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Koichi Wajima
Wajima c. 1973
Statistics
Real name	Koichi Wajima
Nickname(s)	Hono no Otoko (Man on Fire)
Weight(s)	super welterweight
Height	5 ft 7 1⁄2 in (171 cm)[1]
Nationality	Japanese
Born	(1943-04-21) 21 April 1943 (age 75)[1] Shibetsu, Hokkaidō[1]
Stance	Orthodox
Boxing record
Total fights	38
Wins	31
Wins by KO	25
Losses	6
Draws	1
No contests	0

Koichi Wajima (輪島 功一, born 21 April 1943) is a retired Japanese professional boxer who competed in the light middleweight (154 lb) division. He is the former Undisputed Light Middleweight Champion of the World, who won both WBC and WBA titles.

Childhood and early career

Wajima was born in Karafuto, (current Sakhalin) which became Soviet territory when Wajima was three years old. He and his family moved to Shibetsu, Hokkaidō, but barely managed to make a living, Wajima was put up for adoption. He lived with his stepfamily while his parents worked in Shibetsu.^{[citation needed]}

Wajima began to work as a fisherman with his stepfamily. He was still in middle school, but had to work from sunset all the way to daybreak. The only time he had to sleep was during class. He was a fighter from a young age, having to work tirelessly each day, and often picking fights with other kids.

After graduating from middle school, he traveled to Tokyo, where he worked briefly as a truck driver before joining the Misako Boxing Gym. He made his professional debut in March, 1968, at the age of 25.

Professional career

Wajima captured the Japanese super welterweight title in September, 1969. He defended the title 9 times before returning it. He got his first shot at the world title against Carmelo Bossi for the world light middleweight title on October 31, 1971 in Tokyo, winning by 15-round split decision to capture his first world title.^[2] He made his first defense in May, 1972, taking less than 2 minutes to knock out his opponent. He would defend the title a total of 6 times. He quickly became one of the most popular boxers in Japan for his peculiar "Frog Jump" uppercut punch.

He lost his 7th defense to Oscar Albarado in 1974 by KO in the 15th round. He got a rematch with Albarado 7 months later, on January 21, 1975, and managed to avenge his loss with a 15-round decision win to regain the Lineal, WBC and WBA titles. He was stripped of the WBC title in March, and lost to Jae-Doo Yuh to lose his Lineal and WBA light middleweight titles as well. However, he regained his Lineal and WBA titles in February, 1976, with a 15th round KO over Yuh.

Wajima lost to Jose Manuel Duran in his first defense, losing the world title for the third time in his career. He fought his final match In June, 1977, challenging Eddie Gazo for the WBA super welterweight title, but lost by 11th round KO. This was the last fight of his career. His record was 31-6-1 (25KOs).

