Yasuei Yakushiji v Joichiro Tatsuyoshi

Courtesy of Boxrec.com

In December 1994 Japanese boxing fans were treat to a genuinely memorable battle for WBC Bantamweight title as the popular Joichiro Tatsuyoshi (10-1-1, 8), the then interim champion challenged Yasuei Yakushiji (22-2-1, 16) for the full version of the title. The bout, the first ever "world title unification" (we use that term loosely) bout in Japan was major news and a huge event.

The back story to the bout was a tale worth remember before getting on to the bout it's self.

Tatsuyoshi had been thought of as a great in the making. He had run up an 18-1 amateur record before turning professional aged just 19. He had raced through the professional ranks winning the Japanese national title in his 4th bout and the WBC Bantamweight world title in just his 8th bout.

Although Tatsuyoshi had lost the world title in his first defense (TKO9 loss to Victor Rabanales) he had climbed back up the rankings and less than 2 years after the loss to Rabanales he had found himself in with a chance of fighting Korean Jung-Il Byun to regain the title.

Sadly for Tatsuyoshi he had been forced to pull out of a bout with Jung-Il due to a detached retina and in his place Yakushiji had been given the chance. Yakushiji went on to defeat the Korean and claim the world title why Tatsuyoshi had been left with an interim title.

By the time the two men were able to fight Yakushiji had already defended the belt twice defeating Josefino Suarez (KO10) and Jung-Il (TKO11). This was in stark contrast Tatsuyoshi who had fought just once in 17 months, stopping Suarez in 3 rounds.

Despite being the challenger, with less experience and 2 notable injuries (both eyes had suffered detached retinas) Tatsuyoshi was favoured going in.

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The bout started well with Tatsuyoshi using his feet and jabbing from his hands down stance showing fantastic movement with both his head and feet as he forced Yakushiji to throw and miss.

In the second round the action started to heat up notably with Yakushiji having much more success than he'd had in the opening round. The challenger was punished several times for having his hands down and which he had some success of his own it certainly wasn't like the opening round in which he was hardly tagged clean. In fact towards the end of the round Tatsuyoshi appeared to be staggered.

Despite being hurt in the second round Tatsuyoshi went on the front foot to start the next round and the pace went up a gear as again both guys connected solid shots on the other. Yakushiji was forced on to the ropes several times but never seemed massively worried by Tatsuyoshi's much vaunted punching power and in the centre ring it appeared that the champion was the bigger puncher.

In his corner before the fourth round Tatsuyoshi was starting to look tired and Yakushiji seemed to be able to sense it as he dropped his own work rate and became more selective in his shots it didn't take long however for both men to pick up the pace once again. The round however was highlighted by Tatsuyoshi throwing the champion to the canvas in the middle section of the round before both men traded bombs in in the later part of the round.

Despite the high pace both men had been fighting at they continued the same grueling action through the middle rounds with both fighters landing hard shots. The only real change in the action was that the fight was starting to become more physical and fought at a closer range. This closer range fight certainly suited the champion with his shorter arms and crisper inside shots but the action was back and forth.

The to-and-fro action in the middle of the bout showed both men's desire to win and it was rare that a second went by with out a punch thrown. Despite the excellent action by both men it often seemed that Yakushiji was doing enough to take the rounds as he started to close left eye Tatsuyoshi's and score repeatedly with his faster, crisper shots.

Going in to the final third of the bout Tatsuyoshi knew he'd have to step it up and fight through the swelling that was was slowly taking over the left side of his face and that's exactly what he did. Although the swelling appeared to be growing round after round Tatsuyoshi seemed to ignore it and came forward trying to turn the fight in his favour. It was now Yakushiji being forced to use his legs and jab to maintain the distance and control that he wanted as Tatsuyoshi started to stalk him looking for big shots, several which he landed just before the bell to end round 10.

Through the championship rounds Tatsuyoshi suddenly seemed the much fresher man despite it being obvious that both men were tired from the frantic action they'd been engaged in. The tiredness of both men was evident with a little over a minute of round eleven left as both men fell to the canvas together.

Despite both men being swollen and hurting the final round was fought at a pace that would put many other bouts to shame. Tatsuyoshi, knowing he needed a stoppage really went looking for the KO and landed some monster looking right hands though could never drop Yakushiji who fired back when he needed to, to give some really eye catching trading sequences.

At the end of the bout only one man really celebrated and that was Yakushiji who seemed confident he had done enough, Tatsuyoshi however looked dejected, disfigured and like a man who knew he had given his all but still come up short.

As the scores were announced the crowd let out there cheers when Yakushiji's name was announced showing the home support they were giving him and their agreement with the majority decision in his favour and Tatsuyoshi himself held up Yakushiji in a fantastic display of sportsmanship.

The victory had moved Yakushiji to 23-2-1 (16) whilst Tatsuyoshi had fallen to 10-2-1 (8). Rather impressively Ring Magazine rated Yakushiji at #2 in the world following the victory (behind only Orlando Canizales).

Fact Box-
Venue- Rainbow Hall, Nagoya, Japan
Date- December 4th 1994

Yasuei Yakushiji (22-2-1, 16)
3rd Defence of WBC Bantamweight title
v
Joichiro Tatsuyoshi (10-1-1, 8)
WBC "interim" Bantamweight champion

Referee- Richard Steele
Judges-
Carol Castellano (112-116)
Nobuaki Uratani (114-115)
Ken Morita (114-114)

Outcome- Yakushiji Majority Decision

Awards-

The video below, thanks to BrotherJR76 shows the final round as well as the decision and celebration

Following the bout Yakushiji would fight just twice more, defending his title successfully against Cuauhtemoc Gomez (MD12) before losing to Wayne McCullough (SD12) and retiring. His final record was 24-3-1 (16)

For Tatsuyoshi his career had plenty more miles on the clock and he'd fight 15 times more. Amongst those 15 bouts were 7 world title bouts, though unfortunately he'd lose 4 of those (losing to both Daniel Zaragoza and Veeraphol Sahaprom twice).

Amongst the wins Tatsuyoshi had were a 7th round TKO victory over Sirimongkol Singmanasak to reclaim the WBC Bantamweight title and defenses over Jose Rafael Sosa (UD12) and the then unbeaten Paulie Ayala (TD6).

Tatsuyoshi would retire after suffering back-to-back loses to Sahaprom before making a comeback in 2002. Following a bout in 2003 Tatsuyoshi would inactive for more than 5 years before he resurfaced in Thailand going 1-1. He hasn't fought since 2009 and many are hoping that's the end of his career with a record of 20-7-1 (14).