likes of Robert Guerrero, Jesus Soto Karass and Miguel Cotto were were all enjoyable fights that saw Kamegai take significant punishment but never stop coming forward and never stop trying to fight. His limitations were always clear, and he had slow clumsy footwork, awkward technique, open defense, but he more than made up for that with his incredible chin, work rate and will to win. By August 2018 Kamegai had been out of the ring for a year, following injuries, but was still expected to have too much in the tank for the somewhat unknown Greg Vendetti. Whilst Kamegai had been mixing in and around world level for a while Vendetti was mostly beating fighters with losing records. His most notable wins were against Ayi Bruce and a razor thin win over Khiary Gray, both in 2017. He had done nothing of note, and looked like a fighter who would look nice on Kamegai's record, with there being much substance behind it. Sadly for Kamegai no one told him that Vendetti didn't want to play the part of the easy comeback opponent. Instead Vendetti wanted saw Kamegai as a chance to build his own name. This was a huge step up for Vendetti, his first bout on TV, and his first bout in front of a major market. From the opening round both men looked hungry but it didn't take long for the extra speed and youth of Vendetti to shine through. He seemed much quicker than the 3 year old Kamegai, who marched forward but struggled to land much of value. Up close Vendetti wasn't just landing good shots, but also also tying up Kamegai, smothering the Japanese veteran and preventing Kamegai from letting his hands fly with much consistency. Round by round Vendetti would out work Kamegai in the pocket, landing not just a significantly higher number than the Japanese fighter, but also landing the shots cleaner in what was a brilliant little inside war. It seemed like Kamegai was the heavier hitter, but struggled to get his shots go at the same volume as Vendetti. Sadly for Kamegai as the rounds went on he began to look his age. The energy we had seen him show against the likes of Jesus Soto Karass just wasn't there. A hard career, injuries and being 35 years old had began to catch up with him. He was never looking hurt, it would likely have taken Vendetti a baseball bat to have hurt Kamegai, but he was looking like a man on the slide, despite a solid round 4. It was a case that he simply couldn't keep it up as he had earlier in his career. The phone booth action was great for fans of hard hitting wars, but by the end of the 10th round there was only one winner. Kamegai had had moments, he had had some good rounds, but they were only short lived success, and there really was no way the judges could give the bout to the pre-fight favourite. Instead the judges got it right, scoring the bout 97-93 and 98-92, twice, to Vendetti, who made the most of his big opportunity. Kamegai wouldn't fight after this, retiring in November 2018 and explaining that he wasn't the fighter he had once been. As for Vendetti he would lose to Michel Soro less than 4 months after this win, but did rediscover his form after that and, at the time of writing, he is still an active fighter. Sadly though the win over Kamegai is his biggest win, by some distance. The sport has a lot of different type's of KO's, but it's fair to say that one of the favourites for fans is where the recipient face plants the ring. For whatever reason they always look extra brutal, vicious and nasty. When a fighter goes down face first it rarely matters how they were sent down we can be pretty sure they aren't beating the counting. Today we get to share a rather obscure face first KO from 2003 that we don't think many in the West will have seen, but it's a brutal finish and deserves to be seen by all. Masakazu Satake (18-2-4, 11) vs Richard Reina (10-0, 9) By October 2003 Japanese fighter Masakazu Satake was edging towards a big bout. The Light Welterweight had recorded 9 defenses of the OPBF title, and had, just a fight earlier, scored an eye catching win over Filipino fighter Dindo Castanares, which we covered recently in this series. He seemed within touching distance of his US debut but still had a job to do and couldn't afford to see his momentum drop so close to a big fight. Looking to derail Satake's rise was unbeaten Venezuelan puncher Richard Reina, who had taken out former Satake opponent Dindo Castanares in just 2 rounds 3 months before facing Satake. Although still a relative novicee Reina was regarded as a promising fighter, who had scored 9 straight stoppages, taken the Venezuelan title, and had blasted 6 opponents out in the opening round. Not only had Reina been racking up wins in Venezuela but he'd also scored wins in Colombia and Japan. The first round of the fight was a relatively quiet one, though there was a point mid way through where Reina caught Satake and seemed to make the Japanese fighter fully aware that he was dangerous. Satake did however box well through the round, fought smartly and used his foot work to avoid too many exchanges with the hard hitting visitor. In round 2 we again saw Reina on the front foot, throwing calculated bombs whilst Satake boxed and moved picked his spots and showed real respect of Reina's power. That was until late in the round when Satake managed to rock Reina, who seemed to look for a breather on the ropes. Satake sensed something and applied pressure before luring Reina to throw a right hand, and drop his guard. Almost instantly Satake came back with a right hand of his own, right on the chin. Instantly the lights turned off and Reina crashed against the canvas falling face down in brilliant catching fashion. Sadly for Satake he would go 1-2 after this fight before hanging up the gloves following a loss to Jung Bum Kim. Reina on the other hand would go 2-3 before retiring with a 12-4 (11) record, never looking the same after this brutal KO loss. 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 Mongolian hopeful Tugstsogt Nyambayar to former 2-time IBF Minimumweight world champion Ratanapol Sor Vorapin.
