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This is a list of Japanese boxing world champions who have won major world titles from the "Big four" governing bodies in professional boxing namely the World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing Council (WBC), International Boxing Federation (IBF) and World Boxing Organization (WBO). It was in 1952 that Yoshio Shirai won the world flyweight crown, becoming the first Japanese world champion. Japan ranks fourth worldwide between countries with the most boxing world champions.

The most thriving period of Japan's boxing ran from the 1960s to the early 1970s. In the "golden 60s," Fighting Harada won championships in two divisions—flyweight and bantamweight. In the 1970s, Japan had 5 world champions for a short period at the same time. Notable achievements in that period were Kuniaki Shibata's attainment of 3 world championships in two divisions, Guts Ishimatsu captured the WBC lightweight championship becoming the first Japanese champion in the lightweight division. Koichi Wajima, one of the most popular boxers in Japan for his peculiar "Frog Jump" uppercut punch, also left a big footstep in Japan's boxing history by winning junior middleweight championship 3 times including 6 consecutive title defenses.

List of men's professional boxing world champions

The following is a list of Japanese boxing champions who have held titles from one or more of the "Big Four" organizations (WBA, WBC, IBF, WBO) and The Ring.

WBA has four recognized world champions, Super, Undisputed, Unified, and Regular. The highest tier title is considered the primary champion of the division. Only boxers who are in the primary champion lineage are listed.

The ranking of WBA's primary champions are as follows:

• Super/Undisputed
• Unified
• Regular

Other former international/national-world boxing commissions and organizations from the beginning of boxing are also included here:

• New York State Athletic Commission (NYSAC)
• National Boxing Association (NBA) - changed its name to World Boxing Association (WBA) in 1962

Note

• Interim titles are not included unless they get promoted to the official champion.
• For WBA champions, only champions in the WBA primary lineage are listed.

List of WBA secondary champions

List of women's professional boxing world champions

The following is a list of female Japanese boxing champions who have held titles from one or more of the "Big Four" organizations (WBA, WBC, IBF, WBO) and The Ring.

Current titleholders in world boxing sanctioning bodies

Major (WBA, WBC, IBF, WBO)

Men's World Champions

Women's World Champions

See also

• List of WBA world champions
• List of WBC world champions
• List of IBF world champions
• List of WBO world champions
• List of IBO world champions
• List of The Ring world champions
• List of undisputed boxing champions
• Boxing in Japan

