From 1994 to 2010 Japanese fighter Hindenobu Honda (33-8, 15) was regarded as one of the best technical fighters in Japan. Although highly skilled Honda never managed to win a world world title though he did have a successful career that saw him winning a Japanese title, twice fighting for world titles and challenging for an OPBF title.
During his 41 fight career Honda managed to face a genuine who's who of the lower weights. These included bouts with Pongsaklek Wonjongkam, Alexander Munoz, Nobuo Nashiro, Alexander Bakhtin, Daigo Nakahiro, Konosuke Tomiyama and Malcolm Tunacao. In just his 10th bout Honda beat Ryuji Muramatsu for the Japanese Light Flyweight title. He would later go to make 7 defenses before moving on to his first world title fight in 2002, challenging Wonjongkam. A year later he would get his second world title fight, losing to Munoz. Following that loss Honda was never quite the same and went 7-5 (1) in his last 12 bouts, after beginning his career 26-3 (14). Soon after his 8th loss he retired, ending his career aged 35. With that small introduction out of the way, let us bring you 5 Midweek facts about Hidenobu Honda! 1-As an amateur boxer Honda ran up a record of 11-6 (1) and was the captain of his high school boxing team, at the Nissho Gakuen High School in Miyazaki City. Despite his short amateur career he managed to earn a #10 domestic ranking on the junior scene at Light Flyweight. Interestingly he also competed in Shaolin Karate whilst at high school. 2-Going back to the Nissho Gakuen High School, Honda was the second Japanese champion from the school. He had followed in the foot steps of Takeyuki Akagi, who had won the Japanese Super Featherweight title 3 times in the 1980's and 1990's. Since Honda's reign as the Japanese Flyweigth champion only one other fighter from the high school has become a Japanese champion, and that was Daishi Nagata. 3-Honda's nickname was the "Defense Master", due to his high level of defensive skills and the slippery nature of his boxing. Surprisingly he didn't have this nickname when he started the sport, but instead adopted this nickname in the late 1990's, whilst climbing up through the world rankings of both the WBA and WBC. 4-On December 23rd 2010 Honda took part in his retirement ceremony which included a spar with Malcolm Tunacao, the man who had beaten Honda in what was Honda's final professional bout. This took place on the under-card of the WBA Super Flyweight title bout between Hugo Fidel Cazares and Hiroyuki Kudaka. Rather interestingly there was a lot of big Japanese boxing names in the crowd for this, including Hiroki Ioka, Masamori Tokuyama, Nobuhiro Ishida and Ismael Salas. 5-In 2015 Honda became the Chairman of the Kanagawa Atsumi Boxing Gym, in Kanagawa.
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Former Japanese Super Featherweight champion Isao Ishikawa (12-4, 11), who was better known as Isao Mano, is not a fighter that we expect many fight fans to be too aware of, though he certainly had an interesting career, and is one of the many fighters out there who probably should have accomplished a lot more than he actually did. In fact he's someone who showed a lot of potential as a teenager in the amateur ranks but never really clicked when it came to the professional ranks.
