Katsunari Takayama: Minimumweight Championship Career
Katsunari Takayama is a Japanese boxer whose long career brought him championships recognized by several sanctioning organizations at minimumweight. His title history includes the WBC, an interim WBA championship, two IBF reigns and two WBO reigns. He later added the IBO minimumweight title in December 2024.
Career and championship record
Takayama won the WBC minimumweight championship against Isaac Bustos in April 2005. His reign ended that August when Eagle Den Junlaphan defeated him by unanimous decision. He later won an interim WBA championship, adding another organization’s title to his minimumweight record.
His overseas championship pursuits included a successful challenge to IBF champion Mario Rodríguez in Mexico in March 2013. He defended that title before meeting WBO champion Francisco Rodríguez Jr. in a 2014 unification contest. Takayama lost the twelve-round decision in Mexico, ending that IBF reign.
When the IBF and WBO championships became vacant, Takayama won both belts against Go Odaira on December 31, 2014. He subsequently vacated the WBO title while continuing as IBF champion. His second IBF reign ended in a technical-decision loss to José Argumedo in December 2015.
Takayama won the vacant WBO minimumweight championship against Riku Kano in August 2016. He then left professional boxing to pursue an amateur route toward the Tokyo Olympics. He did not qualify for the Games and returned to professional competition in 2020 after several years away.
In May 2021, he challenged Elwin Soto for the WBO light-flyweight title at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Soto won by ninth-round technical knockout. Takayama remained active afterward and defeated Kha Lu over twelve rounds in General Santos, Philippines, on December 18, 2024.
The Lu victory earned the vacant IBO minimumweight championship. All three judges favored Takayama, scoring the contest 118–110, 119–109 and 120–108. The result left him with 35 professional wins, nine losses and one no contest. In March 2025, he announced another retirement, bringing to a close the career that had resumed after his unsuccessful Olympic bid.
Sources
Additional sources: https://boxrec.com/wiki/index.php/Katsunari_Takayama; https://www.ringmagazine.com/news/katsunari-takayama-decides-to-retire-from-boxing-kVT3HC30rBzLQLMsTrErB; https://philboxing.com/story-172605; https://boxingnews.jp/english/83218/
