Fighting Harada

Fighting Harada
Statistics
Real name Masahiko Harada
Rated at Flyweight
Bantamweight
Featherweight
Height 5 ft 3 in (1.60 m)
Reach 64 in (163 cm)
Nationality Japanese
Born (1943-04-05) April 5, 1943
Tokyo, Japan
Stance Orthodox
Boxing record
Total fights 62
Wins 55
Wins by KO 22
Losses 7
Draws 0
No contests 0

Masahiko Harada (born April 5, 1943), better known as Fighting Harada, is a former world boxing champion in the Flyweight and Bantamweight divisions, and also challenged for the Featherweight title twice. He is currently the president of the Japanese boxing association.

Harada was arguably one of Japan's most popular boxers; his fame reached international status, and Puerto Rico's Wilfredo Gómez declared that Harada was his idol as a child.[1]

Biography

Harada began fighting as a professional on February 21, 1960, knocking out Isami Masui in round four, in Tokyo. He won his first twenty four bouts. Among the notables he beat during that span were Ken Morita, who later became a respected boxing official and who was beaten by Harada on June 26 in the first round, and future world champion Hiroyuki Ebihara, who was undefeated in nine fights before meeting Harada and who was beaten by Harada on December 24, by a decision in six rounds.

On June 15, 1962, he suffered his first defeat, being beaten on points by Edmundo Esparza over ten rounds in Tokyo.

After one more win, Harada received his first world title try: on October 10 of that year, he became the lineal and WBA world flyweight champion by knocking out Pone Kingpetch in the eleventh round, in Tokyo.

A rematch followed, and Harada lost the title in his first defense, being outpointed by Kingpetch over fifteen rounds on January 12, 1963 in Bangkok, Thailand. This was Harada's first fight outside Japan.

Harada posted four more wins in a row before losing by knockout in six to Jose Medel on September 26.

After that loss, Harada posted another winning streak, which reached seven before he was given another world title shot. Among the boxers he beat was top contenders Ray Asis, Oscar Reyes, and Katsutoshi Aoki.

On May 18, 1965, Harada extended his winning streak to eight, when he defeated Eder Jofre in Nagoya, by a fifteen round decision, to win his second world title, the unified WBA and WBC world bantamweight title. Jofre was undefeated in fifty fights coming into this bout, and considered by many of his fans to be invincible.[2]

On November 30, he defeated perennial British contender Alan Rudkin by a fifteen round decision to retain the title. On June 1, 1966, he and Jofre had a rematch in Tokyo, and Harada defeated Jofre once again, by a fifteen round decision. Losing for the second time to Harada prompted Jofre to retire; he would make a successful comeback three years later. Harada was the only boxer to beat Jofre.

After two more, non-title wins, Harada had a chance to avenge his defeat against Jose Medel. On January 3, 1967, Harada retained his world bantamweight title with a fifteen round decision over Medel in Nagoya.

On July 4 he retained the title against Colombian Bernardo Caraballo, a fighter who was well liked in his country. Harada outpointed him over fifteen rounds.

On February 27, 1968, Lionel Rose became the first Australian aborigine to become a world boxing champion, when he outpointed Harada over fifteen rounds in Tokyo. Having lost his world bantamweight crown, Harada then set his sights on regaining it.

He won four of his next five fights. Among those he defeated were American Dwight Hawkins and his countryman Nobuo Chiba. His lone loss during that span came at the hands of American Alton Colter by a ten round, split decision. Then, he received another world title shot.

On July 28, 1969, after the WBA and WBC had split the world bantamweight title, Harada fought Australia's Johnny Famechon for the WBC world featherweight belt. The fight was held in Sydney, and the referee and only judge was the legendary former world featherweight champion Willie Pep. Pep scored the fight a tie (draw), but Famechon's fans rallied over the call by booing Pep, who then announced he had miscalculated his scorecard and actually had Famechon ahead, making Harada a loser by a fifteen round decision. This fight was, nevertheless, controversial because of the nature of its ending, and the WBC clamoured for a rematch.[3]

After a knockout win in eight rounds over Pat Gonzalez, the rematch came. Harada's management wanted the fight to be held in Tokyo, and so, on January 6, 1970, Harada and Famechon met once again, this time at Tokyo's Metropolitan Gym. Harada dropped the champion in round ten, but Famechon recovered, knocking Harada off the ring in round fourteen and retaining the title by knockout in that round. This was Harada's last fight as a professional.[4]

Harada led a rather quiet life after retirement. In 1996, he was elected into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in Canastota, New York.[5] Coincidentally, Wilfredo Gómez was inducted in the same ceremony. After Gómez expressed that Harada was his idol, Harada responded, using an interpreter, that Gómez had, in turn, become one of his favorite fighters as well. Eder Jofre, one of the boxers Harada beat to win world titles, is also enshrined at the IBHOF.

