TOKYO, Aug 29\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Drastic weight loss, ferocious sparring and lax regulation have created a dangerous environment in Japanese boxing, as the sport battles for its future in the country after two fighters died.<\/p>\n
Super featherweight Shigetoshi Kotari and lightweight Hiromasa Urakawa, both 28, fought separate bouts on the same card at Tokyo\u2019s Korakuen Hall on August 2 and died days later following brain surgery.<\/p>\n
Another Japanese boxer died after a bout in Tokyo in December 2023 and one more has been in a coma since May this year.<\/p>\n
The twin tragedies this month sent shockwaves through Japanese boxing, with authorities scrambling to investigate and under pressure to tighten safety.<\/p>\n
Although no clear causes for the deaths have been identified, several factors have emerged that paint a high-risk picture of Japan\u2019s boxing scene.<\/p>\n
\u201cI believe it is safe but the results are everything,\u201d Hideyuki Ohashi, manager and promoter of Japan\u2019s undisputed super bantamweight world champion Naoya Inoue, told AFP.<\/p>\n
\u201cThree people have died (since December 2023) and that\u2019s nothing to be proud of.\u201d<\/p>\n
Following the latest deaths, governing body the Japan Boxing Commission (JBC) held emergency meetings with the Japan Pro Boxing Association (JPBA), which represents boxing gym owners.<\/p>\n
One issue under the microscope is the practice of boxers dehydrating to rapidly lose weight before a weigh-in, then putting it back on before a fight.<\/p>\n
The practice is regarded as a factor in making the brain more susceptible to bleeding, the World Boxing Association says.<\/p>\n
JBC secretary-general Tsuyoshi Yasukochi says the practice\u2014which is also common in other countries\u2014has only become widespread in Japan in recent years and its \u201csafety is not fully understood\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe held classes on dehydration last year where the figure we presented was two to four percent (of a boxer\u2019s body weight) at the very most,\u201d he told AFP.<\/p>\n
\u201cJapanese boxers nowadays lose 10 to 12 percent in just a few days. I think that\u2019s very dangerous.\u201d<\/p>\n
All-out attack\u00a0<\/p>\n
Unlike in Britain, where authorities can ban fighters who use saunas to dehydrate, Japanese boxing officials can only warn fighters whose weight drastically changes between a weigh-in and a fight.<\/p>\n
Officials in Japan are proposing a rule forcing those who regain more than 10 percent of their body weight to move up a weight class for their next bout.<\/p>\n
There is no uniform rule in world boxing about how much weight a fighter can lose and then pile back on.<\/p>\n
The JPBA says more data needs to be analysed before a conclusion can be reached about the best way to tackle it.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happens if we enforce a rule where a fighter isn\u2019t allowed to gain more than 10 percent of their weight and then they go into a world title fight where they\u2019re facing someone who that rule doesn\u2019t apply to?\u201d said JPBA official and gym owner Kazuhiro Ryuko.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt makes it pointless to aim for the top and in fact it only increases the risks.\u201d<\/p>\n
Other safety measures under consideration include restrictions on sparring, which JBC chief Yasukochi says is \u201cmuch more intense\u201d in Japan than other countries.<\/p>\n
He says it typifies the attitude of Japanese boxers, who \u201cnever give up, no matter what\u201d.<\/p>\n
He also believes that more Japanese fighters are focusing on attack at the expense of building defensive skills.<\/p>\n
\u201cJapanese boxers attack from the first round, it\u2019s not about strategising and taking your time,\u201d said Yasukochi.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs soon as the bell rings, they go straight in and attack.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s become the mainstream approach and I think it\u2019s one reason why they take damage.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lost trust\u00a0<\/p>\n
Boxing in Japan has a history of more than 100 years and has developed in different ways from other countries in some respects.<\/p>\n
Everyone involved in the sport in the country, from fighters to trainers and managers, must belong to a boxing club, of which there are over 150 in Tokyo alone.<\/p>\n
Clubs must apply to the JBC for members\u2019 licences and Yasukochi says requests have historically been rubber-stamped with little scrutiny because of a \u201clong-standing relationship of trust\u201d.<\/p>\n
After the latest deaths, he says stricter oversight must be introduced.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel that this trust is gradually being lost,\u201d said Yasukochi.<\/p>\n
The JBC and JPBA hope to announce concrete safety measures in September, with issues including ambulance availability and the use of MRI scans also under discussion.<\/p>\n
All parties have stressed the need to act quickly and admit that the future of Japanese boxing is at stake.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s really difficult to reduce the number of accidents to zero,\u201d said the JPBA official and gym owner Ryuko.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut the JPBA, the JBC and everyone involved in boxing needs to think about how to make it as close to zero as possible.\u201d \u2014 AFP<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TOKYO, Aug 29\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Drastic weight loss, ferocious sparring and lax regulation have created a dangerous environment in Japanese boxing,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":103271,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[64,63,802,74703,47188,50376,74702,74704,45482,85],"class_list":["post-103270","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-boxing","tag-dehydration-in-boxing","tag-hiromasa-urakawa","tag-japan-boxing-commission","tag-japanese-boxing-safety","tag-korakuen-hall-tokyo","tag-shigetoshi-kotari","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103270","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103270"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103270\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/103271"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}