With Mano not being a particularly well known fighter we thought he was an ideal choice to talk about this week in our latest 5 Midweek facts article, as we look to shine a light on another retired former fighter. Before go into the fact we'll quickly run over Mano's career which spanned from 1984 to 1994, and saw him fight 16 professional bouts. Amazingly those bouts lasted a combined 50 rounds, and only 2 of those 16 bouts actually went to the final bell. Win or lose Mano's bouts tended to be short and dramatic and only a single one of his contests saw round 6! He was, for all intents, a bit of a glass cannon, and for fans watching his fights were rarely dull. 1-As an amateur Ishikawa was impressive, despite only notching up an 11-2 record. He began boxing when he was in school and came in the final 8 of the 1982 Inter-High school competition. His potential was obvious and and he quickly joined the Morioka gym to begin his professional career at the age of 17. Despite his youth there was real expectations on his shoulders. 2-Sadly for Ishikawa those expectations on his shoulders saw him becoming over-confident and he ended up losing his first 2 bouts, both in 1984. Following those set backs he retired from boxing with a 0-2 record, aged just 17! 3-Surprisingly Ishikawa turned turned professional to help his mother with finances. This must have made his early retirement doubly hard. During his retirement he did manage to do a number of jobs, including being a waiter and a long distance driver. 4-Years after retiring Ishikawa had a chance meeting in the with Eiji Morioka, the chairman of the Morioka Gym, who had previously handled his professional career. That meeting lead to Ishikawa returning to professional boxing, and restarting his career in 1991, under the "Isao Mano" ring name. He completely turned his career around with 10 straight victories from 1991 to 1993, including winning the Rookie of the Year in 1992. This comeback saw him go from 0-2 to 10-2 (9) in a remarkable career turn around. 5-Mano's unbeaten streak came to an end in June 1993, when Toshikazu Suzuki stopped him in 4 rounds. Despite that loss Mano got a shot at Japanese Super Featherweight champion Kenichiro Kojo less than 3 months later and scored a major upset win over Kojo, who was enjoying his second reign as the champion. Interestingly Mano's title win came via 10th round TKO in Mano's only bout to go past 5 rounds. Sadly for Mano however his reign was a short one as his first defense saw him being stopped by Toshikazu Suzuki, meaning his title win was sandwiched between losses to Suzuki in a rather odd looking end to his career. Bonus fact - When Hinata Maruta won the Japanese Featherweight title in February 2021 he became the first fighter from the Morioka gym to win a Japanese title since Mano more than 27 years earlier! Between 2000 and 2013 Filipino fighter Rolly Lunas notched an under-rated 34-9-1 (20) record whilst becoming a multi-time OPBF champion and claiming various other belts. At his best he a solid Bantamweight contender, and did fight at world level, though is often forgotten now a days.
Although never a world champion Lunas was a genuinely notable figure on the Asian scene and the Bantamweight scene. He started his career in the Philippines, winning his first 13 bouts, but spent a good chunk of his career in Japan, fighting under the moniker "Rolly Matsushita", whilst based at the Kashimi Gym. During his 44 fight professional career Lunas scored notable wins over the likes of Malcolm Tunacao, Foijan Prawet, Rasmanudin, Jerope Mercado, Kohei Oba and Ryuichi Funai. He also shared the ring with the likes of Noriyuki Komatsum Anselmo Moreno, Hiromasa Ohashi and Chris Avalos. Today we're going to focus on Lunas as we bring you the latest in our "5 Midweek Facts" articles! 1-As an amateur Lunas claimed a 52-4 record and apparently fought in 5 national level competitions 2-During his years in Japan Lunas would be one of the chief sparring partners to Japanese icon Hozumi Hasegawa. Interestingly Mack Kurihara, who has trained Lunas, has stated that Lunas and his team were wanting to fight Hasegawa, when the "Ace of Japan" was the WBC Bantamweight champion. 3-In October 2008 Lunas got his sole world title fight, when he took on Anselmo Moreno in Panama. There is some speculation that Lunas only got a week's notice for this bout, but it seems that he got longer than that at Mack Kurihara gave an interview 3 weeks before the bout talking about the bout. Interestingly Moreno had fought in the previous September whilst Lunas fought in August, meaning that the turn around, for both men was very short. Moreno's turn around was 6 weeks whilst Lunas's was around 12 and a half weeks. 4-Lunas's cousin is Stephen Lunas, who has worked in the past as Mercito Gesta's cut man. In fact it was Stephen Lunas who helped secure Rolly's chance to make a name in the US, where he linked up with US trainer Vincent Parra. Stephen Lunas also served as part of John Riel Casimero's team in 2020. 5-Interestingly Lunas was pencilled into fight in 2015, in what would have been his first bout in well over a year, though had to pull out of the bout due to injuries. Injuries that seemingly finished his in ring career. He had been affected by injuries in the past and reportedly both of his hands were injured ahead of his bout with Moreno in 2008. Between 2003 and 2016 Japan's Akio Shibata (27-9-1, 13) amassed a credible record and was showered in gold, even if he never really made any sort of an impact on an international audience. In fact many international fans will likely only know him for one reason, being the guy that Ryota Murata made his professional debut against in 2013. A bout that saw him being stopped in 2 by Murata.
