One country that often gets over-looked when it comes to boxing in Asia is Indonesia. The country obviously has the ability to create great boxers, and it's undeniable that Chris John was a genuine talent. Sadly Indonesia hasn't developed anything close to the amount of top fighters that they probably should have. And in fact they tend to be better known for two things. Horribly padded records, and padding records of fighters in Thailand, the Philippines and Japan.
Sadly one man who fit both "the padded record" and "padding the records of others" was Vicky Tahumil (33-5-2, 12)* who fought between 1998 and 2011. He was a Light Flyweight who, at one point, was knocking on the door world a world title fight but ended his career in disappointing fashion as thing really fell apart. Strangely it felt like Tahumil had spent years crafting an impressive before cashing out later in his career, when he and his team felt he could make money as a loser. Of course Tahumil isn't a big name, and he's not a well known, he is a man with some interesting facts about him. With that in mind, let us bring you 5 Midweek Facts about Vicky Tahumil. 1-In 2005 Tahumil was lined up to fight Sonny Boy Jaro, though was pulled out of the bout just days before the contest and replaced by Angky Angkotta. Amazingly Angkotta, who took the bout very short notice upset Jaro. Reportedly the reason for the late change was that Tahumil was ranked #3 by the WBA and had been hoping to land a world title fight with his team likely angling for a shot at Roberto Vasquez 2-Tahumil had the nickname "Viking", a rather unique nickname for someone from Asia! 3- The record of Tahumil isn't as clear as it seems. He was reportedly 30-0-5 going into into the bout with Daiki Kameda, not 33-0-2 as Boxrec list him as being. It could well be that Boxrec have recorded 3 wins of his wins as draws, or that the Japanese sources were given the wrong details. Given how incomplete records of Indonesian fighters are, however, it's very possible that there may be bouts missing from his record all together. 4-Rather staggeringly Tahumil lost his final 5 bouts, after going unbeaten in his first 35 bouts, with 4 of those 5 losses coming to fighters who either had, or would, win world titles. These were Daki Kameda, Zolani Tete, Veeraphol Sahaprom and Poonsawat Krataingdeanggym. For those wondering, the only man to beat him and never win a world title was Sukkasem Kietyongyuth. 5-In 2018 Tahumil was serving as a boxing coach in Indonesia, taking his in ring experience and trying to pass it to the next generation of fighters.
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One of the first men to get us really excited about the "new wave" of Japanese prospects was Yohei Tobe (13-3-1, 9), who made his professional debut in 2011 and really impressed us almost from the off. Even in his debut he looked like a special talent, even if it only 70 seconds, and through his first 4 bouts he was genuinely impressing every time he stepped in the ring.
Sadly Tobe's career never ended up panning out quite like we'd hoped. He suffered early career set backs to Ryo Akaho and Richard Pumicpic and struggled really find his groove. He did manage to put together some glimpses of brilliance, stopping Taiki Eto to win the Japanese title, and blasting out Luzuko Siyo to claim the WBA International title, but the once touted Super Flyweight could never quite put together the performances he needed to become a star. There was always talent, but Tobe was plagued by injuries and inactivity and his career, which promised so much, failed to deliver, with him fighting for the final time in 2018. Today we're not here to talk about what could have been, and maybe what should have been, instead look to shine a light on Tobe as we bring you 5 Mid Week Facts about Yohei Tobe. 1-Tobe went to the Kamogawa Reitoku High School, a private high school in Komogawa City. Among others who have gone to the school are manga artist Shizue Takanashi and actor Sousuke Takaoka. The school has also been used for a number of Japanese music videos, including one from the hugely popular AKB48. 2-As an amateur Tobe ran up a very solid record scoring more than 40 wins and suffering just 10 losses. In the unpaid ranks he won a number of tournaments, including being a 2-time champion at the National Athletic Meet. He also came third in the All Japan Amateur Championships and when he turned professional there was real expectation on his shoulders. 3-For his 2014 defenses against Sho Ishida, Tobe had to wait around an hour for the weigh in as Ishida was stuck in traffic. The traffic was unexpected and had been caused due to the issues of Typhoon Halong, which was causing all sorts of issues at the time. 4-Early on in his career Tobe was dubbed the "Golden Rookie", due to how much of an advanced talent he was and how highly regarded he as a professional prospect. It's worth noting that due to his potential he was moved incredibly quickly as a result he debuted against the Korean champion, Jin Ki Jung, and took on former world title challengers in his second and third bout, with the third of those being Koehi Kono who would later become a 2-time world champion. 5-After retiring from boxing, which Tobe did at the end of 2018, he became a civil servant working at the Kamogawa City Hall. Many of boxing's most interesting characters are not the stars or those that reach the top of the sport, and one great example of that is the enigmatic Roilo Golez (17-20-1, 7), who will never be regarded as a great fighter but was certainly a colourful, entertaining and fan friendly fighter. He was someone who managed to connect with fans and was a unique fighter, despite his record suggesting he was just another "professional loser".
