Katsunari Takayama

Katsunari Takayama
Data
Birth Name	Katsunari Takayama
Weight class	Straw weight
nationality	Japanese
birthday	May 12, 1983
place of birth	Osaka
style	Normal display
size	1.58 m
Range	1.58 m
Combat Statistics
Struggles	40
Victories	31
Knockout victories	12
Defeats	8th
No value	0
Profile in the BoxRec database

Katsunari Takayama ( Japanese 高山 勝 成 , Takayama Katsunari ; born May 12, 1983 in Osaka ) is a Japanese professional boxer . He is a former world champion of the WBO and WBC as well as two-time world champion of the IBF in straw weight and current WBO world champion in this weight class.

Professional career

At the age of 17, Takayama successfully made his professional debut. He suffered his first bankruptcy in 2003 against Masato Hatakeyama when it came to the belt of the Japanese champions. On April 4, 2005, he won the WBC world championship against the Mexican Isaac Bustos with a unanimous victory on points. In the same year, however, he lost the belt to Eagle Den Junlaphan with a narrow point decision.

In 2006 he won the interim title of the WBA against Carlos Melo. In 2007 he competed against Yutaka Niida for the world title of the WBA and had to admit defeat on points over 12 rounds. In 2009 he boxed again for the WBA World Championship and failed again on points. This time the opponent was Roman Gonzalez . In 2011 he competed against the undefeated Nkosinathi Joyi . This fight was about the IBF world championship belt. The fight ended in a "no contest". The rematch that took place the following year, Takayama lost by unanimous decision. He also lost his next fight.

At the end of March 2013, Takayama was finally able to become world champion of the IBF association when he won over Mario Rodriguez by unanimous decision on points. He defended this title twice and competed against the reigning WBO world champion on August 9, 2014. This fight was a unification of titles. Takayama had to admit defeat on points after 12 rounds.

On December 31, 2014, in the same year, he was able to secure the two titles, which had become vacant in the meantime, through a technical knockout in the 7th round against Go Odaira. Then Takayama only held the IBF title, which he lost to José Argumedo in his third defense of the title . In August 2016, he defeated Riku Kano in the battle for the vacant WBO title.

Web links

• Katsunari Takayama in the BoxRec database