Yasutsune Uehara

Yasutsune Uehara
上原 康恒
Born (1949-10-12) 12 October 1949 (age 75)
Naha, Okinawa, USCAR
(nowadays Japan)
NationalityJapanese
Statistics
Weight(s)Super featherweight
Height5 ft 5 in (165 cm)
Reach68 in (173 cm)
StanceOrthodox
Boxing record
Total fights32
Wins27
Wins by KO21
Losses5
Medal record
Men's Boxing
Representing  Japan
Asian Games
Bronze medal – third place 1970 Bangkok Light welterweight

Yasutsune Uehara (上原 康恒, Uehara Yasutsune, born October 12, 1949 in Okinawa, Japan) is a former professional boxer and former WBA and lineal super featherweight champion. He is one of the few Japanese boxers to have won the world title fighting outside Japan.

Biography

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Uehara was born in Naha, Okinawa. He won the inter-high school boxing tournament in his senior year in high school, and moved on to Nihon University, where he won amateur titles in two weight classes, compiling a distinguished amateur record of 117–8 (87RSC). He was already touted as the next Japanese world champion when he announced his decision to turn professional.

Uehara made his debut on November 14, 1972, with a fourth-round knockout in Honolulu, Hawaii. He suffered his first professional loss in his second fight. He returned to Japan after five fights in the United States.

He won nine fights in a row after returning to Japan, including seven victories by knockout. Uehara returned to the United States in August, 1974 to challenge WBA super featherweight champion Ben Villaflor, but lost by second-round knockout.

Uehara won the Japanese super featherweight title on July 21, 1971, knocking out his opponent in the first round. He defended the title a total of ten times, a considerable number of defenses for a regional title.

Uehara was once again ranked as the number one WBA super featherweight challenger in 1980, and challenged Samuel Serrano for the Lineal and WBA super featherweight titles on the undercard of Thomas Hearns' win over José Cuevas in Detroit. Uehara was losing on all three judges' scorecards before connecting with a right hook to knock out the defending champion in the sixth round.[1] Uehara's victory was named The Ring's 1980 upset of the year.

Uehara defended his title in November 1980, before meeting Serrano for the second time in April 1981. He lost the rematch by unanimous decision,[2] and announced his retirement shortly afterwards. His record was 27-5-0 (21KOs).

