“I want to enter into immortality as Nicolino Locche and Horacio Accavallo did”Told him Fernando Martinez a Clarion A month ago, while preparing for the fight he will star in with Kazuto Ioka this Sunday in Tokyo for the International Boxing Federation and World Boxing Association flyweight titles. Those two men, along with Pascual Perezmake up the tripod of the first world champions that Argentine boxing consecrated. In the achievement of the three there is one thing in common: they obtained their belts on Japanese soil, where he Puma will seek the most important victory of his career.
Although Martinez already has one crown, the IBF one, he will try to take the WBA one from Ioka and thus become the fourth unified Argentine world champion. So far, only the Santa Fe native has achieved this. Carlos Monzon (World Boxing Council and WBA), the Mendoza native Hugo Pastor Corro (WBC and WBA) and the Buenos Aires native Sergio Maravilla Martinez (WBC and World Boxing Organization), all of them in the middleweight division.
Japan is a superpower in this sport these days (it has 10 world champions) and has written a rich boxing history. Winning world championship fights in that nation has not been an easy task for Argentine fighters: In the last three decades, only one man and one woman have achieved victories y The last consecration of a compatriot in the land of the rising sun took place more than half a century ago.
When television was a novelty in the country and the live broadcast of an event taking place in the antipodes of the planet was considered fantasy, Pascual Perez He won the first world title for Argentine boxing in Japan: he snatched the flyweight crown from the local boxer Yoshio Shirai in Tokyo on November 26, 1954 in the Korakuena stadium used primarily for baseball games (the Yomiuri Giants, the oldest professional team in the country, were home there).
Before that contest, the man from Mendoza had been an Olympic champion in London 1948 (it was the last gold for Argentine boxing, along with the one won in that edition by the heavyweight Rafael Iglesias), had won 23 of his 24 professional fights and had drawn the remaining one, precisely against Shirai at the Luna Park, in a duel in which the world crown had not been at stake.
Pascual Pérez won the world flyweight title against Japanese Yoshio Shirai. Photo: Clarín Archive.
The Japanese was taller, had greater reach and more experience in long fights (Perez had never gone 15 rounds), but the fighter from Tupungato dominated his rival, knocked him down with an uppercut in the 12th round and ended up winning on points on the referee’s cards. Jack Sullivan (146-139) and the judges Kuniharu Hayashi (146-143) y Bill Pacheco (143-139) in a fight witnessed by 15,000 spectators and which was scheduled for November 25, but had to be postponed for 24 hours due to the freezing drizzle and intense cold that Tokyo was enduring those days.
“I did this for President (Juan Domingo) Perón, for Argentina and for the thousands of friends I have in my country. I fought for President Perón, who made all this possible, and I dedicate my victory to him,” said Pérez, who returned to Japan for his rematch with Shirai in May 1955 (he knocked him out in the fifth round) and for four more fights in 1959, of which he won three (including two for the title) and lost one.
The title that belonged to Pascualito until April 1960 (he lost it to the Thai Pone Kingpetch in Bangkok) returned to the hands of a compatriot on March 1, 1966, when Horacio Accavallo outpointed Katsuyoshi Takayama at the Nippon Budokan in Tokyo and took over the crown that was vacant by decision of the World Boxing Association, which had stripped the Italian Salvador Burruni for refusing to expose it to the Japanese Hiroyuki Baldness.
Horacio Accavallo, holding a Japanese flag, greets Katsuyoshi Takayama, who is holding an Argentine flag. Photo: Clarín Archive.
Accavallo, 31, had only lost one of his 73 professional fights, against Burruni in August 1959 in Sassari, and since then had strung together 40 wins and one draw. He arrived in Japan almost two months before his consecration because he was initially going to face Ebihara in February, but the fight was suspended due to an injury to his rival and Takayama, who had a record of 31 wins, one loss and one draw, was designated as the new contender.
“I have prepared myself to win. I don’t want to be like those boxers who, by not taking care of themselves, ruined a life of sacrifice. Only I know what it cost me to get this opportunity. Argentines can be sure that I will not let it pass without pain or glory. If I lose, it will be because Takayama is better than me,” he said. roquino on the eve of their big night.
In a dramatic fight, the boxer born in Parque Patricios and raised in Villa Diamante showed better physical condition, arrived with more air to the final segment and ended up turning the result in his favor: the American referee saw him win. Nick Pope (73-69) and the Argentine judge Eloy Gonzalez (74-66), while his Japanese colleague Ko Toyama gave the victory to his compatriot (71-70).
Horacio Accavallo punishes Katsuyoshi Takayama against the ropes of the ring set up at the Nippon Budokan in Tokyo. Photo: Clarín Archive.
“I am the happiest man on Earth. I waited six years for this opportunity and now I don’t know whether to laugh or cry. I remember a lifetime of hardship and success achieved through great sacrifices,” Accavallo celebrated after his victory. He defended his title three times and retired as champion in October 1968. Before that, in February 1967, he returned to Tokyo to fight a fight without the title in dispute: he was knocked out by Kiyoshi Tanabe.
Nicholas Locche He was the protagonist of the last great joy that an Argentine boxer gave in Japan: after a very long career in the country (totaling 89 victories, 2 defeats and 14 draws), The Untouchable beat the Hawaiian Paul Takeshi Fuji On December 12, 1968 in the Ryogoku Kokugikan from Tokyo and won the WBA super lightweight title.