References

1. "World champion archives" (in Japanese). Japan Pro Boxing Association. 2012. Retrieved March 9, 2013.
2. "World Champions By Nationality: Japanese World Champions". BoxRec.
3. "The Great Masahiko "Fighting" Harada". Bad Left Hook. 11 December 2009.
4. "Kuniaki Shibata: He Stopped Saldivar!". Boxingnews24.
5. "Boxing's Rising In The Land Of The Rising Sun: Japanese Prizefighters". Bleacherreport.
6. "World Champion Koichi Wajima". Cyber Boxing Zone.
7. Boxing record for Yoshio Shirai from BoxRec (registration required)
8. Boxing record for Fighting Harada from BoxRec (registration required)
9. Boxing record for Hiroyuki Ebihara from BoxRec (registration required)
10. Boxing record for Takeshi Fuji from BoxRec (registration required)
11. Boxing record for Yoshiaki Numata from BoxRec (registration required)
12. Boxing record for Hiroshi Kobayashi from BoxRec (registration required)
13. Boxing record for Shozo Saijo from BoxRec (registration required)
14. Boxing record for Masao Ohba from BoxRec (registration required)
15. Boxing record for Kuniaki Shibata from BoxRec (registration required)
16. Boxing record for Koichi Wajima from BoxRec (registration required)
17. Boxing record for Guts Ishimatsu from BoxRec (registration required)
18. Boxing record for Shoji Oguma from BoxRec (registration required)
19. Boxing record for Susumu Hanagata from BoxRec (registration required)
20. Boxing record for Royal Kobayashi from BoxRec (registration required)
21. Boxing record for Yoko Gushiken from BoxRec (registration required)
22. Boxing record for Masashi Kudo from BoxRec (registration required)
23. Boxing record for Shigeo Nakajima from BoxRec (registration required)
24. Boxing record for Yasutsune Uehara from BoxRec (registration required)
25. Boxing record for Tadashi Mihara from BoxRec (registration required)
26. Boxing record for Katsuo Tokashiki from BoxRec (registration required)
27. Boxing record for Jiro Watanabe from BoxRec (registration required)
28. Boxing record for Tadashi Tomori from BoxRec (registration required)
29. Boxing record for Koji Kobayashi from BoxRec (registration required)
30. Boxing record for Satoshi Shingaki from BoxRec (registration required)
31. Boxing record for Suyoshi Hamada from BoxRec (registration required)
32. Boxing record for Takuya Muguruma from BoxRec (registration required)
33. Boxing record for Hiroki Ioka from BoxRec (registration required)
34. Boxing record for Hideyuki Ohashi from BoxRec (registration required)
35. Boxing record for Leopard Tamakuma from BoxRec (registration required)
36. Boxing record for Kiyoshi Hatanaka from BoxRec (registration required)
37. Boxing record for Joichiro Tatsuyoshi from BoxRec (registration required)
38. Boxing record for Katsuya Onizuka from BoxRec (registration required)
39. Boxing record for Akinobu Hiranaka from BoxRec (registration required)
40. Boxing record for Yasuei Yakushiji from BoxRec (registration required)
41. Boxing record for Hiroshi Kawashima from BoxRec (registration required)
42. Boxing record for Shinji Takehara from BoxRec (registration required)
43. Boxing record for Keiji Yamaguchi from BoxRec (registration required)
44. Boxing record for Satoshi Iida from BoxRec (registration required)
45. Boxing record for Takanori Hatakeyama from BoxRec (registration required)
46. Boxing record for Hideki Todaka from BoxRec (registration required)
47. Boxing record for Keitaro Hoshino from BoxRec (registration required)
48. Boxing record for Celes Kobayashi from BoxRec (registration required)
49. Boxing record for Yutaka Niida from BoxRec (registration required)
50. Boxing record for Osamu Sato from BoxRec (registration required)
51. Boxing record for Katsushige Kawashima from BoxRec (registration required)
52. Boxing record for Katsunari Takayama from BoxRec (registration required)
53. Boxing record for Hozumi Hasegawa from BoxRec (registration required)
54. Boxing record for Takashi Koshimoto from BoxRec (registration required)
55. ^ Boxing record for Nobuo Nashiro from BoxRec (registration required)
56. ^ Boxing record for Koki Kameda from BoxRec (registration required)
57. Boxing record for Takefumi Sakata from BoxRec (registration required)
58. Boxing record for Daisuke Naito from BoxRec (registration required)
59. Boxing record for Toshiaki Nishioka from BoxRec (registration required)
60. Boxing record for Takahiro Ao from BoxRec (registration required)
61. Boxing record for Takashi Uchiyama from BoxRec (registration required)
62. Boxing record for Daiki Kameda from BoxRec (registration required)
63. Boxing record for Akifumi Shimoda from BoxRec (registration required)
64. ^ Boxing record for Kazuto Ioka from BoxRec (registration required)
65. Boxing record for Tomonobu Shimizu from BoxRec (registration required)
66. Boxing record for Akira Yaegashi from BoxRec (registration required)
67. Boxing record for Shinsuke Yamanaka from BoxRec (registration required)
68. Boxing record for Yota Sato from BoxRec (registration required)
69. Boxing record for Toshiyuki Igarashi from BoxRec (registration required)
70. Boxing record for Kohei Kono from BoxRec (registration required)
71. Boxing record for Ryo Miyazaki from BoxRec (registration required)
72. Boxing record for Takashi Miura from BoxRec (registration required)
73. Boxing record for Tomoki Kameda from BoxRec (registration required)
74. ^ Boxing record for Naoya Inoue from BoxRec (registration required)
75. Boxing record for Ryoichi Taguchi from BoxRec (registration required)
76. Boxing record for Kosei Tanaka from BoxRec (registration required)
77. JAKE DONOVAN (30 May 2015). "Tanaka Decisions Yedras, Claims Belt in 5th Pro Fight". Boxingscene. Retrieved 3 July 2021.
78. Boxing record for Yu Kimura from BoxRec (registration required)
79. Boxing record for Yukinori Oguni from BoxRec (registration required)
80. Boxing record for Tatsuya Fukuhara from BoxRec (registration required)
81. Boxing record for Daigo Higa from BoxRec (registration required)
82. Boxing record for Ken Shiro from BoxRec (registration required)
83. Boxing record for Hiroto Kyoguchi from BoxRec (registration required)
84. Boxing record for Sho Kimura from BoxRec (registration required)
85. Boxing record for Ryuya Yamanaka from BoxRec (registration required)
86. Boxing record for Ryosuke Iwasa from BoxRec (registration required)
87. Boxing record for Masayuki Ito from BoxRec (registration required)
88. Boxing record for Junto Nakatani from BoxRec (registration required)
89. ^ Boxing record for Ryōta Murata from BoxRec (registration required)
90. Boxing record for Masamichi Yabuki from BoxRec (registration required)
91. Boxing record for Kenichi Ogawa from BoxRec (registration required)
92. Boxing record for Masataka Taniguchi from BoxRec (registration required)
93. Boxing record for Takuma Inoue from BoxRec (registration required)
94. Boxing record for Ginjiro Shigeoka from BoxRec (registration required)
95. Boxing record for Yudai Shigeoka from BoxRec (registration required)
96. Boxing record for Ryosuke Nishida from BoxRec (registration required)
97. Boxing record for Yoshiki Takei from BoxRec (registration required)
98. Boxing record for Seiya Tsutsumi from BoxRec (registration required)
99. Boxing record for Yusuke Kobori from BoxRec (registration required)
100. Boxing record for Shun Kubo from BoxRec (registration required)

External links

• Japanese Boxing

• Lists of Japanese sportspeople
• Lists of boxers by nationality
• Japanese boxers
• Lists of world boxing champions
• Boxing in Japan