We know fans are itching to watch great fights and are looking forward to the current suspension of the sport being lifted. Of course we still have to wait, we have to be patient, and we have to realise how awful things are in the world. Despite having to wait, we don't need to forget the past. Boxing is, thankfully, one of the sports with the richest histories, and the archive of great fights really is incredibly deep, as those who follow our Closet Classic series will be aware of. With that in mind we've decided to share some of the bouts we've been watching recently as part of our time at home. So, for those looking to watch something amazing during their isolation, here are 5 great bouts that we'd suggest sitting and enjoying. For the basis of this article we've tried to pick a mix of bouts that could have made a 5 fight card. So we've picked a couple of low key opening style bouts (bouts scheduled for 4 or 6 rounds), then a few bigger bouts (domestic or regional title level) and finally a world title bout to close it off. Unlike the Closet Classic and Treasure Trove series, we're not going to talk about the fights. Just let you enjoy them! Ieyasu Yashiro (0-0) vs Ricardo Arredondo Jr (0-0) [1996] Kodai Honda (4-1, 3) vs Yasutaka Fujita (5-0, 5) [2019] Rex Tso (21-0, 13) Vs Kohei Kono (33-10-1, 14) [2017] Koji Arisawa (18-0, 15) vs Takanori Hatakeyama (20-0-1, 15) [1988] Takuya Muguruma (25-1-1, 19) vs Chan Young Park (24-3-2, 7) [1987]
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Today's Did You Know is a little different to usual as it looks at a rather peculiar bout that took place in 2009 at the Differ Ariake in Tokyo. That wasn't the originally set venue for the contest, and the bout only took place there due to some issues with the original venue. Which wasn't even in the same country as where the bout took place!
The bout in question is the WBC Flyweight title bout between defending champion Daisuke Naito and Chinese challenger Xiong Zhao Zhong. It was a rather odd event overall, but also a very notable one. -The bout with was rather strange in a number of ways. Originally it had been planned for Shanghai, but had to be cancelled on short notice, reportedly 2 days notice, due to issues with the organisers in China. It was then re-arranged for the Differ Ariake in Japan as a peculiar 1-bout event, with no under-card, and all the tickets were sold at the venue on the day of the event. -When Xiong scored a knockdown of Naito in round 6 it was only the second time Naito had been dropped, having previously been down in his opening round KO loss to Pongsaklek Wonjongkam in their first bout. -Both men were deducted points for headclashes. In fact there was 3 points deducted in total, with 2 coming from Xiong, in rounds 4 and 5, and one from Naito, in round 10. -This was Xiong's international debut. He would go on to fight on the road a further 4 times, losing twice more in Japan, as well as in Monaco. But he did score a huge win in Dubai. -The bout was aired on TBS in Japan, who tried to sell Xiong as a "Little Tyson" in the build up video. This was different to how they sold Naito, with English test popping on the screen stating "He is a romantic". -Sankyo were involved in putting the bout on. Sankyo are also responsible for putting on a number of recent Kazuto Ioka bouts, including his bout with Donnie Neites, in Macao, and his most recent bouts, against Jeyvier Cintron. -This was the first time someone from the People's Republic of China had fought for a world title.