Sadly that loss, in really the only bout that international fans will have seen, over shadows what was a very successful career for Shibata. So successful in fact that he was a 3-time Japanese national champion and a 2-weight OPBF champion, and was actually a unified champion at both Light Middleweight and Middleweight. Shibata, who fought out of the Watanabe Gym, was a model professional and managed to carve out a genuinely impressive career, one that actually becomes even more impressive when you realise Shibata picked up boxing later than most and was 9-5-1 (5) after his first 15 bouts. With that out of the way let ups bring you 5 Midweek Facts and Akio Shibata and further build your knowledge about this criminally under-rated Japanese fighter. 1-Back in Junior high school Shibata was a basketball player. Stood at 6'0", around 6" taller than an average Japanese male, and with long rangy arms it is little surprise that he was a success in the sport as a youngster. He didn't even start boxing until he graduation from a vocational school. Prior to turning to boxing he had preferred team sports, including basketball, baseball and soccer. 2-Shibata is a licensed teacher and kindergarten teacher, and was working part time at a nursery early in his career. In fact he was he reportedly worked as a nursery teacher for 5 years years, from the age of 21. 3-During a 37 fight career Shibata rarely left Tokyo, in fact he very rarely fought outside of the legendary Korakun Hall. Of 37 bouts 32 took place at Korakuen Hall, two took place at the Ariake Colosseum, including his bout with Ryota Murata and the other three took place at the Arena in Odawara, the IMP Hall in Osaka and the Bunka Hall in Yokohama. Similarly almost everyone Shibata fought was a Japanese fighter, with the only exceptions being Charles Bellamy, a Japanese based American, and Michael Speed Sigarlaki, an Indonesian fighter. 4-In recent years Shibata has become involved in trainer fighters and is a major figure at the SOETE gym, where he is the main representative, the face of the company and the main trainer. Interestingly he's not the only former fighter now acting as a trainer at the gym, as former Watanabe Gym fighter Nihito Arakawa is also among the training staff there! 5-In 2019, whilst doing an interview about SOETE, Shibata revealed that he had been bullied in elementary school, and felt a connection to Hajime No Ippo, which also featured a character who had been bullied before turning to boxing. The memories of bullying also inspired him to bounce back from his famous loss to Ryota Murata, with Shibata seemingly thinking he was being bullied into retirement and had a point to prove. Bonus fact - Interestingly Shibata made a promise to himself after losing to Murata, and that was that he would retire after his next loss. Something he did following his 2016 loss to Hikaru Nishida, ending his 13 year career. Prior to that Shibata had had different rules for when he would retire. He admitted that he had planned to retire when he either had an even record, or lost in 3 a row. Only changing those rules after the Murata bout. The world of professional boxing is full of interesting characters and unusual stories, with people from different backgrounds and heritages. One such fighter is former Japanese Middleweight champion Keitoku Senrima (12-8, 7), who fought between 1979 and 1989 and fought most of his career under a fake name! In fact his real name was Ge-Dok Kim. Despite being born in Japan he was a Korean fighter, who associated with North Korea due to his heritage.
