Jiro Takada: Oriental Champion and World-Title Challenger

Jiro Takada, also known as Yuji Oka, was a Japanese professional boxer who held the Oriental flyweight championship and challenged for the WBC and WBA world flyweight titles during the 1970s.

Career and championship record

Takada challenged Miguel Canto for the WBC championship in Mérida on August 23, 1975. Canto retained the title by an eleventh-round stoppage. Takada later continued his Oriental championship campaign, including a knockout of Dan Pisalchai in June 1976.

His WBA world-title opportunity came against Guty Espadas in Tokyo on January 1, 1977. Espadas retained the belt with a seventh-round stoppage. Takada subsequently defended his Oriental title against Chikara Igarashi and Daniel Pilar before losing it to Hong Soo Yang in December 1977.

Takada drew with Igarashi in another regional flyweight title contest in March 1979. He then challenged Oriental bantamweight champion Eijiro Murata in Tokyo on December 11 that year. Murata won a twelve-round unanimous decision. These bouts show Takada competing for regional titles in two divisions as well as making two world flyweight championship challenges.

Sources

Career records and reporting: boxinglib.com; boxrec.com; boxrec.com; asianboxing.info.

Related reading: boxing · fighters

Related references: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j66j1VRxbhI https://bleacherreport.com/articles/1764933-ranking-the-10-best-mexican-fighters-in-boxing-history https://www.asianboxing.info/thinking-out-east/tales-from-the-east-the-yakuza-who-became-a-boxer https://imdb.com/name/nm3845392/bio/ https://mydramalist.com/people/93543-takada-jiro https://boxrec.com/en/box-pro/10049 https://www.asianboxing.info/videos/eijiro-murata-vs-jiro-takada https://boxrec.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=257366 https://aramajapan.com/news/tvmovie/dramas/upcoming-spring-jdoramas-2015/17897/

Tags

Boxing, Boxing History