* -Naito was said to have been embarrassed by how close this bout was and his performance. He went on to apologise to the fans for the bout. *Prior to this bout Rocky Lin, a fighter from the "Republic of China", or Taiwan, had twice fought for a world a world title. With live boxing still off on the horizon, we thought we'd have a bit of fun looking at some of the most eye catching knockouts in Asian Boxing history. This really isn't going to make up for the complete lack of action we've got right now, but will hopefully be a chance to share some perhaps over-looked finishes from Asia. Naoya Inoue (1-0, 1) Vs Ngaoprajan Chuwatana (9-10, 9) We get to begin this series with a KO that was compared, at the time, to Sugar Ray Robinson's sensational knockout of Gene Fullmer by Joe Koizumi. Whilst the fight didn't have the same meaning as that one, the shot it's self is similar and had Japanese scribe fans in serious excitement about the sensational youngster they had seen in just his second professional bout. The fighter in question was the then 19 year old Naoya Inoue, who had made his debut just 3 months earlier, stopping Crison Omayao, and was returning to take on the usually durable Ngaoprajan Chuwatana from Thailand. Chuwatana was no world beater, but from his 19 fights coming in to this he had faced a real mini-who's who, including 3 men who, at some point, won world titles, and a further 3 world title challengers. He had also gone the distance in an OPBF title bout, in a very competitive bout against Toshikazu Waga. Like the Robinson shot it was a counter left hook, whilst going backwards, that landed like a peach. Some how the Thai got to his feet, being counted out standing, but that's not to take away from how brilliant the finish shot was. For a fighter to do this only his second bout, whilst still a teenager, against a fighter who had gone much longer with the likes of Suriyan Sor Rungvisai, Katsunari Takayama, Ryo Miyazaki and Jonathan Taconing. Given Inoue has scored more impressive wins since this one it's easy to over look how impressive this was at the time, but it deserves a rewatch. The timing, the placement, and the speed were all sublime and thanks to TBS we got replays from multiple angles. For a man in just his second bout to do this is genuine sensationally, though of course as we all know now Inoue is no normal fighter. 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 title challenger Prayurasak Muangsurin to former Chinese world champion Zou Shiming. 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 1980's Prayurasak Muangsurin was one of those fighters who knocked on the door of a world title several times. He never quite managed to get over the line but battled the likes of Ju Do Chun and Seung Hoon Lee in bouts for world titles and the likes of Elly Pical and Chul Ho Kim in non-title bouts. 2-The hard hitting Elly Pical, who actually stopped Prayurasak Muangsurin inside a round, was Indonesia's first world champion. Not only that but Pical actually won the IBF Super Flyweight title 3 times during his career. Another fighter who won that title was Daiki Kameda. 3-Daiki Kameda, the middle child from the Kameda family didn't have a long reign as the champion, and it actually ended in very controversial fashion that has lead to a protracted legal battle. Kameda had won the title from Rodrigo Guerrero to become a 2-weight champion, the second of those in the family after his brother Koki Kameda. 4-The enigmatic Koki Kameda fought out of several gyms during his career, beginning with the Green Tsuda gym. That was also the same gym as Kazuto Ioka began training at, following in the footsteps of his uncle. Whilst Ioka wouldn't be linked with the Green Tsuda gym for long, joining the Ioka Gym before turning professional, this gym still played a notable part in his development. 5-In 2014 Kazuto Ioka suffered his first professional loss, losing to Amnat Ruenroeng, a man that has also scored at least one notable amateur win over him, beating him in the semi-final of the 2008 King's Cup in Bangkok. The win over Ioka saw Amnat record a defense of the IBF Flyweigt title, and score his first professional win outside of Thailand. 6-Around 10 months after Amnat Ruenroeng had beaten Kazuto Ioka, in Japan, he travelled over to Macao and did the same to Zou Shiming, giving Shiming his first loss and retaining the IBF Flyweight title. We're assuming those reading this have clicked because they don't know who Anthony Villanueva is, or rather was. That's a shame as he holds a really important place in boxing history, and is a figure who deserves a lot more attention than he gets.