Although his career only last 20 bouts he was a pretty notable figure in the ring and was one of the more notable Japanese Middleweights of the 1980's. He has also become one of the key figures in Japanese boxing in Kobe, where he has become a popular promoter. Atlhough Senrima's record looks appalling he achieved an awful lot during his 20 bouts and turned around a 4-5 start to his professional career to win the Japanese Middleweight title and make 5 successful defenses. In fact he went from 4-5 as a professional to 11-5 before a poor run late in his career. With that little introduction out of the way, lets learn more about Senrima, as we share 5 Midweek facts about Keitoku Senrima! 1-Senrima's background is interesting, as alluded to above. He was a third generation Japanese-Korean and he was one of 4 siblings, with Senrima having 2 brothers and a sister. Notably he was always quite open about his Korean heritage, something that many Japanese-Koreans tend to hide. Interestingly "Senrima" is the name of a mythical winged horse from Chinese mythology that has been regarded as an incredibly important symbol for North Korea. 2-Before taking to boxing Senrima was originally a good basketball player. He was part of the Basketball club at the Kobe Korean Senior High School and later played in an adult team following graduation. Amazingly he was 20 when he picked up boxing and would debut as a professional aged 21! Rather notable he was around 6'0" which perhaps explains some of his success in basketball, given the average height in Japan for men in 1980 was around 5'7", he was a bit of a giant. 3-A a fighter Senrima had several names. He debuted as Keitoku Senrima, then changed his fighting name in 1984, around the time of his second bout with Shinji Tojo, changed against at the time of his third bout with Tojo and then went back to the Senrima name when he challenged Gary Hubble for the OPBF Light Heavyweight. 4-In September 1983 Senrima sparred at the Kronk Gym, sharing the ring with the legendary Tommy Hearns and Milton McCrory. Rather notably Senrima would have been the Japanese Middleweight champion at this point, whilst Hearns was the WBC Light Middleweight champion and McCrory was the WBC Welterweight champion. 5-Following his retirement Senrima set up the Senrima Kobe Gym. The Gym isn't one of biggest out there but has been a success story and was responsible for the early success of Hozumi Hasegawa, who later left to be part of the Shinsei Gym. It also helped Teiru Kinoshita get two world title fights, sadly though he lost both to Zolani Tete and Jerwin Ancajas. Last week in this series we covered Hironari Oshima, the popular Japanese Lightweight, though one thing we didn't mention was that he also had a boxing brother, Noritsugu Oshima (9-4, 8) who was also a really interesting fighter. Noritsugu lacked the success of his older brother but was also a very interesting fighter fighter to look back on.
Noritsugu, like his brother, had similar issues in his life and to become a professional but that is part of what makes his story as interesting as it is, and part of why want to shine a light on him this week. With that in mind let us bring you 5 Midweek Facts about Noritsugu Oshima 1-It's been reported that Noritsugu didn't have much of a connection with his parents, and instead looked up to Hironori as a father figure. That was despite the fact the two were pretty much the same age. That was likely why Noritsugu also ended up involved in gangs and crime, like his older brother 2-Like his older brother Noritsugu was also known as a "tattoo boxer", it was due to the tattoos he had that struggled to get a Japanese boxing license. It was reported that around 70% of his upper body was covered in tattoos, with his chest, back, shoulders and wrists covered in them. He had been in negotiations with the JPBA to get a license as a Japanese boxer, but began his career outside of Japan. 3-Interestingly Boxrec fails to include Oshima's first 3 professional bouts. They all took place in Thailand and he went 3-0 (3) in those bouts. The first of those took place on September 19th 2006, the day of the 2006 Thai coup d'état, where the Thai military ousted then Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. He reported that the "city was noisy and tanks were running in the city". 4-Prior to making his Japanese professional boxing debut Oshima twice battled against the then retired Koji Arisawa in an exhibition bout as part of a "Deep Glove" event, competing on "DEEP GLOVE 1" and "DEEP GLOVE 2". Both of these events were promoted by MMA organisation DEEP. 5-Oshima finally made his Japanese debut at the age of 32 beating Takahiro Ozawa. For the bout he had laser surgery to remove some of the tattoos and also had foundation on to cover some of what was left. Sadly given his advanced age his career was never going to be a long one and he went 6-4 (5) in Japan before his career came to an end in 2011. Before his career was over there was various TV documentary and shows covering his fight to turn professional. Following his retirement from boxing there are reports that he became a care worker. The sport of boxing is full of great stories, many of which are unknown outside of the local fanbase. Despite that the sport has long been linked to redemption and turning lives around. One great example of that was the hugely popular Hironari Oshima (21-5-1, 13), who fought between 1997 and 2005. Outside of Japan his name won't mean much at all, but in Japan he was incredibly popular and a story of a fighter who turned his life around, going from criminal activity to being someone keeping youngsters on the right track. In the ring Oshima was a tall, range fighter who really connected with fans and made for fun, entertaining fights. He began his career at the Wajima Sports Gym, who managed him to Rookie of the Year success and his first title fight, before later becoming a staple at the Cheyenne Yamamoto gym, where he later worked as a trainer. He's now retired as a boxer, but Oshima is still popular with fans and has remained connected to the sport in various ways, and is very open about what the sport means to him, essentially admitting it really saved him from a torrid life. With that small introduction out of the way let us bring you 5 Midweek Facts about Hironari Oshima! 