A faithful product of the Mendoza school, the pupil of Paco Bermudez He had never managed to fully win over the Buenos Aires public and had even been booed at Luna Park. “In Buenos Aires, people like the puncher. I am not liked because I don’t knock anyone down, because I don’t go forward like others do.”Locche had justified, who had only achieved 12 of his 89 victories by knockout.
However, in his first performance outside the country, the boxer from Tunuyán gave a demonstration of skill and effectiveness. His blows and feints physically and mentally destroyed Fuji, who, powerless and exhausted, did not come out to fight in the 10th round. After that, the public threw oranges into the ring and, unhappy with the loser’s defection, tried to attack him when he got off the platform, which forced the police to intervene to prevent the attack from being carried out. On the other hand, Locche was sent off with demonstrations of respect. “He is the greatest foreign boxer we have ever seen in a Japanese ring,” praised Yoshio Shirai, Pascual Pérez’s rival in 1954.
Nicolino Locche was the last Argentine boxer to win a world title in Japan. Photo: Clarín Archive.
“It was very easy for me, although at the beginning he seemed dangerous because he threw his hands hard. I don’t know if it was my best fight, what I do know is that I was never so well prepared,” said Locche, who was 29 years old at the time and went on to make five successful defenses before losing the crown to Panamanian Alfonso Frazer in March 1972.
After Locche’s victory over Fuji, almost 15 years passed until another Argentine won a world title fight in Japan: in the fourth defense of his second reign as WBA flyweight champion, Córdoba-born Santos Benigno Laciar knocked out Shuichi Hozumi on May 5, 1983 in Shizuoka. A decade later, on June 23, 1993, Santa Fe-born Juan Martín Whip Coggi retained his WBA super lightweight title with a quick win over Hiroyuki Yoshino in Tokyo.
Since then, Argentine boxers have suffered a number of defeats, with only one exception. On February 27, 2013, Mendoza native Juan Carlos Reveco defeated local boxer Masayuki Kuroda on points in Kawasaki, thus defending his WBA flyweight crown for the first time after the organization granted him regular champion status (he had previously been interim champion).
Four Argentines lost their crowns on Japanese soil: Pedro Décima from Tucumán (WBC super bantamweight), who was knocked out by Kiyoshi Hatanaka in Nagoya on February 3, 1991; Jorge Fernando Castro from Santa Cruz (WBA middleweight), who was beaten on points by Shinji Takehara in Tokyo on December 19, 1995; Omar Andrés Narváez from Chubut (WBO super flyweight), who was demolished in less than two rounds by Naoya Inoue on December 30, 2014 in Tokyo; and Juan Carlos Reveco, who lost on the scorecards and by majority decision to Kazuto Ioka on April 22, 2015 in Osaka.
Reveco returned to the same city eight months later to regain the crown, but was knocked out. Between both fights with the cottonIoka also beat the Cordoba native on points in Osaka Roberto Domingo Sosa. Sixteen years earlier, The little monkey José Rafael Sosa, older brother of Inchhad failed in his attempt to win the WBC bantamweight title: Joichiro Tatsuyoshi had beaten him on points in Yokohama.
Juan Carlos Reveco lost twice to Kazuto Ioka in 2015. Photo: Jiji Press / AFP.
Reveco and the Sosa brothers were three of the 12 Argentines who failed in their quest for a world title in Japan. The first were Buenos Aires native Carlos Cañete and San Juan native Víctor Federico Echegaray, who were unable to win the WBA super featherweight title: the first lost to Hiroshi Kobayashi in 1969 and the second to Kuniaki Shibata in 1973, both in Tokyo.
In 1979, the Mendoza native Manuel Ricardo Gonzalez He had two chances to win the WBA super welterweight championship, but Masashi Kudo beat him in both fights: the first, in Tokyo, on points and with a highly controversial majority decision; the second, in Yokkaichi, by technical knockout in the 12th round.
A former champion, Cordoba native Gustavo Ballas, tried to regain the WBA super flyweight title, but was knocked out by Jiro Watanabe in Osaka in July 1982. Also in Japan was the third failed attempt by Chaco native Carlos Gabriel Salazar before becoming world champion: he lost to Hiroshi Kawashima in August 1994 in Tokyo for the WBC super flyweight title. Fourteen months later he won the IBF 115-pound crown by beating Colombian Harold Grey in Mar del Plata.
Carlos Gabriel Salazar lost to Hiroshi Kawashima in August 1994 in Tokyo.
In the 21st century, the Sanjuanino tried and failed Mauricio Muñozwho was knocked out by Toshiaki Nishioka (WBC super bantamweight champion) in April 2011 in Kobe; the Chubut native Nestor Daniel Narvaeswho was outpointed by Toshiyuki Igarashi (WBC flyweight) in November 2012 in Sendai; the Buenos Aires native Israel a bit Pérez, who lost by knockout against Takashi Uchiyama (WBA super featherweight) in December 2014 in Ota; and Diego Ricardo Santillán from Salta, who fell by quick defeat to Shinsuke Yamanaka (WBC bantamweight) in April 2015 in Osaka.
The chain of Argentine setbacks was only broken by Reveco’s victory over Masayuki Kuroda in 2013 and by a great triumph of Daniela Romina Bermudez. The Rosario native knocked out local Tomomi Takano on November 11, 2015 at the Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and defended for the second time the World Boxing Organization super flyweight title that she had won 22 months earlier against Peruvian Linda Laura Lecca. On Sunday, Fernando Martínez will try to follow the same winning path that they followed The Cotton y The Beautiful One in a very complicated country for national boxing.
2024-07-05 09:00:18
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