Whilst Villanueva didn't make much of an impact in the professional ranks he was a major figure for Filipino amateur boxing. He holds the distinction as the second ever Filipino fighter to win an Olympic medal, winning a silver medal at the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo, and there was a feeling he deserved the gold medal following a controversial loss to Stanislav Stepashkin. 1-Having began this by mentioning that Villanueva was the second Filipino boxer to win an Olympic medal it's worth beginning these facts by looking at who was first. That was his father José Villanueva, who won bronze at the 1932 Olympics in Los Angeles. He was also the first Filipino to bring home an Olympic silver medal, in any sport. 2-Despite Villanueva's amateur success, and it's worth noting that he won his medal as a teenager, his professional career never really got going. He would fight 5 times as a professional, and go 1-3-0-1. Notably his single professional win, a majority decision over Shigeo Nirasawa, was deemed incredibly controversial it's self. 3-As well as his boxing career Villanueva took part in a number of other activities. These included acting. IMDB have him listed as having 2 acting credits, though it appears that his IMDB is incomplete and sources report he was in several other things, with reports being that he featured in 5 movies. 4-Following his boxing and acting careers Villanueva would take up a number of jobs. These included being a security guard at the Philippine consulate in New York. 5-Prior to passing away in 2014 Villanueva was pretty much ridden for the last 2 years of his life following multiple medical issues. He reportedly had multiple strokes and heart attacks, and was in dire financial problems. In the years before his passing he had attempted to sell his Olympic medal to have some funds. Exactly 18 years ago today, April 19th, Japan's Daisuke Naito travelled to Thailand to compete in his first ever world title fight, going up against his most notable rival, Pongsaklek Wonjongkam. With that anniversary now here it seemed the perfect time to cover Naito in one of our weekly series. So here we are with 10 facts you probably didn't know about... Daisuke Naito 1-Naito's parents divorced when his mother was pregnant with Daisuke. By that point his parents already had another son, who was 4 years old at the time. 2-As a child Naito was a natural athlete. He competed in athletics and made the table tennis club at junior high school and shined at handball in in Highschool. Sadly though school wasn't a happy time and in the second year of junior high school Naito became a target for bullying, which continued to worsen, and was ignored by teachers. The bullying became such a big part of Naito's life that he has campaigned against bullying in adulthood and TBS also did a special dramatization on Naito and the way he was bulled, entitled “Naito Daisuke Monogatari: Ijimerarekko no Champion Belt" (The Daisuke Naito Story: Champion Belt for a Bullied Child)” 3-Naito took up boxing to try and becoming strong, with the idea that he could scare off bullies is they struck again. His mother, however, wasn't a fan and described the sport as useless when he first started. 4-On December 19th 1998 Naito stopped Noboru Fukuyama in 1 minute to become the All Japan Rookie of the Year at Flyweight. This win, in his 10th bout, saw him advance his record to 9-0-1 (7) and was his 6th opening round T/KO. He would end his career with 8 of them in total. 5-Naito's first ever title fight saw him fight to a draw with the then Japanese Flyweight champion Takefumi Sakata. The bout was followed by the "Ogushi Incident", which ended with Naito's stablemate Hiroto Ogushi drunkenly storming the ring and having his license suspended. These were ugly scenes with Ogushi reportedly brandishing a weapon and later ranting outside the officials office. This would be the end of Ogushi's career whilst both Naito and Sakata would go on to win Flyweight world titles. 6-It's well known that Naito's first bout with Pongsaklek Wonjongkam, a 34 second loss to the Thai great, is the shorted Flyweight world title bout in history. What isn't reported as much is that Naito himself holds the record for winning the shortest ever Japanese title fight with his 24 second win over Takeyuki Kojima. Another thing that isn't too well known is that the blow out against Kojima would be Naito's 8th, and final, opening round T/KO win! 7-The third bout between Naito and Wonjongkam, which took place in 2007, was shown on Tokyo MX, who stepped in after the original broadcaster decided not to air the bout. Many in the west won't be familiar with Tokyo MX and that's because they are a tiny channel compared to the likes of TBS and Fuji, and are independent of the big news networks that dominate Japanese TV. This was later awarded the Best Match Award at the Japanese boxing awards. Of course this was Naito's world title win over Wonjongkam and the TV channels realised the error of their ways. The following year Naito had 3 televised fights, all on TBS, and each of them peaked at over 24% in the audience viewing in the region. That included the 4th bout between Naito and Wonjongkam, which hit a huge 26.3%. 8-Naito's regular ring walk music was "Romanticが止まらない" by CCB 9-Naito got married in the year 2000 and has had 2 sons. 10-Naito's bout with Koki Kameda in 2009 hit an audience rating of 43.1% in the Kanto region on TBS. That's a record high for an all-Japanese bout, and broke a record that had stood for more than 40 years, with the previous record being a 41.9% rating for the 1967 clash between Hiroshi Kobayashi and Yoshiaki Numata. Extra Fact - Away from boxing Naito has been involved in various things, ranging from TV work for almost every TV network in Japan, to releasing a a book and doing a duet for an animated film. He has also opened a ramen shop in Hokkaido. A bit of a longer one here for the Tales from the East series, and something a little bit different.
