__NOTOC__ is a retired

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

ese boxer who is a former WBC junior flyweight champion. Tomori won the Japan's inter-high school championship in the 45 kg class in 1977, and compiled an amateur record of 16–4 (3 KOs) before turning professional. Hitoshi Misako who is the president of Misako Boxing Gym in

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 37.46 ...

went to Okinawa, and encouraged Tomori to turn professional. After joining that gym in 1978, he made his professional debut at the

Korakuen Hall is a famous sports arena in Bunkyo, Tokyo, Japan, which has hosted many notable boxing, professional wrestling, kickboxing, mixed martial arts and Lethwei matches. History On April 16, 1962, the Korakuen Hall was officially opened with a c ...

in May of that year. In March 1979, Tomori won the annual Japanese boxing series, All-Japan Rookie King Tournament in the junior flyweight division. Although he lost on points to Kazunori Tenryū in the Japanese junior flyweight title bout in November 1979, he knocked out the sixteen-time defending champion Tenryū in the first round of the return match in February 1980 to capture the title. However he lost on points to Shūichi Hozumi in his second defense in August of that year. He competed with Masaharu Inami for the vacated title, but it also ended in a failure. Originally Tomori was an out-fighter who excelled in the speed and skill. During his professional career, he had almost mastered the in-fighting to be spotlighted. However his transformation into an in-fighter was still incomplete. So, his manager Misako made him go to the temple for the

sitting meditation ''Zazen'' (literally " seated meditation"; ja, 座禅; , pronounced ) is a meditative discipline that is typically the primary practice of the Zen Buddhist tradition. However, the term is a general one not unique to Zen, and thus technical ...

practice in order to discipline his mind. Tomori regained the vacant Japanese title via a close decision in October 1981, and defended it once via a unanimous decision in his first professional fight in his hometown of Naha. At that time, Misako sensed that Tomori got a boost of energy, and set a world title shot for him. On April 13, 1982, Tomori was scheduled to fight against Amado Ursúa for the WBC junior flyweight title at the Korakuen Hall. He trained under the guidance of Eddie Townsend who signed a deal with Misako Boxing Gym in March of that year. After the champion's pre-fight open workout,

Koichi Wajima Koichi Wajima (輪島功一, born 21 April 1943) is a Japanese former professional boxer who was the undisputed light-middleweight champion. He held the WBA and WBC titles from 1971 and 1974, he regained the titles in January 1975 that inclu ...

, Tomori's senior in the same gym, commented that he wondered if Tomori could sustain himself for three rounds. Nevertheless, he built a lead over Ursúa until the middle of the fight throwing his sharp right

cross A cross is a geometrical figure consisting of two intersecting lines or bars, usually perpendicular to each other. The lines usually run vertically and horizontally. A cross of oblique lines, in the shape of the Latin letter X, is termed a s ...

es and left jabs. In the later rounds Ursúa fought back fiercely, but was dethroned via a

split decision A split decision (SD) is a winning criterion in boxing, most commonly in full-contact combat sports, in which two of the three judges score one particular competitor as the winner, while the third judge scores for the other competitor. A split dec ...

. Ursúa expressed dissatisfaction to the decision. His first defense against

Hilario Zapata Hilario Zapata (born August 19, 1958) is a Panamanian former professional boxer. He held the WBC light flyweight and WBA flyweight titles, and challenged once for the WBC super flyweight title. Professional career Zapata began his profession ...

was initially scheduled in

Panama City Panama City ( es, Ciudad de Panamá, links=no; ), also known as Panama (or Panamá in Spanish), is the capital and largest city of Panama. It has an urban population of 880,691, with over 1.5 million in its metropolitan area. The city is loca ...

on June 5, 1982. However it was postponed to July 20 and moved to the Ishikawa Sangyō Hall in

Kanazawa, Ishikawa is the capital city of Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 466,029 in 203,271 households, and a population density of 990 persons per km2. The total area of the city was . Overview Cityscape File:もてな� ...

due to Tomori's

rib In vertebrate anatomy, ribs ( la, costae) are the long curved bones which form the rib cage, part of the axial skeleton. In most tetrapods, ribs surround the chest, enabling the lungs to expand and thus facilitate breathing by expanding the ches ...

injury. In that first defense, Tomori lost to Zapata via a split decision. Misako protested the decision of the judges to the WBC, and Tomori had a rematch with Zapata as a challenger at the Kuramae Kokugikan on November 30 of the same year. However Tomori who had believed his own victory in the previous fight, told that he would not be able to fight more than he did on July 20. He suffered a cut above his left eye from the sixth round, and was stopped in the eighth round after being floored in the seventh and eighth rounds. Some time after that fight, Tomori retired.

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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tomori, Tadashi 1959 births Japanese male boxers Living people Sportspeople from Okinawa Prefecture World Boxing Council champions World boxing champions World light-flyweight boxing champions People from Naha

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