Professional boxing record

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32 fights 27 wins 5 losses
By knockout 21 1
By decision 6 4
No. Result Record Opponent Type Round, time Date Location Notes
32 Loss 27–5 Samuel Serrano UD 15 Apr 9, 1981 Prefectural Gymnasium, Wakayama, Japan Lost WBA and The Ring super featherweight titles
31 Win 27–4 Leonel Hernandez SD 15 Nov 20, 1980 Kokugikan, Tokyo, Japan Retained WBA and The Ring super featherweight titles
30 Win 26–4 Samuel Serrano KO 6 (15), 2:59 Aug 2, 1980 Joe Louis Arena, Detroit, Michigan, U.S. Won WBA and The Ring super featherweight titles
29 Win 25–4 Blazer Okubo KO 5 (10), 2:23 Mar 18, 1980 Japan Retained Japanese super featherweight title
28 Win 24–4 Kojiro Sasaki KO 10 (10), 2:39 Nov 10, 1979 Naha, Japan Retained Japanese super featherweight title
27 Win 23–4 Yoshitaka Ikehara PTS 10 Jul 12, 1979 Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan Retained Japanese super featherweight title
26 Win 22–4 Yasuhide Takahashi KO 6 (10) Feb 27, 1979 Japan
25 Win 21–4 Hideyoshi Horinaga KO 2 (10), 0:50 Nov 25, 1978 Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan Retained Japanese super featherweight title
24 Win 20–4 Tatsuya Moriyasu KO 2 (10) Aug 9, 1978 Omiya, Japan
23 Win 19–4 Ryu Fukita KO 7 (10), 1:50 Apr 28, 1978 Japan Retained Japanese super featherweight title
22 Win 18–4 Tadashi Akiyama RTD 7 (10), 3:00 Dec 4, 1977 Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan Retained Japanese super featherweight title
21 Win 17–4 Suketoshi Maruyama KO 6 (10) Sep 9, 1977 Nagoya, Japan
20 Win 16–4 Shoji Okano KO 2 (10), 1:33 May 29, 1977 Onoyama Gym, Naha, Japan Retained Japanese super featherweight title
19 Loss 15–4 Joe Lim PTS 10 Nov 25, 1976 Manila, Philippines
18 Win 15–3 Masa Ito PTS 10 Jul 29, 1976 Japan Won Japanese super featherweight title
17 Loss 14–3 Masa Ito PTS 10 Apr 23, 1976 Tokuyama, Japan Lost Japanese super featherweight title
16 Win 14–2 Susumu Okabe KO 8 (10), 2:24 Dec 9, 1975 Japan Retained Japanese super featherweight title
15 Win 13–2 Masa Ito KO 5 (10), 2:21 Oct 19, 1975 City Gymnasium, Okinawa, Japan Retained Japanese super featherweight title
14 Win 12–2 Susumu Okabe KO 1 (10), 1:52 Jul 21, 1975 Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan Won Japanese super featherweight title
13 Win 11–2 Freddie Mensah PTS 10 Nov 30, 1974 Akita City, Japan
12 Loss 10–2 Ben Villaflor KO 2 (15), 1:17 Aug 24, 1974 Honolulu International Center, Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S. For WBA and The Ring super featherweight title
11 Win 10–1 Masaharu Tsuchiya KO 1 (10) May 28, 1974 Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan
10 Win 9–1 Kae Shik Yuh KO 6 (12) Mar 26, 1974 Nagoya, Japan
9 Win 8–1 Ricardo Arredondo UD 10 Nov 29, 1973 Onoyama Gym, Naha, Japan
8 Win 7–1 Tokikazu Ichikawa KO 3 (10) Oct 28, 1973 Japan
7 Win 6–1 Ricky Sawa KO 6 (10) Aug 4, 1973 Naha, Japan
6 Win 5–1 Noriaki Yoshimura KO 5 (10) Jun 14, 1973 Japan
5 Win 4–1 Danny Campos TKO 6 (8) Mar 12, 1973 Honolulu International Center, Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.
4 Win 3–1 Rogelio Tulunghari TKO 1 (6) Feb 13, 1973 Honolulu International Center, Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.
3 Win 2–1 Shichiro Saito PTS 6 Dec 12, 1972 Honolulu International Center, Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.
2 Loss 1–1 Mar Yuzon PTS 6 Nov 21, 1972 Honolulu International Center, Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.
1 Win 1–0 Sam Fraticelli TKO 4 (6) Nov 14, 1972 Honolulu International Center, Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "A ROUNDUP OF THE WEEK JULY 28-AUG. 3". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved 2024-01-01.
  2. ^ "Samuel Serrano of Puerto Rico regained the World Boxing..." United Press International. Retrieved 2024-01-01.
[edit]
Sporting positions
Regional boxing titles
Preceded by
Susumu Okabe
Japanese super featherweight champion
July 21, 1975 – April 23, 1976
Succeeded by
Masa Ito
Preceded by
Masa Ito
Japanese super featherweight champion
July 29, 1976 – 1980
Vacated
Vacant
Title next held by
Hikaru Tomonari
World boxing titles
Preceded by WBA super featherweight champion
August 2, 1980 – April 9, 1981
Succeeded by
Samuel Serrano
The Ring super featherweight champion
August 2, 1980 – April 9, 1981
Awards
Previous:
Vito Antuofermo D10
vs. Marvelous Marvin Hagler
The Ring magazine Upset of the Year
KO6 vs. Samuel Serrano

2011
Next:
Roger Stafford W10
vs. Pipino Cuevas