One of the many things we don't really talk about much on this site, though we realise we should, is the pre-war fighters. Those who made a name for themselves before World War 2. Admittedly there isn't many fighters who are noteworthy enough to really spend time talking about in detail, but there are certainly some who deserve a lot more attention than they get. Today we look at one such fighter in the form of Yoichiro Hanada (93-37-28-1, 1)*. Who? You may ask. Well Hanada was one of the most notable pre-war, and even post-war, Japanese fighters having a career that stretched almost 20 years, featured 160 bouts, and saw him record possibly the lowest known KO rather for someone with over 50 wins. He was also a massive player in the Japanese scene of the time. Born in 1915 Hanada would be one of the standout Japanese amateurs of his time. He had reported won the All Japan Japanese Amateur Flyweight title in 1932 before turning professional in late 1933 with the then fledgling Teiken. His amateur skills were clear, he was quick, had good footwork but a lack of power, something we'll talk about a little later. As a professional Hanada would win his debut, but lose his second pro bout, just weeks later, and his early record was blotchy to say the least. After 15 bouts he was 6-4-5, with those 15 bouts coming in a 12 month period. Not only was he inconsistent in terms of results, but he was busy and that busy schedule allowed him to develop his skills and tools. Towards the end of 1934 he fought against Isamu Ito for the vacant Japanese Flyweight, and won a 10 round decision. Before we go any further we just need to make something clear. This wasn't the Japanese title we know now. In fact this title win pre-dated the Japan Boxing Commission by around 20 years, but it was still a major win for Hanada and began what may well be the longest reign, of any title, by any fighter. After winning the Japanese title in 1934 Hanada began to find his groove in the ring, and won all 3 of his bouts in 1935. He made his first defense of the belt In 1936, against ISamu Ito, the man he beat for the belt originally. That same year he also fought outside of Japan for the first time, losing to future world champion Little Dado in the Philippines, where he also fought Speedy Cabanela, and beat "Little Thunderstorm" in China. In fact in 1936 he had 12 recorded bouts, including his only 4 bouts outside of Japan, remaining at him for the rest of his career. Interestingly the bout with Dado is listed by some Japanese sources is as being for the original Oriental title, a belt which predates the current OPBF title. Hanada made his second Japanese title defence in 1937, defeating the Hajime Sakamoto. In total he fought 8 times during the year, with his sole loss from the year coming to Filipino fighter Young Dumaguilas. Through the late 1930's Hanada had a high level of activity, though struggled to maintain along winning streak, going into 1940 with a record of 31-12-13. That same sort of inconsistency ran through 1940. Sadly for Hanada his form completely fell apart in 1941 and 1942, going 1-7-2 at one point in his career. As 1942 came to an end it appeared that Hanada's career was also at an end. He was now 30 years old, had had 82 fights and boasted a record of 45-22-15. The war had left Japan a mess and it seemed almost certain that Hanada was done. Hanada would be out of the ring from July 1942 to April 1946, close to 4 years, before returning. Despite being out of the ring for a lengthy amount of time Hanada would make up for lost time with 20 bouts in 1946. Amazingly Hanada went unbeaten the entire year, with 15 wins, 4 draws and a No Contest. That form ran into 1947 where he scored arguably the biggest win of his career, defeating Yoshio Shirai in July. That was the same Yoshio Shirai who would later become the first Japanese world champion in 1952. In August 1947, the month after Shirai, Hanada fought in a Japanese title eliminator for the belt which had become vacant due to him not defending it in since before the war. He would then reclaim the belt in September, when he beat Hideo Nagahara In 1949 Hanada would become a 2-weight champion as he defeated Hiroshi Horiguchi for the Japanese Bantamweight title. Horiguchi, the brother of the hugely popular Piston Horiguchi, had began his career