As a professional fighter Golez fought between 2006 and 2018 and shared the ring with some more notable fighters. They include the likes of Yodmongkol Vor Saengthep, Edgar Sosa, Wanheng Menayothin, Xiong Zhao Zhong and Gimel Magramo. He fought internationally, with bouts in Thailand Mexico and China, and won the WBC Asian Boxing Council Minimumweight title, but what else is there to know about Golez? 1-Golez has had numerous nicknames during his career, including "The Phoenix", the "Filipino Mexican" and "The Beautiful Boxer", a name used a few years ago when ESPN5 did a documentary on him. Lets find out as we bring you 5 Midweek Facts and Roilo Golez! 2- In 2019 Golez almost died following a bad bout with pneumonia. He would spend 3 weeks on Oxygen due to the infection, but thankfully has made a recovery. 3-Golez was one of the first openly gay professional boxers, and was almost certainly the first openly gay Filipino fighter. As a fighter he didn't try and hide his sexuality, and was well known for his flamboyant and playful nature in the ring, famously seen against Lolito Sonsona, who he playfully tried to kiss when playing up to the fans. Rather notably he has stated that none of his opponents ever discriminated against him for his sexuality. GMANetwork also did a special on Golez titled "Magpakailanman: The gay boxing champion" 4-After ending his own career Golez went on to become a trainer and is passing on some of the boxing know how he developed. Whilst not the best of fighters, he did have some really under-rated skills, though seemed fully aware his role in the sport wasn't to be a champion, but to entertain and make sure fans weren't bored. 5-Golez shared his name with a former Filipino politician, José Roilo Solis Gólez who was better known as Rolio Golez. The politician was a genuinely notable one, serving 6 terms in the Philipines House of Representatives, winning elections in 1992, 1995, 1998, 2004, 2007 and 2010! Sadly the Filipino political giant passed away in 2018 following a heart attack, at the age of 71. Interestingly in his early life, before becoming a political figure, this Golez was also a fighter and would later become the president of of Abap (which is now the Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines) Bonus fact - Golez was in attendance for the Reymart Gaballo Vs Julias Thomas Kisarawe fight on ESPN5, where he worse a fetching green dress, in a photo shared by the broadcaster on social media. One thing we don't think about when we talk about Japanese boxing is Japanese Heavyweights, In fact the history of the sport gives us very, very few Japanese Heavyweights and you could say they are as rare hens teeth. One of the very few to make any sort of a mark on the division was Kotatsu Takehara (15-13-3, 8) who had one of the most interesting boxing careers of any Japanese Heavyweight.
