FIGHTLINE BY DOUG FISCHER
Fights only last a matter of minutes, but fighters are connected to each other by chains that extend for decades – even centuries – into the past. Their bond is a lineage built face-to-face: A young prospect struggles with the skills of an aging veteran whose nose was once broken by a fighter now enshrined in the International Boxing Hall of Fame. In that way, muscle memory carries knowledge and boxers face a piece of everyone their opponent has fought, everyone those people fought, and so on. This month we’re linking one of Japan’s top promoters – Hideyuki Ohashi – to the nation’s greatest boxer – Naoya Inoue. Ohashi is best known as Inoue’s promoter in Japan, but the
PORPAOIN MD 12 OHASHI FEBRUARY 10, 1993
60-year-old native of Yokohama got his start in boxing as a fighter. A fan favorite at the famous Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, where the majority of his 24 pro bouts took place, he quickly developed into a world-class strawweight and junior flyweight during the 1980s. Although formidable enough to win two 105-pound world titles, Ohashi did not possess the elite talent the star of his gym and promotional company is gifted with. However, he did rumble with two bona fide greats – Jung Koo Chang and Ricardo Lopez. The Korean legend stopped Ohashi in five rounds in 1986 (the Japanese slugger’s seventh pro bout) and in eight rounds two years later in WBC 108-pound title defenses. The Mexican maestro stopped Ohashi in five rounds in 1990, lifting the WBC 105-pound title to kick off his record-setting strawweight reign.
LANDAETA UD 12 PORPAOIN JANUARY 31, 2004
Ohashi retired in 1993, opened his own gym and began promoting in 2001. Three-division titleholder Akira Yaegashi and former 115-pound beltholder Katsushige Kawashima are among the standouts Ohashi developed before he brought up the Inoue brothers – Naoya and Takuma – and former WBO bantamweight titlist Yoshiki Takei. Since his pro debut 13 years ago, Inoue (31-0, 27 KOs) has evolved from the wunderkind of Japanese boxing to the most decorated boxer the nation has ever produced. The 32-year-old boxer-puncher won world titles at junior flyweight (in his sixth pro bout) and junior bantamweight (eighth pro bout) before earning undisputed champion status at bantamweight and junior featherweight, where he currently reigns. Along the way, “The Monster” defeated the best of four divisions, including Ryoichi Taguchi, Omar Narvaez, Juan Carlos Payano, Emmanuel Rodriguez, Nonito Donaire (twice), Jason Moloney, Paul Butler, Stephen Fulton, Marlon Tapales, Luis Nery and Murodjon Akhmadaliev. He is the first Japanese boxer to star solo on a Ring Magazine cover and the first to reach the top of The Ring’s pound-for- pound rankings. The superstar is set to headline his first event in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on December 27 when he defends his 122-pound belts against Alan Picasso. Fellow pound-for-pound-ranked countryman Junto Nakatani makes his junior featherweight debut in the co-featured bout. If both win, as expected, the two could clash in the biggest all-Japanese showdown ever in 2026, and Ohashi would be the lead promoter. There are multiple paths linking the Japanese warriors, whose primes are separated by 35 years, but we found this five- boxer Fightline. Can you find a faster route? If so, or if you have another Fightline you’d like to submit, send it to comeoutwriting@gmail.com. And remember, some fighters can be linked on paper by jumping forward and backward in time, but to be a true lineage, the fights must come in chronological order.
ROJAS MD 12 LANDAETA JANUARY 30, 2010
SANCHEZ UD 8 ROSAS OCTOBER 29, 2011
SANCHEZ MD 12 TAPALES FEBRUARY 23, 2013
INOUE KO 10 TAPALES DECEMBER 26, 2023
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