in 1943, won the Bantamweight title in 1947 and would remain one of the top Japanese fighters at the weight through to the end of his career. Just a month after Hanada beat Horiguchi he recorded his sole stoppage win, defeating Shohei Yamaguchi by TKO in the 4th round. This was after more than 100 bouts for Hanada, and more than 70 wins. Rather oddly the only other stoppage loss on Yamaguchi's record was a stoppage to Horiguchi. Sadly for Hanada his reign as the Japanese Bantamweight champion was short lived and he would lose the belt back to Horiguchi just 3 months later. The two would actually clash in a rubber match, in a non-title bout, at the end of the year with that bout ending in a draw. In January 1949 Hanada would return to Flyweight and attempt to defend his Flyweight title against Yoshio Shirai in a rematch of their 1947 bout. This time Shirai would prove too good for his countryman, taking him down with a left uppercut to the body. Hanada failed to beat the count. This was a particularly notable bout and seemed to be the passing of the torch in many ways for Japanese boxing. One of their big pre-war stars losing to the man who would fly the flag for Japanese boxing through the 1950's. The loss to Shirai helped Shirai and his trainer Alvin Robert Cahn begin the ground work on taking Shirai to a world title in 1952, with Cahn's scientific boxing training proving vital to how Japan began to develop the sport. It also ended any claim the Hanada had to being the Japanese Flyweight champion, more than a decade after first winning the title. Despite losing the Japanese title to Shirai that wasn't the end of the Hanada story as he continued fighter, running up close to another 20 wins, before his career fell apart in 1951. Hanada, like many greats, simply went on too long and suffered 6 straight losses, 3 by stoppage, to end his career on a low. A low that wasn't helped by his out of the ring antics, and it was known that he enjoyed drinking, with reports being that he had been drinking the day before his rematch with Shirai. It may not have made any difference against the future world champion, but it certainly didn't help his cause. Although not listed on boxrec Japanese sources list Hanada's final bout as having come on February 7th 1953 to Sumio Katsumata Having mentioned that Hanada only scored a single stoppage there's thought to be two difference reasons for this. First his style was very much based the reason he was dubbed "Ima Ushiwakamaru", which essentially a nickname used to explain his agility. Essentially he didn't sit on on his punches so they had little power. It's also worth noting that he apparently lacked the middle finger on his right hand, further limiting his power. One other thing that was quite notable about Hanada, albeit limited to his Flyweight reign. In 1943 Toshimitsu Kushihashi was regarded as being the national Flyweight champion, though the term was never used. It's worth nothing that Hanada did beat him in 1946 before officially reclaiming the title in 1947. With this in mind some regard his reign of 14 years, from December 1934 to January 1949, as the longest in Japanese boxing history. Whilst the reign was broken, due to his need to reclaim the title, the reign is still regarded by some as the longest by any Japanese fighter. Sadly Hanada passed away in 1966, though details regarding his death are unclear. It's not reported as to how he died, or on what date. Whilst not the star Piston Horiguchi was Hanada is still a very significant figure in Japanese boxing history. His lengthy reign as the Japanese Flyweight champion, winning the Flyweight and Bantamweight titles, fighting Small Dado and then, eventually, passing the torch to Shirai are all key parts of his legacy. *There is some dispute over Hanada's record. All sources agree he had around 160 fights, around 93 wins, either 37 or 38 losses, 27 draws and then 1 No Decision and 4 exhibitions, which are recorded in some sources. The notable different is the 1953 loss to Katsumata, which is noted on several Japanese sources, but not Boxrec. Given how pre-war record keeping was done there is a chance that Hanada had more bouts than is on his official record. We all like a bit of randomness in our lives and today we give you, our readers, something a bit random, with 10 random facts.
