Nobuo Nashiro

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Nobuo Nashiro

Statistics
Real name Nobuo Nashiro
Rated at Super flyweight
Nationality Flag of Japan Japanese
Birth date October 12, 1981 (1981-10-12) (age 26)
Birth place Nara, Nara, Japan
Stance Orthodox
Boxing record
Total fights 10
Wins 9
Wins by KO 5
Losses 1
Draws 0
No contests 0

Nobuo Nashiro (名城 信男, born October 12, 1981 in Nara, Japan) is a professional boxer in the Super flyweight (115 lb) division. His record is 9-1 (5 KOs). He is the former WBA super flyweight champion.

Contents

[edit] Childhood

Nashiro took an interest in boxing during elementary school, when his father took him to a boxing match for the first time. He became a fan of WBC Bantamweight champion Joichiro Tatsuyoshi, and entered his school's track team to build up his stamina. He was finally allowed to begin boxing in high school, and continued to Kinki University, but dropped out to begin his professional career.

[edit] Early career

Nashiro made his debut in Osaka on July, 2003, knocking out his opponent only 32 seconds into the first round. He won three more fights, and fought Hidenobu Honda in August, 2004. Honda was a world ranker at the time, and had challenged Pongsaklek Wonjongkam and Alexander Munoz in world title matches. Nashiro won by 10 round unanimous decision, becoming a world ranker in only his 5th professional fight, and was hailed by boxing fans as one of the top prospects in Japan.

[edit] Tragedy

On April 3, 2005, Nashiro fought Japanese Super flyweight champion Seiji Tanaka. The two had often sparred and trained together, and Nashiro won by TKO in the 10th round, winning the title. However, Tanaka dropped into a coma after the fight, and died two weeks later from a Subdural hematoma. Nashiro went into a sort of shock state after Tanaka's death, and seriously contemplated retirement from the guilt he felt. He kept himself away from boxing for over a month, until he met Tanaka's father at Masamori Tokuyama's WBC title defense. Tanaka's father told Nashiro to not worry about what happened to his son, and to continue his boxing career. Nashiro paid a visit to Tanaka's grave in Tottori, Japan to pay his respects, after defending the title won from Tanaka. Nashiro's struggle was documented on an episode of the Japanese TV show, "Kiseki Taiken! Unbelievabou!" aired on February 22, 2007.

[edit] World Title

Nashiro defended his title in November, 2005, winning by 10 round decision, and became the top ranked contender in the WBA Super flyweight division. He returned his Japanese Super flyweight title, and fought Martin Castillo in July, 2006 for the WBA Super flyweight title. Nashiro won the fight by TKO in the 10th round, becoming a world champion in only his 8th professional fight. This tied Joichiro Tatsuyoshi's record as the fastest Japanese fighter to become world champion. Nashiro could have beaten the record by challenging the world title in his 7th fight, but defended the Japanese Super flyweight title once to show respect for the deceased Tanaka.

Nashiro made his first defense in December, 2006, against Eduardo Garcia of Mexico. Nashiro won by 12 round unanimous decision to retain his title. Garcia had previously been invited to Japan as Nashiro's sparring partner when he was training for his fight against Martin Castillo.

Nashiro fought former WBA Super flyweight champion Alexander Munoz on May 3, 2007 at the Ariake Coliseum in Tokyo, Japan, for his second defense. Munoz completely overpowered Nashiro, winning the title by unanimous decision. This was the first loss of Nashiro's career.

[edit] Trivia

  • Nashiro fought Koki Kameda in a sparring session after his fifth professional fight. Nashiro had already proven himself to be a top contender, but Kameda was far more popular, even though he had fought his first six fights against boxers that had a combined record of 0-19-0. A segment of this sparring session was shown on SUN-TV's "Mezase Champ" show, and Nashiro was seen pinning Kameda against the ropes, landing quick, hard blows.
  • Nashiro appeared live on the Nippon Television show, "Zoom-in Super" on July 23, 2006; the day after he won his world title. The host of the show asked Nashiro what he thought of popular Japanese boxer Koki Kameda, and Nashiro made a sour face and answered; "He's great... I guess?" cracking up the audience.

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes and references

Preceded by
Martín Castillo
Super flyweight boxing champion (WBA)
July 22, 2006May 3, 2007
Succeeded by
Alexander Munoz
Persondata
NAME Nashiro, Nobuo
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION Japanese super flyweight boxer
DATE OF BIRTH October 12, 1981
PLACE OF BIRTH Nara, Japan
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH
Languages