Persecuted Since the Day of the Attack on Pearl Harbor When He Was Nine — The Strange Life of Mack Kurihara the Champions’ Trainer
Yakushiji became the Japanese bantamweight champion in his second fight after teaming with Mack, and won the WBC bantamweight title in his tenth fight; his fourth defense was a fight with Tatsuyoshi.
Ninety-nine percent of the people said that Tatsuyoshi would win. It is true that Tatsuyoshi was a great fighter. That’s why I shook Tatsuyoshi to make him uneasy. I could tell he was a sensitive guy. So I said, ‘He has six weaknesses. Actually, I didn’t have any of those (laughs), but sure enough, Tatsuyoshi was upset. I could see it in his hand that he was getting cornered. Yasu, on the other hand, had set up camp in the U.S. and was able to concentrate on his training with the noise shut out. At that time, I advised him to use his jab anyway, and to aim at Tatsuyoshi’s left eye, which had become detached from the retina. Then I put more pressure on him by telling the media, ‘Tatsuyoshi will go blind after the fight. It was a ploy to confuse and panic him. Yasu kept the pace with his jab, as planned, and overcame Tatsuyoshi. One of the judges scored the fight a draw, but Yasu’s victory would have been obvious.”
The day Yakushiji beat Tatsuyoshi was Mac’s 62nd birthday. The place where he overcame rain, dew, frost, and snow to score a historic victory was Japan, where his roots are.
I’m not American. I am Japanese.
He said this at every opportunity before his death.
The morning after his victory in the biggest match ever seen in Japan, Mack was reading the Japan Times when he suddenly lost sight in his right eye.
“It suddenly went dark,” he said. The first doctor I saw operated on me three times, and the second doctor gave me three laser treatments. I went to seven other hospitals, but in the end I lost my sight. Perhaps that was the price to pay for my historic victory.
The man who was called a “Jap” from the age of nine has left behind a legacy of achievement in the world of boxing, and now rests in eternal peace. Please visit —– for more information.
Photography and text by： Soichi Hayashi
Born in 1969. Passed the professional boxing test as a junior lightweight, but suffered an injury to his left elbow. After working as a reporter for a weekly magazine, he became a nonfiction writer, and in 1996 moved to the U.S. to teach at a public high school in the U.S. He also works as an educator. He is the author of "Minority Fist," "America's Lower Level Education Site," and "America's Problem Child Regeneration Classroom" (all Kobunsha e-books), "God's Ring," "The Door to the World: Forward! Samurai Blue" and "Hohoite to Nurture Coaching" (all from Kodansha).