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-Talented Mongolian Tugstsogt Nyambayar made his professional debut in March 2015, stopping Gabriel Braxton on a card in Ontario, California. On the same card as Nyambayar's debut was a bout featuring Mexican fighter Miguel Vazquez, who defeated Jerry Belmontes with a 10 round decision. 2-Years before beating Belmontes the talented, slippery, and criminally under-rated, Miguel Vazquez won the IBF Lightweight title, with that title win coming way back in 2010 when he defeat Korean slugger Ji Hoon Kim. At the time Kim was making his mark as a talented and exciting fighter, with a string of KO's but he lacked the skills needed against the brilliant "Titere". 3-Just 2 bouts after losing to Vazquez the heavy handed Ji Hoon Kim won the Korean Lightweight title, taking a razor thin split decision over the previously unbeaten Dong Hyuk Kim. This win ended a 2 fight losing streak for Kim, with the loss to Vazquez being followed by a loss to Leonardo Zappavigna. 4-Following his loss to Ji Hoon Kim we saw Dong Hyuk Kim drop down in weight and have success at Super Featherweight. He first won the South Korean national title there, beating Sung Tae Kim, before moving up a level and beating Ronald Pontillas to claim the OPBF title. That title had also been held by Japan's Takashi Uchiyama, who had managed 5 defenses of the belt before winning the WBA world title. 5-The hard hitting Takashi Uchiyama enjoyed major success in his career, where he became the face of the Watanabe Gym. During his long and lengthy reign as the WBA Super Featherweight champion he helped make the gym what it is, and helped make it an attractive proposition for emerging hopefuls and prospects. One of those men who followed in his footsteps, joining the Watanabe gym and becoming a world champion, was Hiroto Kyoguchi, who has since become the newest face of the gym thanks to his rise through the ranks and in ring success. 6-The first world title won by Hiroto Kyoguchi was the IBF Minmumweight title. He made 2 defenses of the title before before he moved up and became a 2-weight champion. Another man who held the IBF Minimumweight title, twice in fact, was Thailand's Ratanapol Sor Vorapin, who damn near monopolised the title in the 1990's during his 2 reigns, and 18 combined defenses between 1992 and 1997 Whilst doing some research for something else back in 2020 we stumbled on Shigeji Kaneko's name and after a little bit of research on Kaneko we decided, one day, that we would look into his career and life and try to shine a light on him. Whilst it's taken us a while to do that, we're glad to finally talk about Kaneko, at long last.
Although not a big name Kaneko was a notable fighter in the 1950's, fighting from 1950 to 1958. During that time he amassed a very impressive 51-10-1 (31) record, had scored a number of big wins and was very much a key Featherweight player of the era. He never fought for a world title, but did share the ring with several legends of the sport. With that introduction out of the way, let us bring you the latest in the 5 Midweek Facts series by looking at Shigeji Kaneko, and his life and career! 1-Kaneko's nickname was the fantastic "Enchanted puncher" 2-As a fighter Kaneko was genuinely a distinguished boxer. He not only won the OPBF Featherweight title, becoming the first Japanese fighter to win an OPBF title, but also won the Distinguished Prize award in 1953, the Fighting Spirit Award in 1954 and was a 2-time Japanese Best Fighter award winner, in 1955 and 1956. Impressively he proved his ability against legendary Filipino Flash Elorde, going 4-0 against Elorde. In 2003 was honoured in the Philippines by being awarded the Gabriel "Flash" Elorde Memorial Trophy. 3-Sadly Kaneko's career to an end when he was only 27. That was due to a retinal detachment that forced him to leave the sport following a win over Saburo Otaki in November 1958. 4-Following his retirement from in ring activity Kaneko worked as a trainer before opening up the Kaneko gym, which is still running today. The gym was passed on to his eldest sons in 2004, with one son being the chairman and another being a manager and trainer. Early on the gym was best known for guiding Eijiro Murata to 4 world title fights, and would also guide the likes of Kevin Palmer and Kenji Iwata. In recent years it's also been the gym in charge of Hidenori Otake in recent years. 5-Kaneko passed away in early 2016. Whilst it's reported in the West that his death was down to pneumonia it seems likely that his pneumonia was caused by progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), which is what Japanese news sources reported was his cause of death. When we talk about must watch fighters few could rival Korean Featherweight Young Kyun Park (28-3-1, 16), who reached the top of the sport in the early 1990's. Park isn't a name that comes up often in conversation but in reality it probably should as he was one of the most exciting fighters from the early 1990's.
