By Joe Koizumi
Japan is all Inoue. The winner takes all, and the winner is “Monster” Naoya Inoue, former undisputed world bantamweight champion, who was unanimously named Japan’s Boxer of the Year by Sports Writers Club and boxing media on Wednesday. Naoya is given the most prestigious award for the record-breaking sixth time in five consecutive years, surpassing five-time winners and national heroes Yoshio Shirai (Japan’s first world champion in 1952) and Yoko Gushiken (who kept his WBA 108-pound belt no less than thirteen times).
Other award recipients are as follows:
Technique award: WBC, WBA 108-pound champion Kenshiro Teraji
Valuable victory award: former WBO flyweight titlist Junto Nakatani
Effort award and Fighting Spirit award: both to Japanese featherweight ruler Reiya Abe
Rookie citation: OPBF super bantam champ Yoshiki Takei
Fight of the Year: WBA, IBF world middleweight unification bout between Gennady Golovkin and Ryota Murata
Best trainer award: Kenta Kato (trainer handling Kenshiro Teraji)
Female boxer of the Year: newly crowned WBO junior bantamweight champion Mizuki Hiruta
The award ceremony will take place at the Tokyo Dome Hotel on February 22.
Japanese boxing had like a banner year. Off the top of my head, there was GGG – Murata in a unification in Japan. Inoue fought two unifications and ended up undisputed in Japan. You had Teraji and Kyoguchi finally unifying in Japan and Ioka and Franco fought a unification there as well. Then you had Fujioka – Marlen Esparza in a unification and you still have three reigning female champions and one of them, Hiruta, might be a star.
I couldn’t agree more. Boxing in Japan is a class act because virtually all of their fighters and their corners are gracious and respectful. I hope this aspect of the Japanese culture is never lost.
Well if the globalists have their way that’s exactly what will happen. Honor and respect doesn’t fit into their agenda. I’m hoping time honored traditions of Japanese culture never go away either. It’s such a great country and culture.
And well deserved!
No-brainer for Japan fighter of the year.
Too small too small.
That’s what all the ladies say to you:-)
He should be boxer of the year world wide.
He is also the undisputed number one pound for pound fighter in the world. Only casuals think otherwise.