{"id":543406,"date":"2026-03-18T00:22:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T00:22:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/543406\/"},"modified":"2026-03-18T00:22:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T00:22:08","slug":"i-want-to-be-a-superstar-doc-japan-boxing-champ-mizuki-hiruta","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/543406\/","title":{"rendered":"‘I Want to Be a Superstar’ Doc Japan Boxing Champ Mizuki Hiruta"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tFilmmaker Peter Michael Dowd has revealed that production is underway on his new feature documentary about Japanese world champion boxer Mizuki Hiruta<\/a>, titled \u201cI Want to Be a Superstar.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHiruta has been making waves in women\u2019s boxing. In 2025, she was named Female Fighter of the Year at the Ring Magazine Awards, held at Cipriani in New York City. Early in her professional career, she captured the WBO Super Flyweight title and has remained undefeated since.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWomen\u2019s boxing in Japan still struggles for attention and recognition. There are times when it feels like we are invisible,\u201d said Hiruta in a statement. \u201cThat is why this documentary means so much to me. It feels like a gentle light during difficult moments. It feels like someone is walking beside me \u2013 not trying to change me, but simply seeing me. Through this film, I don\u2019t feel alone. I feel like we are chasing this dream together.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHiruta discovered the sport in her mid-teens after stepping into a boxing gym at her high school. She later joined the Japan Self-Defense Forces \u2013 Japan\u2019s de facto military \u2013 to continue training, and in 2021 began representing Japan in amateur competitions. She turned pro and in 2023, she began training in Los Angeles with renowned coach Manny Robles.<\/p>\n

\n\tLos Angeles-based producer and director Dowd is best known for his SXSW-premiering documentary \u201cMr. Jimmy,\u201d which follows the life of a Japanese salesman obsessed with anything related to Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI\u2019ve spent the past half-decade immersed in the boxing world shooting pieces for \u2018Top Rank Boxing\u2019 on ESPN,\u201d Dowd said in a statement. \u201cThis film draws on that knowledge combined with my experiences with Japanese culture to make something as authentic as possible. Mizuki is an iconic superstar in the making. She\u2019s an incredibly strong woman making her way in the rough and tumble \u2018man\u2019s world\u2019 of boxing, and this film offers an unflinching look into everything she\u2019s overcome to achieve stardom.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Filmmaker Peter Michael Dowd has revealed that production is underway on his new feature documentary about Japanese world…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":543407,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[447],"tags":[703,49,48,49495,212031,133441,82],"class_list":["post-543406","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-documentaries-to-watch","tag-hong-kong-filmart","tag-mizuki-hiruta","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543406","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=543406"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543406\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/543407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=543406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=543406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=543406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}