was a professional boxer from

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 ...

, Japan. He won the world

flyweight Flyweight is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Flyweight is a class in boxing which includes fighters weighing above 49 kg (108 lb) and up to 51 kg (112 lb). Professional boxing The flyweight division was the last of bo ...

title in 1952, becoming the first Japanese boxer to win a world title.

Childhood and early career

Shirai first boxed in elementary school, during a mock match-up against a

kangaroo Kangaroos are four marsupials from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning "large foot"). In common use the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the red kangaroo, as well as the antilopine kangaroo, eastern ...

at a local carnival. He became interested in boxing afterwards, and made his professional debut in 1943, during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. He won his first eight professional fights before being drafted to join the

Imperial Japanese Navy The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, when it was dissolved following Japan's surrender ...

. After being released in 1945, he returned to boxing, but was almost forced into retirement because of injuries he had sustained during the war. However, he met Alvin Rober Cahn, a

Jewish-American American Jews or Jewish Americans are American citizens who are Jewish, whether by religion, ethnicity, culture, or nationality. Today the Jewish community in the United States consists primarily of Ashkenazi Jews, who descend from diaspora Je ...

SCAP SCAP may refer to: * S.C.A.P., an early French manufacturer of cars and engines * Security Content Automation Protocol * '' The Shackled City Adventure Path'', a role-playing game * SREBP cleavage activating protein * Supervisory Capital Assessm ...

employee, who became his trainer and manager. Shirai's boxing skills improved dramatically under Cahn's guidance, and the two formed a close bond. Shirai fought with the aggressive boxing style typical of the Japanese boxers of the time, but made a change to a more technical, defensive style under the guidance of his new trainer. Cahn made Shirai live in his house, and supervised everything from his health and training to his meals. Cahn began to suffer from

dementia Dementia is a disorder which manifests as a set of related symptoms, which usually surfaces when the brain is damaged by injury or disease. The symptoms involve progressive impairments in memory, thinking, and behavior, which negatively affe ...

in his old age, and it was Shirai's family that took care of him. Cahn had no children when he died, and left Shirai with his entire fortune.

Professional career

Shirai won his first fight after teaming with Cahn on July 30, 1948, and won the Japanese

title in 1949. He also won the Japanese

bantamweight Bantamweight is a weight class in combat sports. For boxing, the range is above and up to . In kickboxing, a bantamweight fighter generally weighs between . In MMA, bantamweight is . The name for the class is derived from bantam chickens. Bra ...

title the same year, and held both titles for over 3 years, making 5 total defenses. He fought flyweight world champion

Dado Marino Salvador "Dado" Marino (1915-1989) was a flyweight boxer from Honolulu, Hawaii, who became World flyweight champion in 1950. He also boxed as a bantamweight, and unsuccessfully fought for the World bantamweight title. Professional career He made ...

on May 21, 1951, in a non-title match. Shirai lost by split decision but fought Marino again in December, 1951, to mark a 7th round KO win. On May 19, 1952, he met Marino for the third time for the world flyweight title. Shirai won by 15 round decision, becoming the new world champion, and first ever Japanese boxer to win a world title. Shirai made four defenses of the world title before losing his title to Pascual Perez in November, 1954 by unanimous decision. He fought Perez again in May, 1955, but lost decisively by KO in the 5th round. He announced his retirement after this loss. His professional record was 48-8-2 (20KOs).

Post retirement

Shirai worked as a boxing commentator and critic before creating a sports gym in 1995 with former world champion

Yoko Gushiken is a Japanese former professional boxer who competed from 1974 to 1981. He held the WBA light-flyweight title from 1976 to 1981, making a total of 13 successful defences. Following his retirement from boxing, he remains popular in Japan as a ...

. He received an award from the Japanese government in 1995 for his efforts in boxing. He was inducted into the

Ring Magazine hall of fame ''The Ring'' magazine was established in 1922. In 1954, the magazine established its own boxing Hall of Fame and inducted 155 members before it was abandoned after the 1987 inductions. Boxing inductions continue through the International Boxing ...

in 1977.

Death

Shirai died from

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severit ...

on December 26, 2003. He was 80 years old.

Professional boxing record

References

External links

*
Yoshio Shirai - CBZ Profile
, - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Shirai, Yoshio 1923 births 2003 deaths Flyweight boxers Boxers from Tokyo World Boxing Association champions The Ring (magazine) champions World flyweight boxing champions World boxing champions Boxing commentators Japanese male boxers Imperial Japanese Navy personnel of World War II