Takehara fought between 2001 and 2019 and was a bit of a road warrior, fighting in Japan, Australia, USA and China before ending his career. He also took on some really notable names, such as Alex Leapai, Magomed Abdusalamov, Johann Duhaupas, Lucas Browne, Kyotaro Fujimoto and Nobuhiro Ishida. Sure now sensational fighters, but for a Japanese Heavyweight that's much better than we'd have expected. Whilst Takehara failed to become a big name himself, he was certainly someone who is worth knowing more about. With that in mind here we bring you 5 Midweek Facts about Kotatsu Takehara! 1-Before turning to boxing Takehara played Rugby and was regarded as a good Rugby player at a young age, playing sport into his days at University. Sadly though an accident whilst at University ended his days as a Rugby player. 2-Takehara's blood type is A type, this is actually the most common blood type in Japan. Under Japanese blood theory this would make Takehara a "Well Organised" person. Typically these people are sensitive, patient, wary, polite and attentive. 3-Although he is best known as Kotatsu Takehara, the fighter was born Masataka Takehara, and only changed his ring name in 2013. Incidentally Masataka Taniguchi is also the name of a Japanese businessman, known for his work with Japan Electronic Materials Corporation and Marumitsu Co., Ltd. 4-A sad fact, that we hope changes in the future, is that Takehara has had the most attempts at winning the Japanese Heavyweight title without winning it. In fact at the time of writing, in April 2021, Takehara has been involved in half of the 6 Japanese Heavyweight title bouts so far, and has lost in all 3. The only man to have been in more bouts for the title is Kyotaro Fujimoto, who has been in 4 of the 6 title bouts. 5-Taking this full circle and heading back to Rugby, Takehara is friend with Tsuyoshi Yamamoto the former Japanese professional Rugby player, who played at international level. The two men were class mates at University. Between 1997 and 2014 Japanese fighter Daisuke Nakagawa (22-4-2, 17) was a fixture on, and around, the Japanese title scene. Although he never made a mark outside of Japan he managed to be one of the few 3-weight Japanese national champions, winning national titles at Welterweight, Light Middleweight and Middleweight during a very solid career.
Not only did Nakagawa win 3 divisional titles but he also beat a number of notable domestic fighters along the way. His most notable wins included victories over the likes of Koji Numata, Akinori Watanabe, Koshinmaru Saito, Yosuke Kirima, Takehiro Shimokawara and Tomohiro Ebisu. With those little details out of the way lets take a look at five Midweek Facts about Daisuke Nakagawa! 1-During his career Nakagawa once started that his heart rate was around 30BPM, stating so in an old blog post. For a typical person a normal heart rate is between 60 and 100BPM. 2-Nakagawa had a stop-start career. After his first 4 bouts, all in 1997, he took a 6 year break from the ring. He would take another lengthy break in 2010, due to an injury, that kept him out of the ring for around year. That injury forced Nakagawa to vacate the Japanese Welterweight title and abandon a planned defense against Koji Numata in August 2010. Had that bout gone ahead it would have been a third between the two men, with Nakagawa having won the first two. 3-Nakagawa was given the nickname of the "Japanese Margarito" due to his similarities to controversial Mexican fighter Antonio Margarito. The two men were of a similar heigh and similar facial appearances. 4-Amazingly all 28 of Nakagawa's professional bouts took place at Korakuen Hall*. Whilst he's not alone in having all of his fights at the "Holy Land" of Japanese boxing, it's rare for someone to have had such a long career and never fought at any other venue, especially a multi-weight Japanese champion. 5-This Daisuke Nakagawa, the boxer, is one of several notable people with the name! There is also a professional Japanese Shogi player with the same name, as well as a Japanese actor, born in 1998, who is best known for his work on "Kamen Rider Zero-One". For those unsure what Shogi is, it's a chess variant played in Japan. *Note - Boxrec lists no venue for Nakagawa's second and third professional bouts, but both of those took place at Korakuen Hall according to Teiken. To many international fans the first major Korean fighter to make a name for himself was Ki Soo Kim, the first Korean to win a world title. For Korean fans however Kim wasn't the first boxing star, that was an honour held by Se Chul Kang (who has a reported record of 15-18-2, 7), a man who would actually lose to Kim 3 times during his career!
