UNINTENDED GREATNESS
The Ring: Have you ever gotten a little too hyped up in a fight, like Inoue did against Luis Nery? KT: It happened probably only once; I was nervous before the rematch against Yabuki. There was a lot of pressure that if I lost, my career would have been basically over, so I was a little nervous. The Ring: Is the Yabuki rematch your best fight so far? KT: Yes, I was so happy, probably the happiest winning the fight. I was able to make some good adjustments against my opponent, and I think my fighting style changed there. It was a good turning point. The Ring: Do you usually watch a lot of boxing? KT: No, I don’t. I just go to the venue when my stablemates have a fight and watch it. Other than that, I only attend big events like Inoue vs. Nery. I don’t buy tickets myself. Boxing tickets are expensive. (laughs) The Ring: Who was your favorite fighter growing up? KT: I didn’t have any. I’m probably not interested in other people. (laughs) The Ring: Your father was a former Japanese middleweight and OPBF light heavyweight champion. Have you ever watched his fights? KT: I’ve never seen my father fight live. I watched the video for the first time when I was in college. The coach of my college boxing team happened to have a video of it, and he showed it to me. It was the only fight he lost. Before the fight, my father was staring at his opponent like a madman and that was shocking to me. (laughs) The Ring: Do you often talk about boxing with your father? KT: Our relationship is pretty good, but my father hasn’t said anything about my boxing career. We never really talk about boxing at home, and I don’t think there was much advice given from him after the fights either.
be ranked in the top five in Japan, so that’s when I decided to become a pro boxer. My cousin was a boat racer, and I knew the prize money is good. Boat racers have long lifespans, and the fact that they can compete even after the age of 50 seemed appealing. So I wasn’t seriously aiming to become a world champion of boxing. Although I trained hard, I didn’t really like boxing. I only did boxing as a job to become a boat racer. The Ring: When did boxing become fun? KT: As I continued to defend my world title, I gradually started to realize it was actually so much fun. I started training with Kato in Tokyo, and thanks to his guidance, my boxing knowledge increased rapidly, and along the way I started to realize how much fun it was. Boxing is so deep. There are still things I don’t know, and I’m starting to enjoy discovering new things, such as technical things and how to use my body. I like boxing more now than I used to. The Ring: You became a world champion in 2017 even though you didn’t really like boxing yet, so how did you feel when you won the title for the first time? KT: I knew I could become a world champion, so I was like, “Yay!’’ (laughs) I didn’t have that much passion for boxing yet. However, at that time, I pretty much decided that I would continue to pursue my boxing career. After becoming the world champion, I decided it was OK to give up boat racing. Rather than just liking it, I felt that boxing is suitable for me. The Ring: You are always calm, either inside or outside of the ring, but do you ever get angry? KT: I don’t get angry too often. I don’t want to waste my energy being mad. If someone makes me angry, I distance myself from that person and do something different. I don’t get attached to people.
Currently, I am using Misako Gym in Tokyo as my training location, so he doesn’t interfere in my preparation. He sometimes comes to watch my sparring but just goes home right after watching it. My father’s not exactly a “boxing father.” He’s easygoing. The Ring: About a year ago, you said you had about two more years to continue boxing. How do you feel now? KT: I feel like I can still go on for another two years. I have the drive to do it. But a year from now I might be saying “two more years” again, or it might end in one more year, so I don’t know. Anyway, I’d like to leave boxing cleanly. I don’t want to do it too long. The life is longer after retirement, and I don’t want to hurt my body. There are a lot of fighters who keep fighting past their prime, but personally I don’t want that to happen to me. I want people around me to tell me when I start to decline. I told my strength coach to let me know when I’ve passed my peak. The Ring: You’ve mentioned your desire to move up to the junior bantamweight division, but is there any chance you’ll move up to the bantamweight division? KT: I don’t think so. 118 pounds is different. It’s not so much the size, but the frame is different. I get pushed around physically, so I feel like there’s a wall there. It might be different if I think about it after I move up to 115 pounds, but since I fought at junior flyweight, I’ve always thought that there was a wall at the bantamweight. For now, I think 115 is my last weight class. The Ring: What are your retirement plans? KT: I have no idea. I don’t think I’m good at teaching, so I won’t be able to be a trainer. It’s easier to do it myself than to teach it. Well, I think I’ll take it easy for about a year. I hope I’ll eventually find something I want to do. I don’t have to force myself to find what I want to do, right? (laughs)
The Ring: If you face Kazuto Ioka, it will be a very attractive fight too, especially among Japanese fans. KT: It’s certainly appealing. First, Ioka needs to beat Fernando Martinez. Martinez is strong, but Ioka is good, and I have the impression that he always gets better in a rematch, so it’s interesting. Ioka is really good at throwing different punches, doesn’t get hit very often, and I think he’s a guy respected by boxing enthusiasts. He’s originally from the west side of Japan, where I am from too, so I used to watch his fights a lot. The Ring: According to Ring Magazine Editor-in-Chief Douglass Fischer, Premier Boxing Champions, which has ties to Martinez, is interested in staging a bout between Martinez and you, possibly on a Riyadh Season card. KT: Wow! Really? It must be amazing to be a pound-for-pound top 10 fighter. That’s why my name is being
KT: He’s a special fighter. It’s great to have a generational talent like him in this era, because he’s livening up the Japanese boxing world. We’re in different weight classes, and I don’t feel like we’re rivals or anything like that. I just think he’s a great fighter. It’s not that I’m aiming to be him, but I think there’s a huge difference in ability between him and me. The Ring: When I talk to you, I get the feeling that you don’t have any special attachment to boxing, though not in a bad way. Looking back on your career a little bit, how did you start boxing? KT: When I was looking for a high school to attend, I was told by one of them that I could be accepted if I did boxing, so I decided to give it a try. My childhood goal was becoming a boat racer, and I heard that if I would get in the top five in pro rankings, I would receive a special recommendation to be a racer. I thought I could probably
In a close call, Teraji claimed a majority decision over Carlos Canizales.
mentioned, right? I’ve seen Martinez’s highlights, and he is powerful. He seems to have pretty good stamina too. The Ring: If you are facing big-name opponents such as Bam Rodriguez, Martinez or Juan Francisco Estrada, talk of the fight taking place in the United States is likely to emerge. KT: I don’t mind if it’s America. I don’t have any particular preference. But there’s also the question of which one offers bigger money. (laughs) For the lower weight classes, it might be better- paid in Japan. The Ring: Naoya Inoue has just returned to the U.S. for his first fight in a long time, but what do you think of Inoue? How do you feel about having a fighter like him in your generation?
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