is a Japanese

professional boxer Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional bouts are supervised by a regulatory autho ...

. He is a five-time mini-flyweight world champion, having held the WBC title in 2005, the IBF title twice between 2013 and 2015, and the

WBO The World Boxing Organization (WBO) is an organization which sanctions professional boxing bouts. It is recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) as one of the four major world championship groups, alongside the World Boxing ...

title twice between 2014 and 2017. He retired as a professional in 2017, as WBO world champion, to focus on participation in the

2020 Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

, but returned in 2020 after failing to qualify.

Early life

Takayama weighed about 60 kg at the age of twelve. He started playing rugby and athletics, but did not last long. It was in summer in the second grade of junior high school that his friend brought him to a boxing gym. When he got started on the punching bag, despite he said he is going to be a world champion, he could not do more than three push-ups in a row. Even after his own workout, he had been watching senior boxers' sparring sessions and trainees' training.

Professional boxing career

Takayama made his professional debut in October 2000 and won the All-Japan Rookie King Tournament in December 2001.

Japan

WBC title

On April 4, 2005 Takayama defeated Isaac Bustos for the WBC world title, by a unanimous decision. This victory gave Takayama the distinction of being the 50th Japanese fighter to win a world title. However, he lost a next bout against

Eagle Kyowa Den Junlaphan ( th, อีเกิ้ล อากากูร่า; born December 4, 1978), better known as Eagle Kyowa, is a Thai former professional boxer who competed from 2000 to 2007. He held the WBC strawweight title twice between 2004 ...

by a unanimous decision, on August 6, 2005.

Interim WBA title

On November 7, 2006 he defeated Carlos Melo for the WBA

interim title An interim championship is an alternate title that is awarded by the sanctioning bodies of professional boxing, and in other combat sports such as kickboxing, professional wrestling, and mixed martial arts. Occasionally, the champion of a particul ...

when he was originally supposed to face

Yutaka Niida is a retired professional boxer in the minimumweight (105 lb) division and former WBA world minimumweight champion. Professional boxing career Niida belonged to the Yokohama Hikari Boxing Gym, his trainer was Mitsunori Seki and Hidefumi Oika ...

for the WBA title in September. However, due to a costal cartilage fracture Niida sustained from sparring, the fight would be delayed to April 7, 2007 ending in a split decision loss. After the fight, his then manager rejected the decision and uttered that it was a

match fixing In organized sports, match fixing is the act of playing or officiating a match with the intention of achieving a pre-determined result, violating the rules of the game and often the law. There are many reasons why match fixing might take place, ...

and that he would make civil litigation. However, he visited the JBC (Japan Boxing Commission) two days later and apologized for his rant saying that he had just wanted to pat his boxer on the back. Furthermore, most of the purse for that fight had not been paid. Although Takayama and Nakade announced that they would transfer to any other gym, the matters on the match fee and transfer fee were not resolved over months. Takayama got another world title shot on July 14, 2009. This time, it was for the WBA minimumweight title which is held by Roman Gonzalez. Unsuccessfully, Takayama lost on all judges. He retired as a JBC-licensed boxer to fight for the WBO and IBF's titles in late 2009. At that time the JBC had approved no fight for the WBO and IBF's titles, but conditionally allowed them from February 28, 2011. That is because the West Japan Boxing Association to which Takayama and Ken'ichi Yamaguchi belonged strongly urged reform of the system after they issued retirement notices.

Away from Japan

Takayama then trained at his fellow boxer Ken'ichi Yamaguchi's Osaka Tenjin Boxing Gym in Japan and ALA Boxing Gym in the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

, and was promoted by ALA Promotions since April 2010. He won an IBF minimumweight title eliminator via a sixth round technical knockout at the Carnival City in Brakpan,

Gauteng Gauteng ( ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. The name in Sotho-Tswana languages means 'place of gold'. Situated on the Highveld, Gauteng is the smallest province by land area in South Africa. Although Gauteng accounts for only ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...

in September 2010. He challenged Nkosinathi Joyi for that title at the Carnival City on January 29, 2011 after being postponed twice, but the fight ended in a no-contest due to a cut on Takayama's head after an accidental head-butt in the third round. He had a broken right hand since just before the fight. Takayama rematched Joyi at the Orient Theatre in

East London, Eastern Cape East London ( xh, eMonti; af, Oos-Londen) is a city on the southeast coast of South Africa in the Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality of the Eastern Cape province. The city lies on the Indian Ocean coast, largely between the Buffalo River ...

after postponed four times on March 30, 2012. It was the

SABC The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) is the public broadcaster in South Africa, and provides 19 radio stations ( AM/ FM) as well as six television broadcasts to the general public. It is one of the largest of South Africa's stat ...