Kang was a genuine star in Korea and fought as a professional between 1953 and 1966, fighting 35 bouts and having some mixed success in the ring, along with a lot of scandals outside of it. Despite some issues in his personal life Kang was a major player in Korean boxing. In fact when he died in 2007 Kang was described by Bo Young Hang, the then vice chairman of the Korean Boxing Committee, as "The deceased was the most important person in the early days of professional boxing in Korea". With that in mind lets take a look at what made Kang so important to Korea boxing in the 1950's and 1960's. 1-Kang began boxing in the 1940's, as a teenager, and trained alongside Kwon No Kap, who would later become a notable Korean politician and be involved in financial scandals at the turn of the millennium. 2-In 1957 Kang won a Korean national title, but it wasn't until 1960 that he became a star. That happened in November 1960 when he won the OPBF Light Middleweight title. This win saw him become not just the inaugural OPBF champion at the weight, but also the first Korean to win an OPBF title, in any weight class. This bout was said to have drawn a huge crowd, with more than 10,000 fans in attendance at a baseball stadium to see Kang become the Oriental champion. 3-In 1965 there was a request from the JBC to suspend Kang due to an issue where Kang had violated a contract. He was scheduled to fight in Tokyo, had been paid money before the fight and then failed to turn up. This was reportedly the second time he had done this. Interestingly prior to these issues Kang had challenged for the Japanese Welterweight title, back in 1958, losing to Jiro Takada. This bout is recognised as a successful defense for Takada despite the fact Kang wasn't a Japanese fighter. 4-Se Chul Kang wasn't the only successful boxer in the the family. In fact after he retired his son, Hubert Kang, went on to become a very successful fighter himself. In fact Hubert Kang was one of the most notable Korean fighters of the 1960's and 1970's becoming a huge star in Korea and winning both the OPBF and South Korean Featherweight titles. During his career the talented Hubert defeated several notable fighters, including Kuniaki Shibata. 5-Surprisingly Kang had a decent grasp of English, with KNNews reporting that he sport English though it's unclear to what level. What is known is that his ability to understand English played a major role in Kang being sent over from Korea to the US to some Heavyweight world title fights. Sadly reports on which ones are unclear, though it's reported that he covered Sonny Liston's 1962 bout with Floyd Patterson and Liston's 1964 bout with Muhammad Ali, which saw Ali become the Heavyweight world champion. Bonus Fact - In 2005 a Korean newspaper reported that Kang was an alcoholic "Kang who is seventy-eight this year, is a drunk old man who has to drink a bottle or two of beer every day. Before the Chungmuro Samgyeopsal restaurant or beer corner opens for dinner, Mr. Kang stumbles drunk". Sadly Kang died just a few years after this report. Between 2002 and 2008 Japanese fighter Kuniyuki Aizawa (13-4-1, 10) was a man with a lot of attention on his shoulders, and was regarded as one of the bright hopes of the Misako gym. He had been a stand out in the unpaid ranks and seemed to have insane potential to be a star. He had the tools needed, and was a smart out-side boxer who many in Japan were tipping to be someone big.
Sadly however Aizawa's career never came close to reaching the heights expected of him. His 18 fight career saw him face off with some notable names, though he would come up short in almost all of his notable bouts. Unfortunately his style never quite clicked in the professional ranks though he did manage to win an OPBF title and fight for a world title in a short, and somewhat underwhelming, career. During his short career Aizawa defeated Chatachai Sasakul and Jin Man Jeon, but came up short against the likes of Teppei Kikui, Alexander Munoz and Kohei Kono before retiring following a loss to the flamboyant Konosuke Tomiyama in 2008. With that short introduction out of the way, lets find out more about the man, as we bring you 5 Midweek Facts about Kuniyuki Aizawa 1-Boxing was not the first choice that Aizawa found himself involved in. In fact during junior high school he played Volleyball, a spot that is pretty far away from boxing in terms of the skills needed to compete. He did however take up boxing during his days at High School and competed in a national wide High School tournament whilst studying at Miyagi agricultural high 2-Despite not taking up boxing until high school Aizawa was a natural, and ran up a very impressive 72-12 (35) amateur record, winning 3 notable titles titles as an amateur before turning professional. Among his amateur achievements were appearances at the 1999 Asian Championships, 2000 President's Cup in Bali and the 2001 East Asian Games. 3-Aizawa was only in 4 career bouts scheduled for less than 10 rounds. These were made up of 2 bouts scheduled for 6 rounds and 2 for 8 rounds. The other 14 were either 10 rounds, which made up 9 of his bouts, or 12 rounds, which made up the other 5. Interestingly only 6 of those longer bouts were title bouts. Typically Japanese fighters in stay busy bouts are fighting over 10 rounds, which makes this a rather peculiar fact about Aizawa. 4-Rather staggeringly Aizawa's entire 18 bout professional career was spent fighting at Korakuen Hall. Whilst it's not unheard of for Japanese fighters to fight a lot at the "Holy Land", it's rare for their entire career's to be spent there. That included several title fights, including a WBA world title fight and a bout against the then unified OPBF and Japanese champion Kohei Kono. 5-Aizawa was a classmate of Takashi Uchiyama's, with both men attending the Takushoku University. Between 2002 and 2017 Japanese Fighter Takayuki Hosokawa (29-11-5, 9) ran up a 45 fight career, whilst fighting between Lightweight and Middleweight. He never made much of a name for himself internationally, despite spending a lengthy amount of time in the IBF world rankings at 154lbs, but was very much an interesting, entertaining and enigmatic fighter who managed to fit a lot into his lengthy career.
