Tadashi Sawamura

was a Japanese kickboxer whose real name was . He was one of the first popular participants in the sport, and enjoyed great fame throughout his career. He is sometimes credited with sustaining the early boom in the popularity of kickboxing.
He had an exceptionally high knockout percentage of 94.60% in combat sports. For comparison, in heavyweight boxing the two highest knockout percentages are 87.76% by Rocky Marciano and 87.23% by Vitali Klitschko, who became famous for his knockout power, retired with a knockout percentage of 75.86%. Sawamura's knockout prowess earned him the nickname "The Demon of Kickboxing".

Biography

Early life

Hideki Shiraha was born in Manchukuo in 1943. In his youth, he studied Gōjū-ryū-style Karate and some Chinese Martial Arts from his grandfather.「キックの鬼」こと沢村忠の原点は中国武術と芸能への憧れ
- 日刊ゲンダイDIGITAL・2021年7月16日 As a child, he was part of a children's theater company called "Theatrical Company Broad Bean" (gekidan sora mame - 劇団そらまめ), with aspirations of becoming an actor in the future.

When he was in the third year of junior high school, he was scouted to Shintoho Studios as part of their "Shintoho Starlet" program. He had appeared in TV dramas under the stage name "Tetsuya Shiro", but due to the bankruptcy of Shintoho, he was forced to suspend his career in the entertainment industry.

Subsequently, he graduated from Hosei University Junior and Senior High School and joined Daiei Film Company. He enrolled in the Film Department of Nihon University College of Art as part of his training at Daiei.俺たちの熱狂バトルTheヒストリー〈沢村忠の真空飛び膝蹴り〉
- リアルライブ・2015年6月19日 Around this time, he seemed to had given up his career as an actor and pursued to become a screenwriter. On the other hand, he had also joined the Goju-ryu Karate Club at university and won the All Japan Student Championship while he was still in school. He was undefeated in 60 fights.

In 1963 there was a competitive match between leading Japanese and Thai instructors, a karate vs Muay Thai tournament. Japan won the series although two of the Japanese participants Osamu Noguchi and Tatsuo Yamada wanted to create a full-contact sport similar to how Muay Thai is a sport in Thailand, and they started to create kickboxing.

Shiraha came to attention of Osamu Noguchi, who praised Shiraha's ability. Noguchi had invited Shiraha to pursue kickboxing, telling Shihara that "the sports version of karate doesn't have the training to win in a full-contact fight" and that " hirahawould lose if he traveled to Thailand to compete in full-contact". Shiraha eventually left Daiei Film Company at the same time as graduating from college and started training at the Noguchi Gym.

Kickboxing career

The Japan Kickboxing Association was launched in April 1966, with Shiraha debuting as a professional kickboxer on April 11, 1966 under the ring name "Tadashi Sawamura". The ring name was chosen after Kyokushin fighter Tadashi Nakamura, who defeated a Muay Thai fighter by KO at Lumpinee Stadium in 1964 as a representative of Japan and Karate.

Sawamura's debut match held at the Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium was a match called "Karate vs. Muay Thai" and won by 2nd Round KO over "Rākurei shīhāman" (ラークレイ・シーハーマン).

In June 1966, he fought against Muay Thai fighter "Samansō adison" (サマンソー・アディソン), who was ranked #8 at Lumpinee's featherweight division, at the Riki Palace. Sawamura lost by 4th Round KO and during the fight, was knocked down to the mat 16 times during the fight (with some reporting 19 times) and received more that 25 bruises from the fight.

Disheartened, Sawamura wanted to retrain himself in jujutsu and hold a rematch. Noguchi met with Sawamura while he was healing, and suggested that Sawamura should be trained in kickboxing proper. Sawamura begins training in Kickboxing and turns his career around, starting to rack up KO wins with moves like "vacuum jump knee kick" (真空飛び膝蹴り - Shinkū tobihizageri) and "kick before jump" (飛び前蹴り - Tobi maegeri).

He won the Japan Professional Sports Grand Prize in 1973. At that time, it was popular on the covers of several general magazines such as "Weekly Shonen Champion" (Akita Shoten) first issue in 1969 and "Weekly Shonen Magazine" (1968 issue 47).

The final match was held on July 2, 1976, and the retirement ceremony was held on October 10, the following year. His final record was 241 fights, 232 wins (228KO), 5 losses and 4 draws. He became one of the sport's great champions and would help make it popular world-wide, retiring with over 200 knockouts.

Retirement and death

After his retirement, he broke all ties with his martial arts world and focused on managing his automobile-related company.

Hideki Shiraha died at a hospital in Chiba prefecture on March 26, 2021 at 78 years old. It was discovered that he had lung cancer and that it had progressed to a state where Shiraha was experiencing bloody sputum. He diagnosed in the summer of the previous year and had been medical treatment since.

Record

* 241 total fights
**232 wins
***228 by knockout
**5 losses
**4 draws

Career

*Oriental Lightweight champion
*Oriental Middleweight champion

Influence

His exploits were the basis of an anime series called Kick no Oni (which means "The demon of kickboxing", written by Ikki Kajiwara), and he was also a guest on an episode of the series ''Return of Ultraman'' as himself.

His anime series also became intensely popular in Brazil during the 70's and early 80's featuring 26 episodes under the name "Sawamu, o Demolidor". In this series, Tadashi Sawamu (Brazilian translation), was an arrogant karate fighter who was defeated by a kickboxer, leaving Sawamu in a mild coma. Once in the hospital and recovering from the coma, his opponent's kickboxing trainer Noguchi, came to his hospital room and convinced Sawamu to become a kickboxer. To which after some rigorous training, he learned a devastating finishing move: "The Jumping Vacuum Knee" (Shinku tobi hiza geri).

Japanese professional wrestler Jumbo Tsuruta used a jumping knee strike in tribute to Sawamura.

The Japanese name for the Pokémon Hitmonlee is ''Sawamurā'', which is a reference to Sawamura.

In Cynthia: The Mission, a girl embraces a sandbag which was kicked by Tadashi Sawamura.

See also

*List of male kickboxers

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sawamura, Tadashi
1943 births
2021 deaths
Japanese male kickboxers
Lightweight kickboxers
Welterweight kickboxers
Middleweight kickboxers
Japanese people from Manchukuo