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Japan is a country with proud
boxing traditions, with many
champions and world class boxers
past and present. The vast
majority of them have been
successful in the lower
weight-classes, but former WBF
World Cruiserweight Champion
Yosuke Nishijima is one of
the rare exceptions.
He was born in Tokyo-suburb
Saitama on May 15 in 1973, and
had not yet turned nineteen
years old when he, fighting out
of the Takada Dojo, made his
professional debut with a
knockout of fellow first-timer
Ron Smith in March of 1992.
With a shortage of local or
nearby big men holding
professional boxing licenses, it
was always a struggle to match
Nishijima. So he had only two
more outings in Japan, also
stoppage victories, before he
ventured to America in search of
better opponents and exposure.
His first fight in “The land of
the free”, took place on August
3, 1993 at the Rivera Hotel &
Casino in Las Vegas. With
Bernard Hopkins in one of the
main fights, Nishijima stopped
Jamaica-born Derrick Edwards
(2-4) in the third of a
scheduled four-rounder.
Two months on he lost a majority
decision to Ken Milligan (3-1)
at the same venue, but he
managed to record another
victory, TKO 4 over David Mendez
(4-4), before returning to Japan
in early 1994 to stop American
Jeon Griffin (0-2) in five.
But Nishijima was not done with
America at all. In fact, the
following three years he would
go back and forth between Japan
and California, fighting almost
as much in his second home
country as he did in Japan. By
the end of 1994 he was 9-1 (7),
and ready to start pushing for
bigger things.
On February 19, 1995 in Burbank,
California, Nishijima took on
battle-tested Denver-journeyman
Kenny “The Killer” Kaiser
(7-6-2) for the vacant WBO NABO
Cruiserweight title. In a
genuine litmus test, he passed
the hurdle and won his first
championship belt by split
decision.
After two routine non-title
fight victories in Japan,
Nishijima was matched tough in
his first title-defense. But, in
another impressive performance
to round out 1995, he scored a
wide unanimous decision over
undefeated Mexican Leonardo
Aguilar (11-0) at the Great
Western Forum in Inglewood.
Seven months later he was back
in Japan, headlining a show in
Tokyo. Albeit with no title on
the line, Nishijima continued
his progress towards the top of
his division with a decision
over colorful American Jerry
“Wimpy” Halstead (83-14-1).
Next was Todd McPhee (9-1-1) in
Loughlin, Nevada on July 15,
1996, whom Nishijima stopped in
three rounds to line up a shot
at the vacant OPBF title in
Kyoto, the former Imperial
capital of Japan, the following
October.
In the opposite corner stood
Australian national champion and
PABA titlist Peter Kinsella
(8-1-2), a real hard-nosed
campaigner considered a very
dangerous adversary for the
home-man. But Nishijima appeared
undaunted, as he completely
outclassed the Queensland-native
and got rid of him inside three
stanzas.
Two months later Nishijama had
to go nine rounds before Hussain
Shah (6-3-1), a Pakistani
formerly based in the UK but
since relocated to Japan, had
taken enough punishment and was
halted. Now 17-1 (12), and with
thirteen victories in a row, it
was time to sink or swim.
July 11, 1997, on a World Boxing
Federation Championship
double-header at the Tropicana
Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas,
Nishijima was pitted against
highly ranked, and esteemed,
contender Brian LaSpada (28-5-2)
for the vacant WBF World
Cruiserweight title.
With
Juan
Lazcano and
James Crayton squaring off for
the WBF World Lightweight crown
in the co-feature, and future
WBO World Heavyweight Champion
Lamon Brewster on the undercard,
this was without a doubt the
biggest fight, and platform, of
the now 24-year-old´s career.
Former NABF Champion LaSpada had
challenged Nate Miller for the
WBA World title in 1996, and
stopped Canada´s Olympic silver
medalist Egerton Marcus only
four months earlier to win the
NABO title relinquished by
Nishijima, so once again it was
a step up in class.
And once again Nishijima rose to
the occasion. While it was a
competitive scrap, the Japanese
fought a very disciplined fight,
knocking LaSpada down in the
sixth before deservedly winning
a unanimous decision with scores
of 117-110, 115-111 and 115-112.
Ironically, the biggest triumph
of Nishijima´s career, becoming
a world champion, also caused
the biggest controversy. The
Japan Boxing Commission (JBC),
who at the time only affiliated
with the WBC and WBA, demanded
that he renounce his WBF title.
It is unclear if Nishijima´s
manager, Osamu Watanabe, was
willing to adhere to the demands
of the JBC, but Nishijima
refused to be bullied and
decided to split from the
manager, reportedly also due to
differences over money.
Instead he went back to the USA,
was suspended indefinitely by
the JBC, and would never again
fight in his birth-country.
Basing himself in Los Angeles,
he had every intention of
capitalizing on the big victory
over LaSpada regardless.
He returned to the ring, now
holding a license granted by the
California State Athletic
Commission, on March 19, 1998 in
Carson. In a lackluster
performance, he decisioned
Mexican trial-horse Eduardo
Ayala (11-10-1) over ten, but
the victory was not much to
write home about.
In fact, Nishijima would never
reach the same heights again,
and he would never defend his
WBF World title. After the Ayala
bout, he fought just seven times
in the next five years, his best
victory being over Ulysses
Boulware (24-4), before retiring
after a shock second round loss
to Cecil McKenzie (12-6-1) in
July of 2003.
Yosuke Nishijima finished
professional boxing with a
24-2-1 (15) record, and NABO,
OPBF and WBF World Cruiserweight
titles on his resume.
He was not finished with combat
sports, though, as he went on to
compete in MMA and K1
Kickboxing, with mixed success.
The highlight of his fighting
endeavors after boxing was a
victory in his retirement match
over cult-figure Bob Sapp in
November 2013.
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