Takao Sakurai

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Takao Sakurai boxer
Takao Sakurai at the 1964 Olympics

Takao Sakurai at the 1964 Olympics

Data
Birth Name Takao Sakurai
Weight class Bantamweight
nationality Japanese
birthday September 25, 1941
place of birth Sawara
Date of death January 10, 2012
Place of death Tokyo
style Legal display
Combat Statistics
Struggles 32
Victories 30th
Knockout victories 4th
Defeats 2
draw 0

Takao Sakurai ( Japanese :桜井孝雄, Sakurai Takao * 25. September 1941 in Sawara , today: Katori , Chiba Prefecture ; † 10. January 2012 in Tokyo ) was a Japanese boxer in the bantamweight .

amateur

Sakurai won the bantamweight gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics in 1964. In the final he defeated the South Korean Chung Shin-cho . He became the first Japanese Olympic champion in boxing. It was not until 2012 that a Japanese boxer was able to win Olympic gold again, namely Ryōta Murata in the middleweight division.

Professional career

In 1965, Sakurai turned professional. He finished his first 22 fights victorious. In July 1968, Sakurai challenged the Australian Lionel Rose ; it was about the world title in bantamweight according to WBA and WBC version. Sakurai managed to knock down in the second round, but ultimately lost in the fight in a majority decision just on points.

His second defeat had to accept Sakurai in May 1969 against the Mexican Rubén Olivares in an elimination for the right to a world championship fight, he lost by technical knockout in the sixth round.

In October 1969 Sakurai won the Asian Bantamweight Championship. He defeated the South Korean Won-Suk Lee . After winning the title defenses over the two Filipinos Alberto Jangalay and Joe Malonso , Sakurai ended his boxing career in 1970 as the reigning Asian champion.

He died on January 10, 2012 in Tokyo at the age of 70 from complications from an esophageal cancer .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. 五 輪 「金」 ボ ク サ ー 桜 井 孝 雄 さ ん 死去 ( Memento from January 13, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) (Japanese)
  2. Ex-Gold Medalist Sakurai Passes ( Memento of the original from January 16, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. fightnews.com, January 16, 2012 (English) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.fightnews.com