Hiroshi Kawashima ( ja, 川島郭志; born March 27, 1970) is a former professional boxer. He defended the

WBC WBC may stand for: Business *Westinghouse Broadcasting Company, a former large India broadcaster now folded into CBS *Westpac (New Delhi Exchange code: WBC), a multinational Financial services company *Wholesale Broadband Connect, BT Wholesale's ...

super flyweight Super flyweight, also referred to as junior bantamweight, is a boxing weight classes, weight class in professional boxing, contested from and up to . History The first title match in this division was in 1980, when the World Boxing Council respond ...

title six times.

Childhood and early career

Kawashima began boxing from an early age under the guidance of his father. His older brother,

Shinobu Kawashima is a Japanese verb meaning or . It is a Japanese given name used by either sex. Shinobu is also the Lemma (morphology), dictionary form of ''shinobi'' which can be combined with ''mono'' (者) to make ''shinobi no mono'' (忍びの者), an alt ...

, also became a professional boxer, and would later challenge the

IBF The International Boxing Federation (IBF) is one of four major organizations recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) which sanctions professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing Counci ...

flyweight title. Kawashima won the national high school boxing tournament in his senior year, defeating future world champion Katsuya Onizuka in the semi-finals. He moved to

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

after graduating from high school, and made his professional debut in August, 1988.

Professional career

Kawashima did not make an ideal start to his career, recording two knockout losses in his first six professional fights. These losses convinced him to improve his defensive skills to cover up for his weak chin, and he became one of the most elusive Japanese boxers ever. He broke his left hand in January 1991 which put him into inactivity for over a year, but he won the Japanese

title in July 1992 which he defended three times before vacating. On May 4, 1994, Kawashima challenged

and lineal

champion

Jose Luis Bueno Jose is the English transliteration of the Hebrew and Aramaic name ''Yose'', which is etymologically linked to ''Yosef'' or Joseph. The name was popular during the Mishnaic and Talmudic periods. * Jose ben Abin * Jose ben Akabya *Jose the Galile ...

, and won by 12 round unanimous decision to become the new world champion. He defeated future

champion

Carlos Gabriel Salazar Carlos Gabriel Salazar (born 5 September 1964) is an Argentine former professional boxer who competed from 1985 to 1998. He is a world champion in two weight classes, having held the IBF super flyweight title from 1995 to 1996, and the WBO fl ...

in his first defense, and went on to defend his title a total six times. On February 20, 1997, he faced

Gerry Penalosa Gerry is both a surname and a masculine or feminine given name. As a given name, it is often a short form (hypocorism) of Gerard, Gerald or Geraldine. Notable people with the name include: Surname *Elbridge Gerry (1744–1814), fifth US vice presi ...

for his seventh defense, and lost by 12-round split decision. He was forced into retirement after this fight when doctors discovered he had suffered a torn retina. His record was 20-3-1 (14KOs). Kawashima was overshadowed by the popularity of other Japanese fighters such as Katsuya Onizuka and

Joichiro Tatsuyoshi is a former World Boxing Council (WBC) world bantamweight champion from Kurashiki, Okayama, Japan. His record is 20–7–1 (14 KOs). He is popular for his fight style and unique personality, and has appeared in several television variety shows ...

, but conquered his weaknesses to put together a solid professional career.

After retirement

He has frequently appeared as a boxing commentator, after retiring, and in 2005, he founded his own boxing gym in

Ōta, Tokyo is a Special wards of Tokyo, special ward located in Tokyo, Tokyo Metropolis, Japan. In English, it is often called Ōta City. , the ward has an estimated population of 716,413, with 379,199 households and a population density of 12,048.65 per ...

References

External links

*
Kawashima Boxing Gym profile (Japanese)

, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Kawashima, Hiroshi 1970 births Living people World Boxing Council champions World super-flyweight boxing champions Japanese male boxers

Childhood and early career

Professional career

After retirement

See also

References

External links