{"id":416044,"date":"2026-06-12T08:13:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T08:13:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/?p=416044"},"modified":"2026-06-12T08:13:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T08:13:13","slug":"japans-1st-world-lightweight-boxing-champ-dies-at-76","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/2026\/06\/12\/japans-1st-world-lightweight-boxing-champ-dies-at-76\/","title":{"rendered":"Japan\u2019s 1st world lightweight boxing champ dies at 76"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>TOKYO<\/strong>&nbsp;\u2013 Former professional boxer Guts Ishimatsu, who became the first Japanese world lightweight champion, died of pneumonia at a hospital in Tokyo on June 2, it was learned Thursday. He was 76.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The boxer, whose real name was Yuji Suzuki, was a native of Tochigi Prefecture in eastern Japan. He made his professional debut in 1966.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He unsuccessfully challenged Panamanian boxer Roberto Duran for the World Boxing Association&#8217;s lightweight title before clinching the lightweight title of the World Boxing Council in 1974.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ishimatsu defended the WBC title five times and finished his career with a record of 31 wins, including 17 knockouts, 14 losses, and six draws. He was known for his powerful right-hand punches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After retiring from boxing, Ishimatsu appeared in many television programs and films. He coined the popular catchphrase &#8220;OK bokujo,&#8221; meaning &#8220;Everything is all right.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He ran unsuccessfully in the 1996 election for the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of Japan&#8217;s parliament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ishimatsu was a founding member and inaugural chief of the Boxing World Champions Club Japan, which comprises Japanese boxers who have won world titles.<strong><em>&nbsp;<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>TOKYO&nbsp;\u2013 Former professional boxer Guts Ishimatsu, who became the first Japanese world lightweight champion, died of pneumonia at a hospital in Tokyo on June 2, it was learned Thursday. He was 76. The boxer, whose real name was Yuji Suzuki, was a native of Tochigi Prefecture in eastern Japan. He made his professional debut in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12903],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-416044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-12903"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416044","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=416044"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416044\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":416045,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416044\/revisions\/416045"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=416044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=416044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=416044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}