Masahiko Harada became president of the Japanese Boxing Commission in 2002.

On January 28, 2004, as he was driving home from his office, Harada experienced a headache and he was found to have a brain hemorrhage which required hospitalisation. By 2005 he was recovering steadily.[6]

Professional boxing record

55 Wins (22 knockouts, 33 decisions), 7 Losses (2 knockouts, 5 decisions), 0 Draws
Res. Record Opponent Type Round Date Location Notes
Loss 55–7 Australia Johnny Famechon KO 14 (15), 1:09 1970-01-06 Japan Metropolitan Gymnasium, Tokyo For WBC featherweight title.
Win 55–6 Philippines Pat Gonzales KO 8 (10), 0:17 1969-10-01 Japan Fukui, Fukui
Loss 54–6 Australia Johnny Famechon PTS 15 1969-07-28 Australia Sydney Stadium, Sydney, New South Wales For WBC featherweight title.
Win 54–5 Philippines Vil Tumulak UD 10 1969-06-04 Japan Nagoya, Aichi
Loss 53–5 United States Alton Colter SD 10 1969-04-02 Japan Tokyo
Win 53–4 Philippines Roy Amolong KO 2 (10), 1:55 1968-12-04 Japan Tokyo
Win 52–4 Japan Nobuo Chiba KO 7 (10), 1:13 1968-09-04 Japan Sano, Tochigi
Win 51–4 United States Dwight Hawkins UD 10 1968-06-05 Japan Tokyo
Loss 50–4 Australia Lionel Rose UD 15 1968-02-27 Japan Nippon Budokan, Tokyo Lost WBC & WBA bantamweight titles.
Win 50–3 South Korea Soo Bok Kwon KO 8 (12), 0:26 1967-11-28 Japan Okayama City, Okayama
Win 49–3 Japan Hajime Taroura KO 2 (12), 1:52 1967-09-25 Japan Osaka, Osaka
Win 48–3 Colombia Bernardo Caraballo UD 15 1967-07-04 Japan Nippon Budokan, Tokyo Retained WBC & WBA bantamweight titles.
Win 47–3 Philippines Tiny Palacio UD 12 1967-04-04 Japan Fukuoka, Fukuoka
Win 46–3 Mexico José Medel UD 15 1967-01-03 Japan Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium, Nagoya, Aichi Retained WBC & WBA bantamweight titles.
Win 45–3 Colombia Antonio Herrera UD 12 1966-10-25 Japan Osaka, Osaka
Win 44–3 Philippines Dio Espinosa UD 10 1966-08-01 Japan Sapporo, Hokkaido
Win 43–3 Brazil Éder Jofre UD 15 1966-05-31 Japan Nippon Budokan, Tokyo Retained WBC & WBA bantamweight titles.
Win 42–3 South Korea Soo Kang Suh PTS 12 1966-02-15 Japan Nagoya, Aichi
Win 41–3 United Kingdom Alan Rudkin UD 15 1965-11-30 Japan Nippon Budokan, Tokyo Retained WBC & WBA bantamweight titles.
Win 40–3 Japan Katsuo Saito PTS 12 1965-07-28 Japan Tokyo
Win 39–3 Brazil Éder Jofre SD 15 1965-05-18 Japan Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium, Nagoya, Aichi Won WBC & WBA bantamweight titles.
Win 38–3 Philippines Dommy Froilan KO 6 (10), 1:20 1965-01-04 Japan Tokyo
Win 37–3 Japan Katsutoshi Aoki KO 3 (10), 2:54 1964-10-29 Japan Tokyo
Win 36–3 Philippines Oscar Reyes PTS 10 1964-09-17 Japan Tokyo
Win 35–3 Philippines Ray Asis UD 10 1964-07-06 United States Sports Arena, Los Angeles, California
Win 34–3 Thailand Somsak Laemfapha KO 2 (10), 1:05 1964-02-14 Japan Osaka, Osaka
Win 33–3 Philippines Avelino Estrada KO 5 (10), 0:51 1964-01-02 Japan Tokyo
Win 32–3 Philippines Emile de Leon PTS 10 1963-11-25 Japan Tokyo
Loss 31–3 Mexico José Medel TKO 6 (10), 2:28 1963-09-26 Japan Tokyo
