Yamaguchi Falcão Florentino (born 24 January 1988) is a Brazilian

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 fights are supervised by a regulatory auth ...

who has held multiple regional titles in the

middleweight Middleweight is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional In professional boxing, the middleweight division is contested above and up to . Early boxing history is less than exact, but the middleweight designation seems to have beg ...

super middleweight Super middleweight, or light cruiserweight, is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing In professional boxing, super middleweight is contested between the middleweight and light heavyweight divisions, in which boxers can weigh between 160 pounds ( ...

and cruiserweight divisions. In his amateur years, he won silver at the 2011 Panamerican Games and a bronze at the

2012 Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

at light heavyweight.

Early life

Born in

São Mateus, Espírito Santo São Mateus is the eighth oldest Municipalities of Brazil, municipality in Brazil and the seventh most populous in the States of Brazil, state of Espírito Santo. Founded on September 21, 1544, it gained municipal autonomy in 1764. Originally name ...

, Falcão is the older brother of professional boxer

Esquiva Falcão Esquiva Falcão Florentino (born 12 December 1989) is a Brazilian professional boxer. As an amateur, he won a bronze medal at the 2011 World Championships and silver at the 2012 Olympics. As a professional boxer, he accumulated a record of 30 ...

Amateur career

At the

2009 World Amateur Boxing Championships The 2009 AIBA World Boxing Championships were held in Milan, Italy, from September 1, 2009 to September 12, 2009, in the Mediolanum Forum. It was the biggest World Championships in AIBA history. The competition was under the supervision of the ...

he beat two opponents at middleweight before losing 3:8 to eventual winner

Abbos Atoev Abbos Abdurazzoqovich Atoyev (born 7 June 1986) is an amateur boxer from Uzbekistan, best known for winning gold in the light heavyweight competition at the 2007 World Championships where he defeated and upset heavy favourite Artur Beterbiev whi ...

(UZB). At the

2010 South American Games The IX South American Games (Spanish: ''Juegos Sudamericanos''; Portuguese: ''Jogos Sul-Americanos'') was a multi-sport event held between 19 and 30 March 2010 in Medellín, Colombia. The Games were organized by the South American Sports Organi ...

he lost to Alex Theran but got a bronze anyway. Afterwards he moved up in weight. At the

2011 World Amateur Boxing Championships The 2011 AIBA World Boxing Championships was held at the Heydar Aliyev Sports and Exhibition Complex in Baku, Azerbaijan from September 22 to October 10, 2011. The competition ran under the supervision of the world's governing body for amateur ...

he beat Amine Azzouzi and Carlos Gongora, then lost to

Elshod Rasulov Elshod Rasulov (born March 7, 1986) is an amateur boxer from Uzbekistan, who won gold at the 2006 Asian Games and at the 2010 Asian Games and silver at 2009 World Amateur Boxing Championships. Career In 2004 the southpaw counterpuncher knocke ...

. In

Guadalajara Guadalajara ( ; ) is the capital and the most populous city in the western Mexican List of states of Mexico, state of Jalisco, as well as the most densely populated municipality in Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population ...

at the PanAms he beat two opponents then lost to Cuban favorite

Julio César la Cruz Julio César De La Cruz Peraza (born 11 August 1989) is a Cuban professional boxer. As an amateur he won gold medals at the 2016 and 2020 Summer Olympics, and the 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017 and 2021 AIBA World Boxing Championships. As a professio ...

. At the Olympic qualifier, he beat three opponents, including

Osmar Bravo Osmar Bravo Amador (born 1 November 1984 in Nueva Guinea) is an amateur boxing, boxer from Nicaragua that qualified for the 2012 Olympics at light heavyweight (81 kilograms, kg). Osmar was a semi-finalist at light heavyweight at the 2012 Americ ...

who also qualified, then lost the final to American southpaw

Marcus Browne Marcus Browne (born November 10, 1990) is an American professional boxer who fights at light heavyweight, where he challenged for the WBC and IBF titles and held the WBA interim title. Professional career Early career After competing a ...

. All three made the Olympics. At the

, he controversially edged out

Sumit Sangwan Sumit Sangwan (born 1 January 1993) is an Indian amateur boxer. At the 2012 London Olympics, he participated in the light heavyweight category. Under controversial circumstances, he lost his bout to Yamaguchi Falcão Florentino. He is suppor ...

15:14, then Meng Fanlong 17:17, on countback before besting Cuban world champion

18:15. He was defeated in the semi-finals by the Russian favorite

Egor Mekhontsev Egor Leonidovich Mekhontsev (Егор Леонидович Мехонцев, transliteration ''Egor Leonidovich Mechoncev''; born 14 November 1984), is a Russian professional boxer, who among other achievements, won gold at 2012 London Olympics ...

23:11 and received the bronze medal. Unlike what his name suggests, he is not of

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

descent.

Professional career

On October 2, it was revealed that Falcão became a professional, signing with

Golden Boy Promotions Golden Boy Promotions, Inc. is an American boxing promotional firm based in Los Angeles, California. The company was established in 2002 by eight-time world champion (in six divisions) Oscar De La Hoya, borrowing his nickname "Golden Boy." Hist ...

. In his debut, he was disqualified alongside Martín Fidel Ríos after the second round. Both fighters traded a few punches after the round ended followed by Ríos spitting on Falcão. The call was seen as excessive by both fighters, whom wanted to keep fighting. However, Falcão won all of his subsequent 11 fights. In the tenth, against Jorge Daniel Caraballo, Falcão won the WBC Latino middleweight title. In 2023, at the age of 35, he faced Cuban David Morrell, current super middleweight champion (up to 76.2 kg), in the dispute for the World Boxing Association (WBA) belt. He was selected at the last minute to replace the Ghanaian Sena Agbeko, who had documentation problems and was left out of the match. The Brazilian had less than two weeks to prepare for the fight, where he felt the lack of rhythm against his rival, ten years younger, and fell in the first round. He was attempting to become the seventh Brazilian to be world boxing champion, joining Éder Jofre, Miguel de Oliveira, Acelino Freitas, Valdemir Pereira, Rose Volantê and Patrick Teixeira.Yamaguchi Falcão leva nocaute e perde disputa do título mundial
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Professional boxing record

References

External links

*
Golden Boy profile
* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Falcao, Yamaguchi 1988 births Living people Light-heavyweight boxers Boxers at the 2012 Summer Olympics Boxers at the 2011 Pan American Games Olympic boxers for Brazil Olympic bronze medalists for Brazil Olympic medalists in boxing Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Martial artists from Espírito Santo Brazilian male boxers Pan American Games silver medalists for Brazil Pan American Games silver medalists in boxing South American Games bronze medalists for Brazil South American Games medalists in boxing Competitors at the 2010 South American Games Medalists at the 2011 Pan American Games People from São Mateus, Espírito Santo 21st-century Brazilian sportsmen