<figure id="attachment_337857" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-337857" style="width: 836px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="82cec7c8"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2023/10/d57c8a3787a4adf8d9447404d3076539.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-337857" class="wp-caption-text">In the first round, he suddenly took the fight down.</figcaption></figure>
 I knew I could come this far, but it&#8217;s going to be a tough world out there. But I think it&#8217;s going to be a tough world from here on out.&#8221;
 said Ginjiro Shigeoka, 24, who won the IBF minimumweight title on October 7 by defeating Mexican champion Daniel Valadares, 29, in 5 rounds and 2 minutes and 15 seconds.
<div data-friday-ad-slot="AD_inArticle"></div>
 The fight was a unification bout between Ginjiro, the interim champion, and Valadares, who was the regular champion. The first time the two fighters exchanged fists was on January 6, 2011.
 The challenger, Ginjiro, was being paced by Varadares, who took the fight into his own batting, then appealed &#8220;injury&#8221; and the match was declared a no-contest. The champion defended his belt in a very strange way. Unsatisfied, Ginjiro won the interim title in April and looked forward to a return match with Valadares. After the rematch was decided, Ginjiro seemed optimistic.
 I&#8217;m going to do the same thing, no matter who my opponent is, whether it&#8217;s Valadares or not. I always fight with the intention of crushing my opponent, and the no-contest in January is already over. But now, I am the interim champion and they are the regular champion. I don&#8217;t need the &#8220;interim&#8221; title, I just want to take the title of the regular champion.
<div data-friday-ad-slot="AD_inArticle"></div>
 As a rookie who won five national championships in high school, Ginjiro turned pro with a bang. After moving to Tokyo from Kumamoto and joining the Watanabe Gym, the gym&#8217;s president, Hitoshi Watanabe, 73, had been giving his backing to Ginjiro, saying, &#8220;He is a gem who will definitely become a world champion. At a gym where many talented lightweight champions such as Ryoichi Taguchi, former WBA/IBF light flyweight champion, Hiroto Kyoguchi, winner of the IBF minimum weight division and WBA light flyweight division, and Masataka Taniguchi, former WBO minimum weight champion, all competed, Ginjiro honed himself while being tutored by the older champions.
 He made his professional debut in September of &#8217;18, after graduating from high school. In the fall of 2007, his older brother, Yudai, also became a professional boxer, and they worked hard together to further improve their skills.
 Ginjiro has never known defeat since he started boxing in the fourth grade of elementary school. In fact, when he was scheduled to face his older brother in the Kumamoto Inter-High School preliminary round final in his first year of high school, his advisor threw in the towel when the bell rang. For a man who had never lost a fight, &#8220;no contests&#8221; and provisional titles were just detours.
<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" A sudden head butt"></div>
Ginjiro reflected on the first round on October 7.
 When the match started,&#8221; Ginjiro recalled, &#8220;Varadares started batting (head-butting) me. I was like, &#8216;Did this guy come this early? I was like, &#8216;He&#8217;s not going to go that far. So I was careful to keep my distance.
<div data-friday-ad-slot="AD_inArticle"></div>
 Right from the start, Ginjiro landed two jabs and a clean straight left hand, taking him down.
 It was a straight left hand that I had been repeating in training, aiming low and aiming for the chin. I had a good response, so I thought, &#8216;That felt good. It must have worked.
 When he was outmatched, Valadares used his head butt as a weapon.
 Our heads collided, and I got a cut just above my right eye, and my opponent bled from the forehead.
 The audience gasped as Ginjiro&#8217;s right side of his head, which was dyed gold, turned bright red.
<figure id="attachment_337860" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-337860" style="width: 1024px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="1f63bff9"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2023/10/5540427466aea0a41f9a413bac4dc20d.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-337860" class="wp-caption-text"> The audience gasped at the sight of the fresh blood on the right side of his head.</figcaption></figure>
 The blood that was all over my hair was mostly from Baradares,&#8221; he said. I was only bleeding a little myself. More than that, I was hit by a right hand in the first round. I took about two straight right hands in the first round as well, and I was not defending myself well. It wasn&#8217;t that I was careless or caught off guard, it was just that Varadares had a good no-motion move and I got it.
 Even after going down, Varadares was trying his best, but his boxing was rough. I knew he was taking damage, but I couldn&#8217;t get in close enough because if I got too close, he would hit me in the head.&#8221;
 Valadares continued to attack relentlessly from the head.
 I knew there was no need to panic, I just wanted to make it to four rounds, and if I heard the bell for four rounds, even if he got hurt, the fight would go to a decision. If the fight ended within three rounds, as it did last time, it would be a no-contest. I wanted to avoid that.&#8221;
