Fighting Harada

Fighting Harada
Masahiko Harada, 1968
Data
Birth Name	Masahiko Harada
Weight class	Bantamweight
nationality	Japanese
birthday	April 5, 1943
place of birth	Tokyo
style	Left delivery
size	1.63 m
Combat Statistics
Struggles	62
Victories	55
Knockout victories	22nd
Defeats	7th

Masahiko "Fighting" Harada ( Japanese 原田 政 彦 , Harada Masahiko ; born April 5, 1943 in Tokyo ) is a former Japanese boxer.

He turned pro at the age of 16 and won his first 25 fights with his signature attack boxing before losing to the unknown Mexican Edmundo Esparza on points. A little later, he still got a fight for the WBA -Weltmeistertitel flyweight and struck on 10 October 1962, the Thai legend Pone Kingpetch surprising in the eleventh round KO . After he lost the title on points in the direct rematch in January 1963, he rose to the bantamweight.

In 1964 he went against the Mexican José Medel KO, but got a title chance on May 31, 1965 against the Brazilian WBA and WBC world champion Éder Jofre , who is considered one of the best bantamweights of all time and had previously beaten Medel twice by knockout.

He was able to contest the first fight, but clearly win the rematch in 1966 and is therefore the only boxer who could beat Jofre and at the same time the only one to win the fly and bantamweight titles. He defended the title a total of four times, including Medel and the Colombian Bernardo Caraballo , who had previously only lost to Jofre in 53 fights.

In February 1968 he was defeated by the Aboriginal Lionel Rose , a light-footed counter-boxer, on points and had to give up his title. Then he switched to featherweight.

In 1969 he lost to the American Alton Colter , but still challenged the featherweight world champion Johnny Famechon in Australia in July of that year . He had this down three times and even most of the Australian journalists had him well ahead, but the former world champion Willie Pep , who was referee and sole judge, scored the fight in Famechon's favor.

In the rematch in January 1970 he went KO. Then he ended his career.

He is the only Japanese in the International Boxing Hall of Fame .

Web links

• Fighting Harada in the BoxRec database
• Article (English)