1-In his 40 fight professional career Nobuhiro Ishida only twice scored an opening round win. The first of those didn't come until his 31st bout, when he famously stopped James Kirkland. This was the first loss of Kirkland's career and Ishida's first bout on US soil. His only other opening round stoppage came in his very next bout, when he stopped novice Edson Espinoza in Mexico. 2-Japan's Keiichi Ozaki (19-17-2, 2) holds a very odd distinction of having TWICE won tie breaker rounds in tournaments. The first of those was officially a 6 round draw against Seiji Asakawa in 1988, with Ozaki winning the tie breaker round to, and the second came in 1990 against Kazuhiro Ogasawara, with the bout officially ending in an 8 round draw, with Ozaki winning the tie breaker round. Given how rare tie break rounds are we think Ozaki may well have the distinction of being the only fighter to have won two of them. Incidentally both bouts are officially recorded as draws, his only two professional draws. 3-At the time of writing no Filipino boxer has ever won an Olympic gold medal, though they do have 5 medals, with 2 silvers and 3 bronze. The first of those medals was won in 1932 by José Villanueva, who took bronze at Bantamweight. It was 32 years later until the next Filipino Olympic boxing medal winner, Anthony Villanueva, won a silver medal. José and Anthony were father and son! Rather oddly their latest medal was won 32 years after Anthony's medal. 4-The first ever world title bout at Minimumweight was an IBF title bout! That bout came on June 14th 1987 and saw Kyung Yung Lee defeat Masaharu Kawakami for the inaugural title. The very same title was also the last world title to be defended over 15 rounds, with that happening in the August 1988 bout between Samuth Sithnaruepol and In Kyu Hwang. Strangely Samuth's win over In Kyu Hwang was just the title's third ever bout! 5-Japan's Yoichiro Hanada, a boxer who's career spanned from 1933 to 1952, recorded a single stoppage win in 160 bouts. It's worth noting that he wasn't a career loser, in fact he had a record of 93-37-28 (1). We believe, this is the most fights a fighter has won to record just a single stoppage. Although he only scored a stoppage in 0.63% of his career fights it should be noted that he did, apparently, fight with a handicap. Japanese sites report that he was missing a finger! 6-Rather oddly 3 of the first 4 Japanese world champions were trained by American trainers. Alvin Robert Cahn trained Yoshio Shirai, whilst Eddie Townsend trained Takeshi Fuji* and Hiroyuki Ebihara. The one Japanese fighter from this early era who wasn't an American trained but still won a world title was the legendary Fighting Harada. 7-Not all top Uzbek amateur standouts turn out to be professional standouts. The country's first boxer to win an Olympic medal, under the Uzbek flag, was Karim Tulaganov, who won bronze in the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. He went 1-4 as a professional, turning pro in 1999 and having his final bout in 2002. It should be noted that before 1996 as either part of the Russian Empire, Soviet Unitied or the Unified Team. Their athletes didn't compete as "Uzbekistan" until 1996. Tulaganov was the countries second ever medal winner, come soon after Armen Bagdasarov, who won silver in Judo. 8-Former Thai amateur stand out Worapoj Petchkoom, who won an Olympic silver medal in 2004 and was a 2-time Asian Games medal winner, was banned in 2009 for posting for photos in a gay lifestyle magazine. After the incident the fighter claimed he didn't know what the magazine was and stated that he wasn't gay. 9-A Filipino fighter called King Tut, who fought in the 1940's and 50's, fought the wonderfully named pairing of Kid Independence and Young Liberty. Rather interestingly the King beat both men! 10-On June 28th 2005 a show in Pyongyang, North Korea, saw a trio of North Korean women being crowned WBC world champions! These were Myung Ok Ryu, Eun Soon Choi and Kwang Ok Kim. Ryu won the female Super Flyweight title, Choi the female Light Flyweight title and Kim won the Female Bantamweight title. *Although Fuji was born in Hawaii he is recognised by the JPBA as a Japanese world champion and counted here. We return to the Japanese title scene for this weeks "Did You Know" as we talk about the Japanese Super Flyweight title. It's a belt that has been active since 1980 and has had a rather interesting array of champions in the 40 years, or so, that it's been around. Not every champion has gone on to big things but plenty have since the title's inception. Here we look to share of the titles more interesting facts!
