Worst Week in Japanese Boxing History

By Joe Koizumi
Photos by Naoki Fukuda

It might be a nightmare that we had such a worst week when Daigo Higa forfeited his WBC flyweight belt on the scale and had his perfect mark of 15-0, 15 KOs blemished by Cristofer Rosales via TKO defeat in an overweight bout last Sunday, and IBF 130-pound champ Kenichi Ogawa was stripped of his belt last Thursday because he had tested positive for synthetic testosterone with his victory over Tevin Farmer on points last December reversed to a no contest.

Higa’s overweight scandal and Ogawa’s forfeiture of the world championship due to a doping test failure were each the very first in Japanese boxing history. We deeply sympathize with their hard luck, but the regulations should be duly severe to the offenders as the Japan Boxing Commission (JBC) had indefinitely suspended the overweight ex-champ Luis Nery in Japan.

On Monday (April 16), Japanese welterweight champ Toshio Arikawa (15-5, 13 KOs), 146.75, also had a nightmare as he was badly dethroned top contender, hard-punching Ryota Yada (16-4, 13 KOs), 146, by a shocking TKO defeat at 0:58 of the eighth in Tokyo, Japan. Yada, a very muscular puncher, caught the champ with a devastating left hook following a solid right and had him on the deck with a thud. Though Arikawa barely stood up to resume fighting, Yada quickly swarmed over the damaged champ to prompt the referee Fukuchi to call a well-received stoppage.

On Tuesday (April 17), unbeaten OPBF minimumweight champ Tsubasa Koura (13-0, 9 KOs), 105, came off the canvas in the opening session, was losing on points (all 38-37 in favor of the challenger after the fourth) but caught up with Norihito Tanaka (16-7, 9 KOs), 105, to halt him at 2:38 of the fifth round in Tokyo, Japan. Koura, who barely kept his regional belt, revealed his less experience and less matured composure despite his come-from-behind victory.

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