1-Prior to becoming a boxer Oshima fell in with the wrong crowd and was a member of the Yakuza, joining the criminal organisation after graduating Junior High School. He would end up spending time imprisoned at the Odawara Boys' Institute during his days as a Yakuza member and was injured multiple times. 2-It was whilst imprisoned that Oshima was inspired to become a professional boxer, with his father, himself a former boxer, visiting him regularly. 3-Back in January there was a lot of discussion about Kazuto Ioka and the tattoo he sported on his left arm, and how it wasn't covered properly for his bout with Kosei Tanaka. Japanese boxing's issue with tattoo's isn't a new issue however and it was one that Hironari Oshima had to deal with as well, with Oshima having to remove his tattoos. To have his tattoos removed he needed to have skin grafts, to cover up tattoos on his chest and shoulders. In 2017 he explained it took 6 or 7 hours, and for 4 months afterwards he was unable to do much at all and couldn't train for 6 months following the operation. 4-In February 2000 a then 11-0 (7) Oshima challenged Japanese Lightweight champion Rick Yoshimura. The bout reportedly set the record for the most visitors to the Korakuen Hall and was such a highly anticipated bout that it was aired live on TV Tokyo during prime time. Sadly for Oshima this was one of three title bouts he had, and he came up short in all 3 of those bouts, including a 2005 loss to Norio Kimura in what was Oshima's final professional bout. For fans who haven't seen Oshima's bout with Yoshimura we've included it below. Those who believe Japanese fans are "quiet" might be surprised by the noise here! 5-Following his retirement from the ring Oshima has been a busy boy! He has worked at the Cheyenne Yamamoto gym, which was run by his former trainer Cheyenne Yamamoto, he has opened his own fitness gym, opened a store and has even been in some acting roles and released an auto-biographical book in 2016. In recent months we've spent a lot of time getting lost in Japanese domestic fights from the 1970's, 80's and 90's. One name that popped up a lot during our binging sessions was Cheyenne Yamamoto (22-8-6, 12), who fought between 1979 and 1987.
Although not a name many international fans will be aware of we did enjoy watching bouts of Yamamoto, who became a 2-time Japanese Lightweight champion during his career and was also involved in some fantastic bouts. His career came to an end following the sole stoppage loss of his career, against Iwao Otomo, which seemed to spell that his style and toughness was having an impact on his punch resistance. Yamamoto's success came down to hard work, and the fact he ended up winning 22 of his 36 professional bouts was a real surprise given he had gone 1-2-3 after his first 6 bouts and was 4-3-4 after 11 bouts. Despite that peculiar start he left his mark on professional boxing and to this day stands as just one of 7 men to reclaim the Japanese Lightweight title. With a couple of details about Yamamoto already shared, lets now take a look at 5 Midweek Facts about Cheyenne Yamamoto. 1-Yamamoto fought under his birth name, of Koji Yamamoto, until 1982 when he adopted the Cheyenne name, using it for the first time in a fight against Sincere Inoue in February 1982. 2-During the early part of his career Yamamoto was a sparring partner for former WBC Super Bantamweight champion Royal Kobayashi, with the two men both fighting out of the International Gym. Given that Yamamoto began his professional career in 1979 and Kobayashi retired in 1981 it shows just how highly International thought of the youngster. 3-After retiring from in ring competition he ran the Cheyenne Yamamoto Gym, where he served as the chairman and as a trainer, before later becoming the chairman of the Reboot Gym. 4-In 2014 there was speculation that Koki Kameda was set to transfer to the Cheyenne Yamamoto gym, following the JBC stripping various licenses from the Kameda Gym. The attempt to join the gym was essentially shot down by the JBC who put in a condition that only a gym with a history of managing world champions would be allowed to sign Kameda. Theislater saw Kameda being linked to the UNITED gym and the Kadoebi Gym, though he also failed to sign with any of those and ended up finishing his career fighting outside of Japan. Had the deal gone through with the Cheyenne Yamamoto Gym, Kameda would have been, by far, the most notable name to ever fight under the the gym's banner. 5-In the summer of 2017 Yamamoto was hospitalised following a traffic accident. He required an operation and rehabilitation following the accident. Between 1977 and 1989 Japanese fighter Noboru Godai (24-5-2, 10) was an enigmatic fighter who achieved a lot on the domestic scene, but never managed to really build on any of his major wins. Despite failing to reach his potential, reportedly due to a mixture of moodiness and a wild personality, he is certainly more than a footnote on the Japanese domestic scene and left a clear mark on the sport in Japan. In fact he continues to leave a mark on the sport despite having retired more than 30 years ago!