Professional boxing record

31 Wins (25 knockouts, 6 decisions), 6 Losses (5 knockouts, 1 decision), 1 Draw [1]
Result	Record	Opponent	Type	Round	Date	Location	Notes
Loss	35-4-2	Eddie Gazo	TKO	11	07/06/1977	Nihon Budokan, Tokyo, Japan	For Lineal and WBA Light Middleweight Titles. Referee stopped the bout at 0:45 of the 11th round.
Loss	58-5-9	Jose Manuel Duran	KO	14	18/05/1976	Nihon University, Tokyo, Japan	Lost Lineal and WBA Light Middleweight Titles. Wajima knocked out at 0:50 of the 14th round.
Win	41-1-1	Jae-Doo Yuh	KO	15	17/02/1976	Nihon University, Tokyo, Japan	Won Lineal and WBA Light Middleweight Titles. Yuh knocked out at 1:47 of the 15th round.
Loss	37-1-1	Jae-Doo Yuh	KO	7	07/06/1975	City Sogo Gym, Kitakyushu, Fukuoka, Japan	Lost Lineal and WBA Light Middleweight Titles. Wajima knocked out at 2:04 of the 7th round.
Win	51-6-1	Oscar Albarado	UD	15	21/01/1975	Nihon University, Tokyo, Japan	Won Lineal, WBA and WBC Light Middleweight Titles. 69-67, 70-69, 75-68.
Loss	49-6-1	Oscar Albarado	KO	15	04/06/1974	Nihon University, Tokyo, Japan	Lost Lineal, WBA and WBC Light Middleweight Titles. Wajima knocked out at 1:57 of the 15th round.
Win	35-0-1	Miguel De Oliveira	MD	15	05/02/1974	Metropolitan Gym, Tokyo, Japan	Retained Lineal, WBA and WBC Light Middleweight Titles. 73-73, 73-70, 74-71.
Win	42-2-1	Silvano Bertini	RTD	12	14/08/1973	Makomanai Ice Arena, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan	Retained Lineal, WBA and WBC Light Middleweight Titles. Bertini retired at 3:00 of the 12th round.
Win	42-6-2	Ryu Sorimachi	MD	15	19/04/1973	Prefectural Gymnasium, Osaka, Japan	Retained Lineal, WBA and WBC Light Middleweight Titles. 71-71, 72-71, 72-71.
Draw	30-0	Miguel De Oliveira	PTS	15	09/01/1973	Metropolitan Gym, Tokyo, Japan	Retained Lineal, WBA and WBC Light Middleweight Titles.. 71-71, 73-71, 71-71.
Win	17-8-2	Matt "Art" Donovan	KO	3	03/10/1972	Nihon University, Tokyo, Japan	Retained Lineal, WBA and WBC Light Middleweight Titles. Donovan knocked out at 0:53 of the third round.
Win	63-17-7	Domenico Tiberia	KO	1	07/05/1972	Sports Centre, Fukuoka, Japan	Retained Lineal, WBA and WBC Light Middleweight Titles. Tiberia knocked out at 1:49 of the first round.
Win	22-1-2	Cassius Naito	KO	7	02/02/1972	Metropolitan Gym, Tokyo, Japan	Naito knocked out at 1:30 of the 7th round.
Win	40-7-3	Carmelo Bossi	SD	15	31/10/1971	Nihon University, Tokyo, Japan	Won Lineal, WBA and WBC Light Middleweight Titles. 68-67, 72-70, 70-73.
Win	12-8-1	Tetsuo Hoshino	KO	2	28/05/1971	Tokyo, Japan	Japan Light Middleweight Title. Hoshino knocked out at 2:41 of the second round.
Win	0-9	Alfredo Fuentes	KO	1	26/03/1971	Tokyo, Japan	Fuentes knocked out at 3:08 of the first round.
Win	18-3	Hideo Kanazawa	KO	2	18/02/1971	Osaka, Japan	Hideo knocked out at 1:45 of the second round.
Win	23-15-5	Hisao Minami	KO	7	08/01/1971	Tokyo, Japan	Japan Light Middleweight Title. Minami knocked out at 2:38 of the 7th round.
Win	5-6-2	Raizo Kashima	KO	3	30/10/1970	Tokyo, Japan	Japan Light Middleweight Title. Kashima knocked out at 2:34 of the third round.
Win	12-5	Tetsuo Hoshino	KO	5	10/09/1970	Tokyo, Japan	Japan Light Middleweight Title. Hoshino knocked out at 2:12 of the fifth round.
Win	21-13-2	Muneo Mizoguchi	KO	8	09/08/1970	Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan	Japan Light Middleweight Title. Muneo knocked out at 2:09 of the eighth round.
Win	10-22-1	Ken Sato	KO	3	23/05/1970	Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan	Sato knocked out at 2:31 of the third round.
Win	10-6	George "Jimmy" Carter	SD	10	09/04/1970	Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan	Japan Light Middleweight Title. 49-48, 48-47, 48-49.
Loss	9-6	George "Jimmy" Carter	UD	10	05/02/1970	Tokyo, Japan	Japan Light Middleweight Title. 46-48, 46-48, 47-49.
Win	14-3-4	Turtle Okabe	KO	7	18/12/1969	Tokyo, Japan	Japan Light Middleweight Title. Okabe knocked out at 2:25 of the 7th round.
Loss	28-9-5	Pedro Adigue	KO	1	30/10/1969	Tokyo, Japan	Wajima knocked out at 2:21 of the first round.
Win	13-10-1	Noriyasu Yoshimura	KO	4	04/09/1969	Nagoya, Aichi, Japan	Japan Light Middleweight Title. Yoshimura knocked out at 1:37 of the fourth round.
Win	23-15-6	Rocky Alarde	KO	8	30/07/1969	Tokyo, Japan	Alarde knocked out at 1:28 of the eighth round.
Win	12-0	Alacran Kusanagi	KO	9	16/06/1969	Tokyo, Japan	Kusanagi knocked out at 0:21 of the ninth round.
Win	2-4	Takemi Kato	KO	6	27/03/1969	Tokyo, Japan	Kato knocked out at 1:00 of the sixth round.
Win	--	Masaki Nomoto	PTS	6	03/02/1969	Tokyo, Japan
Win	--	Masami Takechi	RTD	4	30/12/1968	Tokyo, Japan	Takechi retired at 3:00 of the fourth round.
Win	0-3-2	Sozo Yamamoto	KO	1	27/10/1968	Tokyo, Japan	Sozo knocked out at 1:25 of the first round.
Win	--	Takao Higa	KO	3	06/10/1968	Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan	Higa knocked out at 1:19 of the third round.
Win	--	Tadakazu Sakai	KO	2	31/08/1968	Tokyo, Japan	Sakai knocked out at 1:05 of the second round.
Win	--	Toshiaki Kaneko	KO	3	08/08/1968	Tokyo, Japan	Kaneko knocked out at 2:00 of the third round.
Win	--	Koji Watanabe	KO	2	30/06/1968	Tokyo, Japan	Koji knocked out at 0:52 of the second round.
Win	--	Akira Takekawa	KO	1	15/06/1968	Tokyo, Japan	Akira knocked out at 2:51 of the first round.

Post retirement

Like many other Japanese boxers, Wajima became a successful television personality after retiring, and has appeared on game shows and television dramas. He became the head of the Eastern Japan Boxing Council, and has founded his own boxing gym in Tokyo. His brother-in-law also runs a successful dumpling store in Kokubunji, Tokyo. He also claims that condemned prisoner Iwao Hakamada is innocent.^[3] Hakamada was later released after 45 years in prison, due to new evidence and discovery of the prosecution's reliance on falsified evidence.

See also

• List of lineal boxing world champions


• List of light middleweight boxing champions


• List of WBA world champions


• List of WBC world champions


• List of undisputed boxing champions


• List of Japanese boxing world champions


• Boxing in Japan

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Koichi Wajima.

• 
  Professional boxing record for Koichi Wajima from BoxRec
  


• Koichi Wajima boxing gym official (Japanese)


• Koichi Wajima - CBZ Profile