Tsubasa Koura: Boxing Career and Notable Fights
Tsubasa Koura is a Japanese boxer and kickboxer from Yokohama. K-1 lists him as a former OPBF minimumweight champion and the 2015 All-Japan minimumweight Rookie of the Year.
In boxing, Koura challenged Yudai Shigeoka for the WBO Asia Pacific minimumweight title on November 12, 2021, losing by majority decision. He later fought ArAr Andales on October 25, 2022. The WBA’s record lists that bout as a technical draw after two rounds.
Koura moved into kickboxing in 2023. He made his professional debut at Krush 156 on December 17, losing a unanimous decision to Yusei Shirahata. K-1’s profile records a second kickboxing bout, a decision loss to Shota Nagano on April 28, 2024.
Winning and losing the OPBF championship
Koura captured the vacant OPBF minimumweight belt on July 29, 2017, stopping the Philippines’ Jaysever Abcede in the fourth round in Tokyo. The victory extended his unbeaten start to eleven professional wins. A contemporary PhilBoxing report records the result, while the regional title history identifies it as the beginning of his reign.
That reign ended against Lito Dante in Yokohama on March 31, 2019. Dante stopped Koura at 1:18 of the twelfth and final round, handing the Japanese boxer his first professional defeat after fourteen wins. The late finish marked a substantial setback before Koura’s later challenge against Shigeoka.
The sequence also helps distinguish the stages of his combat-sports career. His boxing achievements included a Rookie of the Year award and an OPBF championship, followed by further regional title competition. The Krush appearances came later under kickboxing rules, making the 2023 debut a move into a different discipline rather than the beginning of his overall professional fighting experience.
Further career results
Koura’s OPBF defenses included a majority-decision win over Masataka Taniguchi in November 2017, a fifth-round stoppage of Norihito Tanaka in March 2018 and a twelve-round decision over Daiki Tomita in September 2018. Those three defenses came before Dante ended his reign.
Sources
- World Boxing Association: Tsubasa Koura record
- K-1: Tsubasa Koura profile
- K-1: Krush 156 results
