Yūichi Kasai

Yūichi Kasai (葛西 裕一, Kasai Yūichi, born November 17, 1969) is a Japanese boxing trainer and a former three-time world title challenger in the junior featherweight division.

Yūichi Kasai
Kasai at Teiken Boxing Gym in 2010
Statistics
Real nameYūichi Kasai
Japanese: 葛西 裕一
Weight(s)Junior Featherweight
Height5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
NationalityJapanese
Born (1969-11-17) 17 November 1969[1]
Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan
StanceOrthodox
Boxing record
Total fights29
Wins24
Wins by KO16[2][1]
Losses4
Draws1

Biography

Kasai was born in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, and trained in Judo as a child before he began boxing at the age of a high school student.[3] He won the Japan's inter-high school championship in the bantamweight division in 1987.

Professional boxing career

Dropping out of the Senshu University in one year with an amateur record of 44–4 (24 KOs),[2] Kasai made his professional debut as a boxer managed by the Teiken Boxing Gym at the Korakuen Hall on August 12, 1989.[1]

After winning the sixth edition of the annual Japanese boxing series, the Class A Tournament in the junior featherweight division in November 1991, he experienced three away matches in the first half of 1992. With the promotion by the gym's president Akihiko Honda, he studied boxing in the United States. At first he trained in Los Angeles from February 1992, and won via a third-round knockout at the Great Western Forum in Inglewood, California. Then he learned under the instruction of Miguel Diaz at the Top Rank Gym while staying in Las Vegas, Nevada, and won two fights there at the Thomas & Mack Center and the Mirage. Back then two Japanese boxers fought only in one match in Las Vegas, but no Japanese stayed there and fought twice.[3]

Kasai gained the Japanese junior featherweight title via a second-round knockout on September 5, 1992, and defended it twice.[1] Miguel Diaz supported him as a chief second also in the fights in Japan.[4] He was tied on points with the former Olympian Abraham Torres in April 1993, and won on points against Jerome Coffee in October of that year.

In March 1994 Kasai fought against the WBA world junior featherweight champion Wilfredo Vázquez as an undefeated challenger at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium where he was knocked out at two minutes five seconds of the first round.[5][6] Making expeditions for the following fights, he won via a second-round knockout in Maracay, Venezuela in June, and won via a seventh round technical decision at the Neal S. Blaisdell Center in Honolulu in July of that year. Although he lost in a fight for the WBA Fedelatin junior featherweight title via a sixth-round technical knockout in Caracas, Venezuela in September of the same year, he captured the OPBF junior featherweight title in the next fight on February 4, 1995, and defended it once.[1]

Then while staying in Las Vegas again, after winning two matches at the Caesars Palace and the MGM Grand Las Vegas, Kasai was defeated in the showdown for the WBA world junior featherweight title against Antonio Cermeño via a unanimous decision at the Aladdin on December 21, 1996.[7][8][9] He lost successively his third title shot against Cermeño via a final round knockout while being watched by 15,000 spectators[10] at the Yokohama Arena on July 26, 1997,[11] and finally he retired as a boxer.

Post-retirement

Currently Kasai acts as a trainer of the Teiken Boxing Gym in Tokyo. He guided Toshiaki Nishioka whom he has coached for nearly ten years, to the world title in 2008,[12] and was presented with the nineteenth Eddie Townsend Award that year.[13] In 2011, Akifumi Shimoda trained by Kasai[14] was crowned the world champion. Shimoda is the Teiken Boxing Gym's second boxer following Masao Ohba who became a world champion from a walk-in boxer with no experience.[15][16] From 2012 through 2013, Toshiyuki Igarashi and Takashi Miura also secured the world titles under Kasai.[17][18][19]

Kasai also serves as a commentator of the boxing broadcast on Nippon Television[20] including Nittele G+.

References
  1. Boxing Magazine editorial department, ed. (March 1, 2004). "葛西裕一". 日本プロボクシングチャンピオン大鑑 (in Japanese). Tokyo, Japan: Baseball Magazine Sha Co., Ltd. p. 96. ISBN 978-4-583-03784-4.
  2. Baseball Magazine Sha 2002, p. 294.
  3. Minoru Sase 1993, p. 3
  4. Minoru Sase 1993, p. 4
  5. AP (March 3, 1994). "Results Plus". The New York Times. Retrieved February 23, 2011.
  6. Baseball Magazine Sha 2002, p. 177.
  7. Reuters (December 24, 1996). "Juventus moves clear but little between rest in Serie A (an image and a caption of this page)". Manila Standard. p. 17. Retrieved February 23, 2011.
  8. "Cermeno decisions Kasai". The Beaver County Times. December 23, 1996. p. B2. Retrieved February 23, 2011.
  9. Baseball Magazine Sha 2002, p. 178.
  10. Baseball Magazine Sha 2002, p. 179.
  11. "Miscellany". The Idaho Spokesman-Review. July 27, 1997. p. C3. Retrieved February 23, 2011.
  12. "西岡、両こぶし潰してもV5!…WBC世界Sバンタム級" (in Japanese). Sports Hochi. October 25, 2010. Archived from the original on November 4, 2010. Retrieved March 31, 2012.
  13. 帝拳葛西トレーナーにタウンゼント賞. Nikkan Sports (in Japanese). December 22, 2008. Retrieved February 23, 2011.
  14. Yūji Ezaka (February 1, 2011). 下田、3–0圧勝判定で奪取! (in Japanese). Sankei Sports. Archived from the original on February 6, 2011. Retrieved February 23, 2011.
  15. Anson Wainwright (31 January 2011). "Q & A with Akifumi Shimoda". 15rounds.com. Retrieved February 23, 2011.
  16. "大場2世だ! "雑草男"下田、涙の新王者". Sports Nippon. February 1, 2011. Retrieved March 8, 2011.
  17. Anson Wainwright (July 13, 2012). "Toshiyuki Igarashi: "Sonny Boy Jaro is a dangerous opponent"". MaxBoxing.com. Retrieved February 23, 2011.
  18. "Igarashi wins RING flyweight title with split-decision victory over Jaro". RingTV.com. July 16, 2012. Archived from the original on December 28, 2013. Retrieved August 6, 2012.
  19. 王座奪取の三浦、亡き父に「親父やったよ」 (in Japanese). MSN Sankei News. April 8, 2013. Archived from the original on April 8, 2013. Retrieved April 9, 2013.
  20. "NTV BOXING PROGRAM　ダイナミック・グローブ – 解説・実況アナ紹介" (in Japanese). Nippon Television. Archived from the original on July 22, 2011. Retrieved February 23, 2011.

Bibliography
  • Boxing Magazine editorial department, ed. (May 31, 2002). 日本プロボクシング史 世界タイトルマッチで見る50年 (Japan Pro Boxing History – 50 Years of World Title Bouts) (in Japanese). Tokyo, Japan: Baseball Magazine Sha Co., Ltd. pp. 177–179, 294. ISBN 978-4-583-03695-3.
  • Minoru Sase (March 20, 1993). 葛西裕一の世界獲り. Keiba Saikyō no hōsoku (in Japanese). Tokyo, Japan: KK Bestsellers Co., Ltd. (special issue): 3–4.
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