-The first champion was Jackal Maruyama, who stopped Satoshi Koguchi in 5 rounds to win the belt in December 1980. He would defend it twice before vacating it less than a year later. -Maruyama was also the first 2-time champion, defeating Tsutomu Itokazu to recapture the title....in what was the third bout between the two men. -Maruyama's second reign saw him record 4 defenses, before vacating for the second time in October 1983. His 4 defenses in a single reign stood as a record until Shunichi Nakajima came around and recorded 6 defenses, in 1990. That record still stands today. -The next most defenses have been 5, set by Teiru Kinoshita and Sho Ishida -We've mentioned Maruyama was the first 2-time champion, he has since been joined by Kazuo Katsuma, Tadashi Maruo and incumbent champion Kenta Nakagawa. -The first fighter to win the belt and win a world title was Kiyoshi Hatanaka, who won the title in 1987 before winning the WBC Super Bantamweight title -Others who have gone from winning this title to a world title are Katsuya Onizuka, Hiroshi Kawashima, Satoshi Iida, Katsushige Kawashima, Nobuo Nashiro, Kohei Kono and Yota Sato. -Katsushige Kawashima vacated the title in 2002 to let his then Ohashi Gym stablemate Masayuki Arinaga fight for it. Arinaga ended up losing to Prospect Matsura. -The first time the title was defended with a T/KO 1 came in 1990, when Katsuya Onizuka made his first defense, and stopped Tomohiko Yokoyama in 78 seconds. This is actually the only time a bout for the title has failed to last at least a full round. -On a similar note there have only been 2 T/KO 2 results in bouts for the title. The first of those was in 2003, when Masaki Kawabata stopped Posper Matsuura to claim the title in the short bout that has seen the title change hands, and in 2017 when Ryuichi Funai defended the title against Shota Kawaguchi. -The February 2008 title bout between Kohei Kono and Kuniyuki Aizawa is the only bout for the belt to be fought over 12 rounds, not 10. This was because the bout was for the unified Japanese and OPBF titles. -The title has been vacated 19 times from a combined 42 title reigns of the full title. -There has been a single interim title reign, by Yota Sato, who then beat the regular champion to unify titles. -At the time of writing there has been 103 bouts for either the full title, or the interim title. Of those 4 have resulted in draws. -Sadly Akira Taiga and Seiji Tanaka both died from injuries suffered in bouts for the title. -The established Teiken Gym have only had a single holder of the belt, and that was Tsutomu Itokazu who held the belt almost 40 years ago! 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 multi-time world champion Katsunari Takayama to current world champion Can Xu. 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-Japanese warrior Katsunari Takayama was one of the most exciting fighters in recent memories, and a multi-time Minimumweight world champion. Although he was only a little guy Takayama provided serious amounts of of action and some instant classics. In 2001 he won the All Japan Rookie of the Year at Light Flyweight. 2-Another fighter who won the Rookie of the Year at Light Flyweight was Shinichi Tamaki, who won the tournament in 1990, with a 6 round decision win over Masahide Makiyama in the final. 3-Masahide Makiyama isn't a name we expect many to be familiar with, despite his reign as the Japanese Light Flyweight champion in 1993-1994. Surprisingly his most notable win, at least on reflection, wasn't his Japanese title win but instead his 1993 KO3 win over Keitaro Hoshino. 4-In the year 2000, and again in 2002, Keitaro Hoshino won the WBA Minimumweight title. He was actually the first Japanese fighter to win a world title whilst fighting out of a gym run by a former world champion, Susumu Hanagata. 5-Whilst Susumu Hanagata, and the Hanagata gym, was the first former world champion to manage another fighter to a world title in Japan he isn't the only one. Another was followed by Hideyuki Ohashi, who has lead the likes of Katsushige Kawashima, Akira Yaegashi and Naoya Inoue to world titles. 6-The fighter we now most closely associate with Hideyuki Ohashi, and his Ohashi Gym, is Naoya Inoue who spent several training camps sparring with China's excellent Can Xu, who helped prepare Inoue for a number of his bouts and has since gone on to win the WBA Featherweight title! |
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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