HIROTO KYOGUCHI “This is the way of my life” after his mortal combat with his old enemy Kenshiro Teraji

It’s when you lose that you find out who your friends really are.

Even a world champion who has won many battles in a row can suffer a single defeat, and the people around him will leave like spiders scattering their young. Only those who remain are true friends. This is a common saying in the boxing world.

Hiroto Kyoguchi, 29, who lost his belt in the WBC/WBA light flyweight title match on November 1, did not lose friends but gained new fans.

I am approached every day on the street, and the number of subscribers to my YouTube channel has increased by about 5,000.

Six weeks have passed since his unification bout with Kenshiro Teraji (30), which he lost by KO in the seventh round. Although he has not yet begun full-scale training, he spends his days working out at the gym from time to time to get back on his feet.

I’ve only watched the video of the match once. I did all I could do, but my opponent was a cut above me, and I put him away in the fifth round, but he changed his fighting style in the sixth and I couldn’t finish him. ……

Still, Kyoguchi fought back hard after being taken down in the fifth round, and after the fight he said, “I’m clumsy, and that’s why I worked harder than anyone else to get this far. I decided to fight until I could do it, and I’ve been working on it for a long time.

Kyoguchi, who won all 16 of his fights with 11 KOs and won two weight classes, minimum and light fly, received many comments that “the Kenshiro fight was the most impressive” and “the best fight of the year.

I lost 14 times as an amateur, but this is my first black star as a pro. I feel the weight of it. At the same time, I know how difficult it is to win. People often say, ‘Use this one loss as your strength,’ but the number of people who have made it back to the top is small compared to the number of people who are trying again. I am a professional, so I should not glorify my defeat, but I am honestly happy to hear that kind of reaction from the fans. I guess they liked the way I lost.”

Kyoguchi, who entered YouTube quite early in his career as a martial artist and boasts a channel with more than 210,000 subscribers, always makes an effort to keep an objective eye on himself. He sometimes conducts ego searches to gather data on how he is viewed. This is tied to his performance in the ring.

Hitoshi Watanabe, 72, chairman of Watanabe Boxing Gym, which has nurtured Kyoguchi, says, “I am able to push myself.

He is able to push himself, which is why he is so inspiring to the people who watch him. As an athlete, he will enter a period of maturity. I will definitely make him a world champion again.

He has yet to set a specific goal. What he has decided is to become the kind of boxer that people say, “When I see Kyoguchi fight, I feel encouraged.

Already, fellow WBO minimumweight champ Masataka Taniguchi (28) and Japanese lightweight champion Shu Utsugi (28), who is one year his junior, have been inspired by Kyoguchi’s image and are training with a lot of spirit.

I’d like to try sparring camps overseas in the future,” he said.

What will Kyoguchi show in his new chapter? He will soon make a fresh start.

From the December 30, 2022 issue of FRIDAY