is a former professional boxer who fought in the bantamweight division. He successfully defended the WBC bantamweight title four times during his career.
Biography Yakushiji began boxing under influence of his father, who was an amateur boxer. He advanced to the semi-finals in the 1986 Inter-high school tournament, and joined the Matsuda boxing gym in 1987, after graduating from high school. He made his professional debut in July of that year.
He made a poor showing early on, winning only 3 of the first 6 fights of his professional career. Even his own trainer doubted that he would win the Japanese title, let alone a world title at this point.
In 1989, he was arrested for speeding on a motorcycle with some of his high school friends, and received a 6-month suspension from the Japanese Boxing Commission. He had to travel to Singapore to continue his training during this period.
In June, 1990, he won a bout by 10-round KO, but his opponent died of injuries several days later. Yakushiji seriously contemplated retirement, but decided to continue his career. He traveled to Los Angeles, and met Japanese-American trainer Mack Kurihara, who greatly increased Yakushiji's skills in the ring. Yakushiji won the Japanese bantamweight title in June, 1991, and defended it once in December before returning it.
On December 23, 1993, Yakushiji got his first shot at the world title, against Jung-Il Byun of South Korea. Yakushiji was actually a substitute for Joichiro Tatsuyoshi, who had sustained a detached left retina, and had backed out of the title match. Yakushiji won by 12 round split decision, winning the WBC bantamweight title. He defended the title once by a 10-round KO win, and faced Byun again in July, 1994, winning again by 11-round TKO after putting Byun down to the canvas five times.
Joichiro Tatsuyoshi had recovered from his injury to win the WBC bantamweight interim title, and after much negotiating and squabbling between the two teams, it was decided that Yakushiji and Tatsuyoshi would face off in a unification match on December 4, 1994, in the Nagoya Rainbow Hall. This was the first ever unification match between two Japanese fighters, and Tatsuyoshi's immense popularity gave the fight much media hype.
Yakushiji was the more accomplished fighter, having defended the bantamweight title twice, and a better record, (22-2-1, as opposed to Tatsuyoshi, who was 10-1-1) but came into the fight as an underdog. Yakushiji landed many short, accurate punches, using his superior speed to counter Tatsuyoshi's wild combinations. Neither fighter went down in 12 rounds, and Yakushiji won by a close 2-0 decision. It was later revealed that Tatsuyoshi had broken his left hand in the 1st round of this fight.
Yakushiji defended his bantamweight title for the fourth time in April, 1995, but lost to Wayne McCullough by split decision to lose his title. He announced his retirement shortly afterwards. His final record was 24-3-1 (16KOs), and he ended his career at the age of 27, without suffering a single knockdown in his 28 professional fights.
Post-retirement Yakushiji currently works as an actor and boxing commentator. He has starred in several movies and plays, along with various appearances on television and radio. He is known to be an avid fan of pachinko, and frequently appears on pachinko related television shows. In April, 2007, he opened the Yakushiji Boxing Gym in his hometown, Nagoya.
Professional boxing record
ResultRecordOpponentTypeRoundDateAgeLocationNotes28Loss Wayne McCulloughSD12Jul 30, 1995 27Win24–2–1 Cuauhtemoc GomezMD12Apr 2, 1995 26Win23–2–1 Joichiro TatsuyoshiMD12Dec 4, 1994 25Win22–2–1 Byun Jung-ilTKO11 (12)Jul 31, 1994 24Win21–2–1 Josefino SuarezKO10 (12)Apr 16, 1994 23Win20–2–1 Byun Jung-ilSD12Dec 23, 1993 22Win19–2–1 Suksawat TorboonlertPTS10Jul 11, 1993 21Win18–2–1 Francisco PeraltaKO6 (10)Feb 28, 1993 20Win17–2–1 Ruben De La CruzKO1 (10)Nov 3, 1992 19Win16–2–1 Jung Min SuhKO5 (?)Jun 21, 1992 18Win15–2–1 Ricarte CainielaUD10Mar 15, 1992 17Win14–2–1 Yukio NakataniKO1 (10)Dec 1, 1991 16Win13–2–1 Rey PacionesPTS10Sep 23, 1991 15Win12–2–1 Keiichi OzakiTKO9 (10)Jun 30, 1991 14Win11–2–1 Speedy KikuchiKO9 (10)Feb 24, 1991 13Win10–2–1 Kazuma SaekiKO1 (10)Oct 17, 1990 12Win9–2–1 Jun YonesakaKO10 (10)Jun 14, 1990 11Win8–2–1 Somboonyod SingsamangKO9 (?)Mar 4, 1990 10Win7–2–1 Sakdisamuth SingsamangKO5 (?)Nov 25, 1989 9Win6–2–1 John MatienzaKO6 (?)Aug 26, 1989 8Win5–2–1 Yoshihiro IchiyanagiKO1 (?)Jan 24, 1989 7Win4–2–1 Kazuto KurahachiKO2 (?)Nov 21, 1988 6Draw3–2–1 Phantom OzawaPTS8Sep 4, 1988 5Win3–2 Jun TakadaPTS6Jun 26, 1988 4Loss2–2 Shigeru OkabeSD6May 16, 1988 3Loss2–1 Mitsuo KawashimaPTS6Nov 23, 1987 2Win2–0 Teruaki SatoKO2 (?)Oct 27, 1987 1Win1–0 Hiroyuki MurayamaPTS4Aug 10, 1987
See also List of WBC world champions List of bantamweight boxing champions Joichiro Tatsuyoshi List of Japanese boxing world champions Boxing in Japan
References
External links Yasuei Yakushiji's career record