is a former professional boxer and former WBA and lineal super featherweight champion. He is one of the few Japanese boxers to have won the world title fighting outside Japan.
Biography Uehara was born in Naha, Okinawa. He won the inter-high school boxing tournament in his senior year in high school, and moved on to Nihon University, where he won amateur titles in two weight classes, compiling a distinguished amateur record of 117–8 (87RSC). He was already touted as the next Japanese world champion when he announced his decision to turn professional.
Uehara made his debut on November 14, 1972, with a fourth-round knockout in Honolulu, Hawaii. He suffered his first professional loss in his second fight. He returned to Japan after five fights in the United States.
He won nine fights in a row after returning to Japan, including seven victories by knockout. Uehara returned to the United States in August, 1974 to challenge WBA super featherweight champion Ben Villaflor, but lost by second-round knockout.
Uehara won the Japanese super featherweight title on July 21, 1971, knocking out his opponent in the first round. He defended the title a total of ten times, a considerable number of defenses for a regional title.
Uehara was once again ranked as the number one WBA super featherweight challenger in 1980, and challenged Samuel Serrano for the Lineal and WBA super featherweight titles on the undercard of Thomas Hearns' win over José Cuevas in Detroit. Uehara was losing on all three judges' scorecards before connecting with a right hook to knock out the defending champion in the sixth round. Uehara's victory was named The Ring's 1980 upset of the year.
Uehara defended his title in November 1980, before meeting Serrano for the second time in April 1981. He lost the rematch by unanimous decision, and announced his retirement shortly afterwards. His record was 27-5-0 (21KOs).
Professional boxing record
ResultRecordOpponentTypeRound, timeDateLocationNotes32Loss27–5Samuel SerranoUD15Apr 9, 198131Win27–4Leonel HernandezSD15Nov 20, 198030Win26–4Samuel SerranoKO6 (15), Aug 2, 198029Win25–4Blazer OkuboKO5 (10), Mar 18, 198028Win24–4Kojiro SasakiKO10 (10), Nov 10, 197927Win23–4Yoshitaka IkeharaPTS10Jul 12, 197926Win22–4Yasuhide TakahashiKO6 (10)Feb 27, 197925Win21–4Hideyoshi HorinagaKO2 (10), Nov 25, 197824Win20–4Tatsuya MoriyasuKO2 (10)Aug 9, 197823Win19–4Ryu FukitaKO7 (10), Apr 28, 197822Win18–4Tadashi AkiyamaRTD7 (10), Dec 4, 197721Win17–4Suketoshi MaruyamaKO6 (10)Sep 9, 197720Win16–4Shoji OkanoKO2 (10), May 29, 197719Loss15–4Joe LimPTS10Nov 25, 197618Win15–3Masa ItoPTS10Jul 29, 197617Loss14–3Masa ItoPTS10Apr 23, 197616Win14–2Susumu OkabeKO8 (10), Dec 9, 197515Win13–2Masa ItoKO5 (10), Oct 19, 197514Win12–2Susumu OkabeKO1 (10), Jul 21, 197513Win11–2Freddie MensahPTS10Nov 30, 197412Loss10–2Ben VillaflorKO2 (15), Aug 24, 197411Win10–1Masaharu TsuchiyaKO1 (10)May 28, 197410Win9–1Kae Shik YuhKO6 (12)Mar 26, 19749Win8–1Ricardo ArredondoUD10Nov 29, 19738Win7–1Tokikazu IchikawaKO3 (10)Oct 28, 19737Win6–1Ricky SawaKO6 (10)Aug 4, 19736Win5–1Noriaki YoshimuraKO5 (10)Jun 14, 19735Win4–1Danny CamposTKO6 (8)Mar 12, 19734Win3–1Rogelio TulunghariTKO1 (6)Feb 13, 19733Win2–1Shichiro SaitoPTS6Dec 12, 19722Loss1–1Mar YuzonPTS6Nov 21, 19721Win1–0Sam FraticelliTKO4 (6)Nov 14, 1972
See also Lineal championship Boxing in Japan List of Japanese boxing world champions List of world super-featherweight boxing champions
References
External links
Yasutsune Uehara - CBZ Profile