Hosokawa lost 3 of his first 5 bouts but slowly build up his experience and developed his skills. In 2014 his won his first title, the Japanese Light Middleweight title, before adding the IBF Asia and OPBF titles to his collection. Sadly though his reigns never really saw him define himself, despite climbing very high into the IBF rankings in 2015/2016. In 2017 Hosokawa called time on his career after issues with his eyes, and by that time he was 32 years old, with more 40 fights to his name and a career that he taken up much of his life. With that small profile out of the way, let us bring you 5 Midweek Facts about Takayuki Hosokawa! 1-Impressively Hosokawa passed his pro-test whilst he was still in high school and he was only 18 years and 6 days old when he made his professional debut in 2002! 2-Not only was Hosokawa young when he made his debut but he was also working at the time. He was employed by his family's sheet metal company. 3-Hosokawa's blood type is AB, the rarest in Japan with only around 10% population having it. According to Japanese Blood Type Theory this bloody type is typically a sign that the person with it is an eccentric, or weird person, and it's thought that AB blood types tend to make for good social workers, lawyers and teachers. Although it's a rare blood type in Japan Hosokawa isn't the only fighter with it, by any stretch and some fighters who reportedly have AB blood type include Ryo Akaho, Satoshi Hosono, Tomonobu Shimizu, Yota Sato and Kenichi Ogawa. 4-Interestingly Hosokawa shares his name with a number of other individuals, including the very well established Takayuki Hosokawa from the Kawasaki University of Medical Welfare, who does research on Biological Psychology, Cognitive Science and Neuropsychology. 5-During his career Hosokawa had the nickname "Gorilla". That nickname stuck with him and was also the name of the bar he opened in 2019, which was "bar the GORILLA" to give it it's full name. The bar is a short walk away from the Kitashinchi Station, in Osaka Prefecture. Sadly in 2020 the Coronavirus situation saw the bar being pretty much closed for the year, and as a result Hosokawa ended up driving a truck to make ends meet whilst the bar was closed. In recent years we have seen a lot of Japanese fighters being fast-tracked, with fighters like Kazuto Ioka and Naoya Inoue being moved incredibly quickly as prospects. It's not a new thing however, and before the likes of Inoue and Ioka there was plenty of other Japanese hopefuls moved quickly and aggressively. One such fighter was Hideyasu Ishihara (16-4-1, 10), who sadly didn't reach the top of the sport, despite very high expectations on his shoulders.
