The history of boxing in Japan began in 1854 when Matthew Perry landed at Shimoda, Shizuoka soon after the Convention of Kanagawa. At that time, American sailors often engaged in sparring matches on board their ships, with their fists wrapped in thin leather. It was the first example of boxing conveyed to Japan. In addition, an ōzeki-ranked sumo wrestler named Koyanagi was summoned by the shogunate, and ordered to fight a boxer and a wrestler from the United States. There were three fought matches, using different martial arts styles, before Perry and other spectators. Koyanagi reportedly won.
History The first exhibition match named was held in Tsukiji, Tokyo in 1887. The first boxing gym was established in Ishikawachō, Yokohama, Kanagawa by and in 1896. After the first tutorial book, was issued in 1900, followed shortly by was opened in Mikage, Kobe by Kenji Kanō in 1909.
After learning boxing in San Francisco, California, since 1906, established in Shimomeguro, Meguro, Tokyo, on December 25, 1921. from Rikkyo University began boxing under Watanabe's management. Ogino in the junior featherweight and in the featherweight were recognized as the first Japanese champions by Nippon Kentō Club in 1922.
In the first Japanese title matches for professional boxers held in April 1924, Fuji Okamoto in the flyweight division and Kintarō Usuda in the lightweight division became titleholders. There was no clear distinction between amateur and professional around that time.
Inauguration of Federation Simultaneously with whose president was Yūjirō Watanabe, the was established in July 1926. The first Japanese championships for amateur boxers was held by Kenji Kanō's in 1927. Fuji Okamoto in the bantamweight division and Kintarō Usuda in the welterweight division participated in the 1928 Summer Olympics.
was founded in February 1931 in order to perform the establishment of championships and the development of professional boxers, repeated division and dissolution to become the current Japan Pro Boxing Association (JPBA). from Waseda University gained popularity and played an active part in those days. Although Japan's boxing was interrupted by the Pacific War, the first Japanese championships after the war was held in 1947.
World title match Then the Japan Boxing Commission (JBC), virtually the only governing body of Japan's professional boxing, was founded in order to prepare Yoshio Shirai's world title match. Its establishment was presented at the Tokyo Kaikan on April 21, 1952. from Waseda University who was the founding president of Teiken Boxing Gym and the president of the Korakuen Stadium, was elected as its first commissioner.
Shirai defeated lineal champion Dado Marino via a unanimous decision in the flyweight division on May 19 of that year, while being watched by 45,000 spectators at the Korakuen Stadium, to become the Japan's first world champion.
WBA and WBC The JBC joined the NBA (the current WBA) on January 7, 1954. They also joined the WBC since the rematch of Johnny Famechon vs. Fighting Harada on May 9, 1970.
Boxing Magazine
In June 1956, Boxing Magazine, the Japan's oldest surviving boxing journal, was launched by the Baseball Magazine Company. Currently there is only one other monthly boxing journal in Japan, called Boxing Beat. This has been renamed twice from World Boxing since 1968.
Pro-Am joint training
Traditionally, the different bodies of amateur and professional boxers had had no exchanges. However, they decided in 2011 to cooperate with each other, beginning with joint training.
From 2011 through 2012, the middleweight boxers had record-breaking performances both in amateur and professional boxing. Nobuhiro Ishida knocked out the previously undefeated James Kirkland at the MGM Grand Las Vegas to be awarded The Ring Upset of the Year. Ryōta Murata secured the silver medal in the World Amateur Boxing Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan to qualify for the 2012 Summer Olympics. Tadashi Yuba won his fifth Japanese title in four different weight divisions to be a quadruple champion. All those are the first records for Japan. In August 2013, Yuba picked up the Japanese super welterweight title to be a quintuple champion.
Television Most of the world championship fights have been televised mainly on Nittere (NTV), TBS, Fuji TV, and TV Tokyo. Currently, these programs can be legally watched outside Japan via KeyHoleTV. In addition, pay-TV channels such as WOWOW and sky-A sports+ have provided boxing programs. Although Fuji TV had been withdrawn from boxing except for the late-night show since Yūji Watanabe lost to Genaro Hernández in 1992, they resumed a live boxing program in prime time from April 2013.
Amateur boxing
Summer Olympics The Summer Olympics medalists are: Name Game Medal Weight Class Kiyoshi Tanabe 1960 Rome Flyweight Takao Sakurai 1964 Tokyo Bantamweight Eiji Morioka 1968 Mexico Bantamweight Satoshi Shimizu 2012 London Bantamweight Ryōta Murata 2012 London Middleweight Ryomei Tanaka 2020 Tokyo Flyweight Tsukimi Namiki 2020 Tokyo Flyweight Sena Irie 2020 Tokyo Featherweight
World Championships The World Championships medalists are: Name Game Medal Weight Class 1978 Belgrade Flyweight Masatsugu Kawachi 2007 Chicago Light welterweight Ryōta Murata 2011 Baku Middleweight
Professional boxing
In Japan, every professional boxer must contract with a manager under the JBC rules, and is required to belong to a boxing gym which has exclusive management rights for boxers as a member of each regional subsidiary body of Japan Pro Boxing Association under the Japan's conventional gym system. Two professional boxers belonging to the same gym have not been allowed to fight against each other unless one of them transfers to other gym, because it might disrupt the gym system. However, it is often quite difficult for boxers to transfer between the gyms due to the matters on transfer fees, match fees and so on.
