Authorities in Japan move to act after double tragedy following August 2 event

The Japan Boxing Commission has moved to allay safety fears about boxing in their country.

It has acted after two fighters died from injuries sustained on the same tragic August 2 event in Korakuen Hall in Tokyo.

On Friday, August 8, Shigetoshi Kotari died. On Saturday, August 9, Hiromasa Urakawa passed away.

Urakawa had had a craniotomy for an acute subdural hematoma having lost via eighth-round stoppage against Yoji Saito.

Kotari boxed to a draw for the Oriental Pacific junior lightweight title and he too had undergone an emergency craniotomy following a bout with Yamato Hata.

Already, there are reports about the fateful August 2 event being boxing’s “darkest day.”

Hagiwara Minoru, chairman of the Japan Boxing Commission, and general secretary Yasukawa Tsuyoshi hosted a press conference in Tokyo earlier today. 

“We will begin work on anything we can immediately, including investigating and clarifying the cause and taking measures going forward,” said Hagiwara Minoru. “We would like to move forward as quickly as possible." 

Yasukawa spoke about how grave the issue was, and added: “We are once again reminded of the grief of the families and those involved, and the seriousness of this matter. How can we eliminate the risks inherent in sport? What happened this time is serious. We have received requests not only from our colleagues, but from both inside and outside the country, saying that if there is anything we can do, we will do it. We would like to work together with everyone to prevent a recurrence.”

It had already been determined that OPBF title fights would be altered from 12 to 10 rounds after Kotari’s death, and that is also the same, now, for championship matches in Japan held for the WBO Asia Pacific titles.

But that will not fix everything, of course. Urakawa’s fight was scheduled for eight rounds.

“There are now many fighters with the skills to engage in heated exchanges from the first round,” Yasukawa explained. “We see a lot of matches where attacks are made at a fast tempo. In Kotari’s case, he fought well until the 12th round, but I think that 12 rounds is an extremely dangerous time.”

As much success as there has been with boxing in Japan in recent years, with Naoya Inoue and Junto Nakatani leading the way as two of the sport’s leading stars, there have been some dark times, and this week has been among its most bleak.

On an Inoue bill, on December 2023, Kazuki Anaguchi had to undergo surgery after losing consciousness following his fight with Seiya Tsutsumi and passed away 38 days later, aged just 23. That fight was over 10 rounds.

Ginjiro Shigeoka (pictured) also remains in a coma following his tragic fight on May 24, when he boxed to a 12-round draw with Pedro Taduran with the IBF minimumweight title on the line in Osaka.

The Japan Boxing Commission and the Japan Professional Boxing Association will have an emergency meeting on Tuesday to discuss possible changes and improvements. The JBC is also setting up a committee to investigate August 2, and a medical seminar is scheduled for September.

Yasukochi also spoke about weight loss and weight control at today’s press conference and believes they need to look into new methods of controlling how fighters can make weight safely and enforcing new rules to make a safer environment for fighters.

“Weight loss, which was likely a major factor, and pre-match conditioning are only being looked at from an administrative perspective,” he said. “I would like to hear the opinions of those involved in the association who have been working closely with the athletes for a long time.”