With Godai being someone worthy or learning more about we've focused on him this wee as we bring you 5 Midweek Facts about Noboru Godai. 1-Although best known by his fighting name of Noboru Godai the fighter himself was born Toshiyuki Tanaka. Notably he also dropped out of high school at the age of 15, and began his professional boxing career at the age of just 17, whilst fighting under his birth name. Surprisingly it wasn't until very late in his career that he adopted the Noboru Godai name. 2-In 1987 the fighter violated Japanese stimulant control laws and was arrested. Due to his behaviour he was given a suspended sentence by the court and a 6 month suspension by the Japan Boxing Commission. It was after this suspension that he finally took the Noboru Godai moniker. 3-Despite out of the ring issues Godai was the first fighter to become a 3 Weight Japanese national champion. He first won the Japanese Featherweight title, in 1982, he then claimed the Japanes Super Featherweight title in 1986 before taking the Japanese Lightweight title in 1989. Since he achieved this feat not many have actually managed to replicate his feat. Sadly however his 3 title reigns amounted to a combined 2 successful defenses. 4-Following his retirement from the sport Godai began working for a gas company, working there for several years. 5-Currently he runs the Godai Gym in Tokorozawa, Saitama Prefecture. The gym was originally left to his father to run, with his father being a former trainer, and with Godai himself only training at night time. However the gym grew and Godai himself took a more hands on role there, becoming the gym chairman. When we look back over some forgotten fighters from recent years one man that rarely gets mentioned, at all, is Filipino fighter Rev Santillan (26-7-1, 19). That's despite the fact his 15 year career ran from 1995 to 2010 and saw him really make a solid mark on the regional scene. He was never regarded as a genuine threat to a world champion, though did climb pretty high in the rankings at one point, but was very notable in the East during his prime.
Sadly whilst he is a forgotten figure among many fans he is someone certainly worthy of having some attention shone his way, so with that in mind let us bring you 5 Midweek Facts about Rev Santillan! 1-Santillan was known as the "Gentle Giant", not the most imposing of nicknames we admit, however he did stand at 5'11" and began his career at 140lbs, making him a giant at the weight. He was however, not gentle between the ropes, scoring stoppages in almost 56% of his total professional bouts. 2-On the subject of %'s exactly half of Santillan's bouts (17) took place in the Philippines, and the other half (also 17) took place in Japan. A total of 9 of his bouts took place in Korakuen Hall, with all 9 coming in his last 11 professional bouts. 3-With 34 bouts to his name it's fair to assume that Santillan might had some rematches. Amazingly however there was 7 different fighters he faces more than once! These included Motoko Sasaki, Jesus Abril, Jong Jong Pacquing and Kazuhiko Hidaka, who he fought twice, as well as Hiroshi Watanabe and Tata Regatuna, who he fought 3 times. 4-Santillan is the only man to have captured the same OPBF title 4 times. He was a 4 time OPBF Welterweight champion and he has the 26th, 28th, 30th and 33rd title reigns. Whilst there are others who have won OPBF titles 4 times, for example Yoshinori Nishizawa, no one else has had all 4 reigns in the same division. Sadly he only managed a combined 4 defenses across his 4 reigns. 5-Following his retirement Santillan went on to become a boxing trainer, and actually worked at the Shakujii Sports Boxing Gym, the same gym he fought out of late on in his in ring career. He began working as a trainer there in 2013. |
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