<div data-friday-ad-slot="AD_inArticle"></div>
 In the second round, Varadares tried to land another head-butt, and the referee called for a point deduction.
 I saw that decision, and I felt, &#8216;Oh, I trust the referee this time.&#8217;
<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" Where should I take him down?"></div>
Ginjiro landed a straight left up and down, further widening the gap.
 I don&#8217;t remember much, so maybe my body moved unconsciously. I was practicing the straight to the body thinking, &#8216;I wonder if I can do that in a match. Going into the fourth round, I felt secure that there would be no more no-contests. I also felt like, &#8216;Now there is no way I am going to lose. Of course, I was aware of the difference in level. I was not able to react to my punches, and I thought I could duck his punches if I used my legs. I took some shots, but that was because I tried to fight in close. The straight right hand I took was not powerful, and I was not scared at all. I was thinking, &#8216;Where should I knock him down?
<div data-friday-ad-slot="AD_inArticle"></div>
 In the 5th round, Ginjiro unleashed his jab without pause and landed a double straight left to the face.
 I was punching naturally, without thinking. I wasn&#8217;t thinking, &#8216;I&#8217;m going to knock him down here. The theme of the fight was the number of moves, and I think I was able to do that. I was preparing to go 12 rounds at that pace.
 Midway through the same round, Ginjiro&#8217;s straight left hand caught Valadares on the chin, breaking the Mexican&#8217;s knees.
 I was fighting to cut him down, but the straight worked, so I rushed him and said, &#8216;Let&#8217;s take him down here.
 The referee saved Varadares, who was against the ropes and taking numerous punches from Ginjiro, and declared the match over. Ginjiro became the official champion. However, he did not show much joy in the ring.
 I was not really feeling that I had become a world champion. I won by KO, so if I could say I passed, I would say I passed, but that was about it.
<figure id="attachment_337874" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-337874" style="width: 3000px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="ee0a0b77"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2023/10/581a31be7ebe268f40d048c7572f1a1b.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-337874" class="wp-caption-text"> Ginjiro in his casual clothes</figcaption></figure>
 When asked about his current state of mind after the match, he replied, &#8220;I am happy with the way I feel now. He answered, &#8220;Of course I am happy.
 Of course I am happy, and many people have called on me, but I only won against an opponent I should have won against. All I want is to get stronger and stronger. If I were climbing a mountain, I would say that I am still at the first rest stop. I think I&#8217;ve reached the first station.
<div data-friday-ad-slot="AD_inArticle"></div>
 Then he spoke the first words of his speech.
 I had the feeling that I could make it this far. I want to get more and more stimulation from the unknown. I want to receive more and more stimulation that I don&#8217;t know about. I am not satisfied with just one belt in the world. From now on, I will increase the number of belts and the number of times I defend them, and eventually I would like to unify four belts at the minimum. But more than that, I want to perfect my boxing. I want to fight a convincing fight. To go inside and use my legs, and to improve my defensive skills. On the offensive side, I am now able to make a straight left hand, but I would like to increase my side stepping and punching variations with less effort and with more ease.
 I want to box with a relaxed mindset rather than being overly conscious of &#8220;knocking him down&#8221; or &#8220;knocking him out. I feel that I could have done better in this match by being more creative. My biggest regret is my defense. All along, that may be the issue. The ultimate defense is to not take a single punch from your opponent. Although I had imagined it, in reality, I could not fight at close range. I couldn&#8217;t box the way I wanted to because that opponent&#8217;s head would come at me.
 Ginjiro said he could not be satisfied even after fulfilling his dream since elementary school, and concluded, &#8220;I will break Gushiken Yoshitaka&#8217;s record of 13 defenses.

 Born in 1969. Passed the professional boxing test as a junior lightweight, but suffered a setback due to a left elbow injury. After working as a reporter for a weekly magazine, he became a nonfiction writer and educator, teaching at a public high school in the U.S. In 1996, he moved to the U.S. He graduated from the University of Tokyo's Interfaculty Initiative in Information Studies in 2014. 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 published by Kodansha).

 Soichi Hayashi

 Kyodo News (1st and 2nd photos) Takeshi Kinugawa (3rd photo)

 The best boxer of Generation Z, Ginjiro Shigeoka, is undefeated in his career. Although his title match in January was declared a nullity due to his head-butt technique, he has now become the world champion by KOing the head-butt man. The undefeated man in his lifetime is not satisfied in the slightest.

Undefeated world champion Ginjiro Shigeoka: “I’m going to beat Gushiken’s record!

Access Ranking