The JBC set up the Japanese heavyweight title once in 1957, but that division did not last long because there were few heavyweight boxers in Japan at that time. Therefore, they have recognized the titles and ratings only in thirteen weight divisions from minimumweight to middleweight for over fifty years. They added four weight divisions i.e. super middleweight, light heavyweight, cruiserweight and heavyweight, from September 2009. Kyōtarō Fujimoto was crowned the heavyweight champion in July 2013.
Tournaments
Currently, Japan has two major annual tournaments. One is the Tournament which came to be known by the popular anime/manga series Hajime no Ippo, and the other is the Japanese Title Elimination Tournament nicknamed , which is competed by "class A boxers" who have acquired a "class A license" to fight in eight or more round bouts, and whose winners would be recognized as the next mandatory challengers against each divisional Japanese champion in the annual mandatory bout series Champion Carnival. In addition to those, there are several other tournaments, such as Raging Battle (renamed from B:Tight!).
Boxing today As of Feb 2022, Japan produced 85 male world champions and 23 female world champions. When Yōta Satō won the world title to be the twelfth world champion managed by Kyoei Boxing Gym in March 2012, Japan had had nine world champions at the same time including an "emeritus champion" and a "champion in recess". Although nine boxers except non-Japanese nationals and females were crowned world champions across the sea, it is in contrast to the status of boxing in the Philippines where 31 of 40 world champions won the title abroad as of April 2016. Katsunari Takayama fighting out of the ALA Boxing Gym of Cebu City has won the IBF title in 2013, after resigning his JBC license in 2009 in order to compete for the IBF or the WBO title outside Japan.
+ Japanese nationals who won world titles outside of the country (male) Year Champion Weight Class Location Result 1968 Shōzo Saijō Featherweight Los Angeles, California, United States Won by UD 1970 Kuniaki Shibata Featherweight Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico Won by RTD 1973 Kuniaki Shibata Junior lightweight Honolulu, Hawaii, United States Won by UD 1980 Shōji Oguma Flyweight Seoul, South Korea Won by KO 1980 Yasutsune Uehara Junior lightweight Detroit, Michigan, United States Won by KO 1981 Tadashi Mihara Junior middleweight Rochester, New York, United States Won by MD 1992 Akinobu Hiranaka Junior welterweight Mexico City, Federal District, Mexico Won by TKO 2013 Katsunari Takayama Mini flyweight Guasave, Sinaloa, Mexico Won by UD 2013 Kōki Etō Flyweight Bangkok, Thailand Won by UD 2013 Tomoki Kameda Bantamweight Cebu City, Philippines Won by UD
Japan's male world champions rarely risk their titles outside of their country. Apart from non-Japanese nationals, the thirteen champions did it, and the only four among them successfully defended their titles. That is because Japan's professional boxing has given priority to holding the fights in their own country to get paid television broadcast rights fees. Consequently, Japan's champions still remain internationally unrecognized. The broadcast rights fees have decreased under the economic downturn.
+ Japanese nationals' world title defenses outside of the country (male) Year Champion Weight Class Location Result 1963 Fighting Harada Flyweight Bangkok, Thailand Lost by MD 1964 Hiroyuki Ebihara Flyweight Bangkok, Thailand Lost by SD 1973 Kuniaki Shibata Junior lightweight Honolulu, Hawaii, United States Lost by KO 1976 Guts Ishimatsu Lightweight Bayamón, Puerto Rico Lost by UD 1976 Royal Kobayashi Junior featherweight Seoul, South Korea Lost by MD 1985 Jirō Watanabe Junior bantamweight Daegu, South Korea Retained by TKO 2009 Toshiaki Nishioka Super bantamweight Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico Retained by TKO 2010 Nobuhiro Ishida Super welterweight Tepic, Nayarit, Mexico Lost by SD 2011 Akifumi Shimoda Super bantamweight Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States Lost by KO 2011 Toshiaki Nishioka Super bantamweight Las Vegas, Nevada, United States Retained by UD 2013 Yōta Satō Super flyweight Sisaket, Thailand Lost by TKO 2013 Takashi Miura Super featherweight Cancun, Mexico Retained by UD 2013 Kōki Kameda Bantamweight Jeju Province, South Korea Retained by SD 2013 Kōki Etō Flyweight Chonburi, Thailand Lost by TKO
Recognition Issues
Japanese boxers have very low recognition in the United States, as cable networks are generally unconcerned with the lower weight classes to which most of the Japanese boxers belong. In April 2012, The Ring'''s Doug Fischer outlined the following three basic conditions that are required for Japan's boxing in order to earn international recognition:
The fight between the WBC's Kazuto Ioka and the WBA's Akira Yaegashi in June 2012 was the first-ever world title unification match for Japan's world champions. The president of Japan Pro Boxing Association Hideyuki Ohashi mentioned that it could be a healthy sign for the future of Japan's boxing. Prior to that, there have been two attempts to unify the world titles. However, in the fight between the WBA's Jirō Watanabe and the WBC's Payao Poontarat, Watanabe was stripped of his WBA title before the fight since he participated in that bout under the WBC rules without being sanctioned by the WBA. The chairman of the WBA's championship committee Elias Cordova had warned on the day of the fight stating that "The minute he steps into the ring Watanabe will be stripped of his title." In the fight between the WBC's Hozumi Hasegawa and the WBO's Fernando Montiel, Montiel's WBO title was not at stake because the JBC had recognized only the WBA, WBC and its co-founder OPBF as legitimate governing organizations sanctioning championship bouts and had not allowed their boxers to fight for the other organizations' titles.
WBO and IBF