The then 22 year old Ishihara made his debut in 1998, after a relatively impressed amateur career, and in just his second professional bout he was fighting in 10 rounders, with his team expecting him to be able to be raced at an incredible pace. Sadly however he had a number of early stumbles, losing 2 of his first 6 bouts, before rebuilding winning the OPBF Super Flyweight title in 2002 and later getting two shots at the WBA Super Flyweight title. For those who don't know much about Ishihara we thought he'd be a great subject to look at this week, in the latest 5 Midweek Facts article, as we bring you some facts about Hideyasu Ishihara. 1-In his professional debut Ishihara defeated the then Japanese Flyweight champion Nolito Cabato. Cabato, a Japanese based Filipino fighter, had had over 50 professional bouts and had notable wins over future world champions Masamori Tokuyama and Celes Kobayashi, as well as former world champion Manny Melchor. The victory for Ishihara resulted in him getting a world ranking after his debut. 2-He was so highly thought of when he turned professional that not only did he get matched with Cabato on debut but he would then challenge for the Japanese Flyweight title in just his third professional bout! Sadly Ishihara's ambitions were too big at the time, and he would be stopped by Celes Kobayashi in the 7th round of their 10 round contest. Had he won he would have set a record for the fewest fights to win a Japanese title. 3-We often talk about the Korakuen Hall being the home of Japanese boxing, and many notable fighters run up a lot of their bouts at the "Holy Land". That wasn't the case for Ishihara who only fought at Korakuen Hall once in his 21 fight professional career, and never notched a win there. His "home venue", so to speak, was instead the International Conference Hall in Nagoya, where he had 16 of his 21 bouts. In fact only two of his first 18 bouts wasn't at the International Conference Hall. Rather oddly his final 3 bouts all took place away from the International Conference Hall, a venue he was 14-1-1 in! For those who did the maths his record outside of the International Conference Hall was 2-3. On a similar note he never scored a single win outside of Nagoya! 4-Ishihara shares his name with someone involved in the video game industry. We're not totally sure which company "that" Hideyasu Ishihara works for but he's been involved in arts and graphics for things like Sonic Generations, Sonic Unleashed and Dead of Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball, as well as receiving a special thanks in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. 5-After his career he became a high school teacher and began working at the Chukyo High School, as a social studies teacher . He would later become the head of the school's boxing club and train none other than Kosei Tanaka and Kento Hatanaka, who he now trains as a professional. Former Japanese Super Featherweight champion Daiki Kaneko (26-6-3, 18) was a fighter who deserved a lot more attention internationally than he got during his 12 year, 35 fight career. He was someone who consistently put in great performances and was a genuine must watch fighter with his toughness, under-rated power, and aggressive mentality. He as never a world beater, but was also never an easy out for a fighter and famously gave Takashi Uchiyama one of his toughest bouts at the end of 2013. For those who perhaps aren't too aware of Kaneko we've decided to look at him this week, for this weeks 5 Midweek Facts article. Before we get on to the facts however we'll just quickly look at Kaneko's career which saw him win the Japanese title in 2012, with a TKO win over Seiichi Okada, and defend it 4 times before facing Uchiyama in 2013. Coming into that bout Kaneko had won 13 in a row, with 10 stoppages, and was riding an unbeaten run going back more than 5 years. Despite losing to Uchiyama he did drop "KO Dynamite", and the bout won the Japanese award for the best bout of the year. Sadly however he went 6-3 after losing to Uchiyama, though those 9 bouts included fantastic contests with Jomthong Chuwatana, Masao Nakamura and Pavel Malikov, which are all worth watching and very entertaining. Following the loss to Malikov, in 2017, Kaneko hung up the gloves. With those details out of the way, lets take a look at this weeks facts! 1-In high school Kaneko was a shot putter before taking up boxing. He first entered a boxing gym in the third year of junior high school, doing so in Toyohashi, before later learning about the Yokohama Hikari Gym, which would be the gym he turned professional under. 2-The boxing bug bit Kaneko after he saw bouts featuring Takanori Hatakeyama and Joichiro Tatsuyoshi. He then spoke to his father, who was also a fan of the sport, about fighting himself. 3-Kaneko's ring entrance music was a rock song recorded by the legendary Eikichi Yazawa. The song, entitled "Tomaranai Ha ~ Ha", translates roughly as "I Can't Stop Ha Ha" and we've included a video of Yazawa performing the song at the end of the article. 4-Interestingly Kaneko shares his name with a Japanese football player, born in 1998, and a kickboxer, born in 1994. Making him one of 3 sporting Daiki Kaneko's. Whilst not a rare name it's surprisingly to see 3 sports people all with the same name in totally different fields. Also, on the subject of names, he was nicknamed "Lightning". 5-Like many Japanese fighters based in East Japan Kaneko fought most of his career at Korakuen Hall, with 30 of his 35 professional bouts taking place in the "Holy Land" of Japanese boxing. Amazingly however he fought just a single bout in the city he grew up in, Toyohashi, and that was his return bout following his 2013 loss to Takeshi Uchiyama. His other bouts outside of Korakuen Hall were an early career bout at the Nanba Grand Kagetsu, in Osaka; his bout with Uchiyama at the Ota-City General Gymnasium; a late career bout in Shizuoka; and his final bout, in Russia against Pavel Malikov. |
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