Tomonobu Shimizu: The Resilient Japanese Boxing Champion

Tomonobu Shimizu is a former Japanese professional boxer who held the WBA super-flyweight world title. Born in Fukui, Japan, on June 28, 1981, he began boxing in high school, later attended Tokyo University of Agriculture and made his professional debut in 2004 with Kaneko Boxing Gym. His career included a domestic title at flyweight before he moved up to challenge for a world championship.

Boxing career and major results

Shimizu won the Japanese flyweight championship in April 2008 and defended it four times before vacating the belt in 2010 to focus on a world-title opportunity. Earlier, he had challenged WBC flyweight champion Pongsaklek Wonjongkam in Thailand and lost by a corner retirement after seven rounds. In July 2008, Shimizu challenged Daisuke Naito for the WBC flyweight title. He led on the scorecards before Naito stopped him in the tenth round. Those setbacks preceded Shimizu’s move up to super-flyweight.

In August 2011, Shimizu challenged defending WBA champion Hugo Cazares. The contest took place in Tokyo on August 31 and went the full 12 rounds. Shimizu earned a split decision: two judges scored it 115–113 for him, while the third had Cazares ahead 116–114. The victory made Shimizu a world champion and was the defining result of his professional career.

The Cazares bout also left Shimizu with a fracture of the right orbital floor. The injury interrupted his plans to return to the ring. The WBA subsequently designated him champion in recess, while Tepparith Kokietgym held the regular title. That distinction matters to the story of Shimizu’s reign: by the time he faced Tepparith, he was returning from injury to contest the titles rather than making a routine first defense.

Shimizu and Tepparith met in Yokohama on April 4, 2012, in a bout promoted as a WBA super-flyweight title unification. Tepparith stopped Shimizu at 2:15 of the ninth round. The loss left Shimizu with a professional record of 19 wins, four defeats and one draw, with nine wins by knockout, as reported after the fight. It ended his bid to regain the championship in the ring.

Shimizu retired from professional boxing in 2012. After his career, he opened a boxing studio in Fukui, extending his connection to the sport beyond competition. His record is best understood through the milestones: a Japanese national title at flyweight, a hard-fought world-title win over Cazares, and an injury-disrupted attempt to unify the WBA super-flyweight championship with Tepparith.

Sources

Sources: BoxRec profile; BoxRec WBA super-flyweight title chronology; Kaneko Boxing Gym profile; WBA report on the Cazares fight.

Tags

Boxing, Boxing History