-televised second boxing event after one year interruption. According to Japanese sources, Takayama reportedly dominated the whole fight except that he went down resulting from a slip in the fifth round, and stated with increased confidence through the twelve rounds that "I fought as was planned and did my best" after a unanimous decision loss with scores of 111–116 twice and 110–117. A boxing writer for South Africa's SuperSport wrote that "Many ringsiders were of the opinion that the decision could have gone in favour of the challenger" on Fightnews.com which was presented the WBA’s Website of the Year in 2010. In addition, there were several articles showing that Joyi had struggled against Takayama. However the IBF's Lindsey Tucker has denied their views on BoxingScene.com. He fought against Filipino Mateo Handig for the vacant IBF Pan Pacific mini flyweight title and the

mandatory challenger In professional boxing and some other combat sports, a mandatory challenger is an opponent whom a champion must either fight or be forced to vacate their title as champion. A mandatory defence is the opposite of a voluntary defence, where the champ ...

status to the IBF mini flyweight title in

La Trinidad, Benguet La Trinidad, officially the Municipality of La Trinidad ( ilo, Ili ti La Trinidad; tl, Bayan ng La Trinidad), is a 1st class municipality and capital of the province of Benguet, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 13 ...

, Philippines on October 13, 2012. But he lost the fight via a split decision after being deducted a point in the fourth round for pushing. Two Filipino judges scored the fight 114–113 for Handig, while the other Thai judge scored it 115–112 for Takayama. The IBF ordered a rematch due to the inadequacy of the mandatory

drug testing A drug test is a technical analysis of a biological specimen, for example urine, hair, blood, breath, sweat, or oral fluid/saliva—to determine the presence or absence of specified parent drugs or their metabolites. Major applications of dr ...

before and after the fight. After Handig's injury, Takayama earned the right to challenge for the world title.

IBF title

Takayama defeated Mario Rodríguez via a unanimous decision with the scores of 119–109, 117–111 and 115–113 to be crowned the IBF mini flyweight world champion at the

Estadio Francisco Carranza Limón Kuroda Park is a stadium in Guasave, Mexico. It is primarily used for baseball and serves as the home stadium for Algodoneros de Guasave of the Mexican Pacific League The Mexican Pacific League (), known as Liga ARCO Mexicana del Pacífico for s ...

in Guasave, Sinaloa,

Mexico Mexico (Spanish language, Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a List of sovereign states, country in the southern portion of North America. It is borders of Mexico, bordered to the north by the United States; to the so ...

on March 30, 2013. He was the first foreign boxer for ALA Promotions, and became the third ever world champion for them. "I'm gonna float like a butterfly and sting like a bee," Takayama had told at the pre-fight conference. He tried to imitate the Ali shuffle during the fight.

Return to Japan

The JBC joined the WBO and the IBF on April 1, 2013. After more than four years' absence from the ring in Japan, Takayama's boxer's license was issued again by the JBC on July 12, 2013. He registered with Nakazato Boxing Gym to defend his title against Vergilio Silvano via a unanimous decision at the

Bodymaker Colosseum is an indoor sporting arena located in Namba, Osaka, Japan. It first opened in 1952 and the current building was constructed in 1987. It is the venue of a professional sumo tournament (honbasho) held in March every year. The capacity of the a ...

in Osaka on December 3, 2013. While Takayama has gone through five gyms, his Japanese trainer for his entire career is Hiroaki Nakade who has so far served as the second/trainer in the world title bouts of all the four major sanctioning bodies i.e. the WBA, WBC, IBF (for Takayama fights) and

(for Orlando Salido vs. Yamaguchi).

Professional boxing record

References

Video references

Bibliography

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External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Takayama, Katsunari 1983 births Living people Mini-flyweight boxers World mini-flyweight boxing champions World Boxing Council champions World Boxing Association champions International Boxing Federation champions Japanese male boxers Sportspeople from Osaka