After winning the WBA Featherweight title in 1991, ending the long reign of Antonio Esparragoza, the Korean went on a tear before losing the belt in 1993, with one of the busiest reigns in the division's history. He sadly never fought outside of his homeland, limiting the memory international boxing fans have of him, but at home he was a star and one of the final Korean fighters to really catch the public's attention at home. Known for his incredible toughness and stamina Park's fights were battles. He wasn't the most polished of boxers but more than made up for that in his will to win, energy and aggression. To try and help fans get to know Park we've put together 10 facts you probably didn't know about... Yong Kyun Park 1-On December 28th 1986 Park won the Korean Rookie of the Year at Featherweight, with his win over Kyong-Mo Chung. Whilst that's pretty impressive by it's self, it was his 5th fight in just 19 days! He had fought on December 9th, 12th, 14th and 21st before beating Chung for the Korean Rookie of the Year crown. 2-In a 2018 interview Park stated that for his bout with Yung-Duk Park he had insufficient time to train. At the time he has serving military service and the weight cut was particularly difficult as a result, needing to cut almost 14.5KG's (almost 32lbs) to make weight for the bout. He also explained he had similar issues for his bout with Jae Won Choi, in which he suffered his sole loss at domestic level. That time he had to lose 10KG's (around 22lbs) and it took away from his performance as a result. 3-Due to his in ring style Park was nicknamed the "Bulldozer" 4-According to one Korean news source Park's favourite fighter was Tae Il Chang, a former Super Flyweight champion. 5-When he won the WBA Featherweight title became the second Hyundai Promotions fighter to win a world title, following Hi-Yong Choi who won the WBA Minimumweight title just weeks earlier. Interestingly the promotional company had been set up in 1981 and had both of it's world champions crowned in early 1991. 6-In 1992 the Korean press reported that Park was offered a world title unification bout to face the then WBC champion Paul Hodkinson of England. At the time Park was supposed to be lining up a bout with American Kevin Kelley. Sadly neither of those bouts came to fruition, and Hodkinson lost his title in 1993. If either of those bouts had occurred Park would have been a bigger name internationally. Win or lose. 7-In March 1991 Park ended the 1485 day reign of Antonio Esparragoza as the WBA Featherweight champion. During Esparragoza long reign, one of the longest in the title's history, he made just 7 defenses, essentially one every 212 days. Kyun managed to rack in 8 defenses in just 980 days, once every 122.5 days, before losing the belt to Eloy Rojas. 8-Park is good friends with former opponent Koji Matsumoto, who he stopped in 11 rounds to retain the WBA Featherweight title. This relationship saw Park attend the a Japanese card in late 2017 headlined be Naoya Inoue, and suggest he wanted to help train Matsumoto's son Keisuke Matsumoto. It's likely also this relationship that has helped secure a number of Korean fights sparring opportunities with Ohashi Gym fighters, as Koji Matsumoto is one of the lead trainers now at the Ohashi Gym. Park has stated that Matsumoto treats him like a brother and that he's the only former opponent he's in regular contact with 9-After retiring from the sport Park turned to business, at one point he was running a restaurant. 10-In 2018 Korean boxing introduced the "Bulldozer Prize", essentially an award that took Park's nickname. The physical award was a plaque that featured 24K gold. Extra fact - Park got into boxing as a child when a school friend was bruised after a fight and a teacher spoke to his friend about becoming a boxer. The seeds were planted there and then, with the words embedding in his head. He would later get some gloves and spar before joining a gym in high school and training to box. |
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