Win 31–2 Philippines Dommy Balajada UD 10 1963-08-07 Japan Tokyo
Win 30–2 Thailand Thira Lodjarengabe RTD 6 (10), 3:00 1963-06-19 Japan Nagoya, Aichi
Win 29–2 Mexico Jose Cejuda KO 1 (10), 0:28 1963-05-04 Japan Naha, Okinawa
Win 28–2 Japan Tetsuro Kawai UD 10 1963-03-21 Japan Tokyo
Loss 27–2 Thailand Pone Kingpetch MD 15 1963-01-12 Thailand National Stadium Gymnasium, Bangkok Lost WBA flyweight title.
Win 27–1 Thailand Pone Kingpetch KO 11 (15), 2:50 1962-10-10 Japan Kokugikan, Tokyo Won WBA flyweight title.
Win 26–1 Philippines Little Rufe UD 10 1962-07-23 Japan Tokyo
Loss 25–1 Mexico Edmundo Esparza SD 10 1962-06-14 Japan Tokyo
Win 25–0 Philippines Baby Espinosa PTS 10 1962-05-03 Japan Korakuen Gym, Tokyo
Win 24–0 Japan Tadao Kawamura UD 10 1962-03-18 Japan Tokyo
Win 23–0 Japan Kozo Nagata UD 10 1962-01-12 Japan Tokyo
Win 22–0 Japan Ryoji Shiratori KO 6 (8), 1:12 1961-12-10 Japan Nagoya, Aichi
Win 21–0 Japan Akio Maki UD 10 1961-10-09 Japan Osaka, Osaka
Win 20–0 Thailand Sombang Banbung KO 3 (10), 2:37 1961-09-09 Japan Tokyo
Win 19–0 Japan Akio Maki RTD 8 (10), 3:00 1961-07-31 Japan Tokyo
Win 18–0 Japan Shigeru Ito UD 10 1961-06-19 Japan Tokyo
Win 17–0 United States Ray Perez UD 10 1961-05-01 Japan Tokyo
Win 16–0 Japan Yasuo Fujita UD 6 1961-03-05 Japan Tokyo
Win 15–0 Japan Riichi Tanaka UD 6 1961-01-28 Japan Tokyo
Win 14–0 Japan Tsuyoshi Nakamura UD 6 1961-01-05 Japan Tokyo
Win 13–0 Japan Hiroyuki Ebihara PTS 6 1960-12-24 Japan Tokyo
Win 12–0 Japan Yoshinori Hikita UD 3 (4), 1:44 1960-12-11 Japan Tokyo
Win 11–0 Japan Hachiro Arai UD 4 1960-11-07 Japan Tokyo
Win 10–0 Japan Sadayoshi Yoshida KO 4 (4), 1:02 1960-10-28 Japan Tokyo
Win 9–0 Japan Yukio Suzuki UD 4 1960-09-01 Japan Tokyo
Win 8–0 Japan Masaru Kodangi RTD 3 (4), 3:00 1960-07-18 Japan Tokyo
Win 7–0 Japan Kazuo Morita KO 1 (4), 1:25 1960-06-24 Japan Shinagawa Hall, Tokyo
Win 6–0 Japan Masatake Ogura TKO 3 (4), 2:16 1960-06-10 Japan Tokyo
Win 5–0 Japan Ken Morita UD 4 1960-04-13 Japan Tokyo
Win 4–0 Japan Yuichi Noguchi UD 4 1960-04-04 Japan Tokyo
Win 3–0 Japan Goro Iwamoto KO 3 (4), 2:53 1960-03-27 Japan Asakusa Hall, Tokyo
Win 2–0 Japan Mitsuo Motohashi SD 4 1960-03-02 Japan Tokyo
Win 1–0 Japan Isami Masui TKO 4 (4), 2:20 1960-02-21 Japan Tokyo

See also


References

  1. ↑ http://www.japanvisitor.com/japanese-culture/sports/japan-boxing
  2. ↑ http://www.badlefthook.com/2009/12/11/1195657/the-great-masahiko-fighting-harada
  3. ↑ http://boxrec.com/media/index.php?title=Fight:23368
  4. ↑ http://boxrec.com/media/index.php?title=Fight:23370
  5. ↑ http://www.ibhof.com/pages/about/inductees/modern/harada.html
  6. ↑ http://www.saddoboxing.com/702-fighting-harada-recovering.html

External links

Preceded by
Pone Kingpetch		 WBA Flyweight Champion
10 October 1962 – 12 January 1963 		Succeeded by
Pone Kingpetch
Preceded by
Eder Jofre		 WBA Bantamweight Champion
18 May 1965 – 27 February 1968 		Succeeded by
Lionel Rose
WBC Bantamweight Champion
18 May 1965 – 27 February 1968
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