44 Facts About Hozumi Hasegawa

Hozumi Hasegawa is a Japanese former professional boxer who competed from 1999 to 2016.

Hozumi Hasegawa won world titles in three weight classes, including the World Boxing Council bantamweight title from 2005 to 2010, the WBC featherweight title from 2010 to 2011, and the WBC super bantamweight title in 2016.

Hozumi Hasegawa fought long-time champion Veeraphol Sahaprom on April 16,2005, at Nippon Budokan.

Hozumi Hasegawa fought effectively, leading the first four rounds, before Sahaprom fought back to win the middle rounds.

Sahaprom tired in the later rounds, allowing Hozumi Hasegawa to become more aggressive, shaking Sahaprom in round 10.

Hozumi Hasegawa made his first title defense on September 25,2005, at Yokohama Arena.

Hozumi Hasegawa was scheduled to fight WBC top-ranked contender Diego Morales.

Hozumi Hasegawa had been sparring with southpaws in preparation to fight Morales, who was a southpaw, but the change to Martinez meant he would now be fighting an orthodox style fighter.

Hozumi Hasegawa took an early lead in the fight, knocking Martinez down twice in the 2nd round, and once in the 3rd round.

Hozumi Hasegawa put Martinez down again early in the 7th with a dazzling left straight, and the fight erupted into a massive slugfest between the two fighters.

Hozumi Hasegawa knocked Martinez down two more times in the same round, prompting the referee to stop the fight.

Hozumi Hasegawa marked his first title defense with a TKO victory.

On March 25,2006, Hozumi Hasegawa returned to fight in his hometown, Kobe, for the first time after becoming world champion.

Sahaprom fought back in the 7th and 8th rounds, landing body shots, but Hozumi Hasegawa landed a stunning right hook only ten seconds into the 9th round to knock out Sahaprom.

Since Hozumi Hasegawa suffered a left sternal fracture in June 2006, the scheduled defense on July 15 was postponed.

The third title defense took place on November 13,2006, at Nippon Budokan, where Hozumi Hasegawa first won the title.

Hozumi Hasegawa knocked Garcia down with a left uppercut in the 4th round, but Garcia showed surprising resilience, landing powerful body shots in the middle rounds.

Hozumi Hasegawa suffered a light cut in the 7th round, which was worsened by a head-butt from Garcia in the 8th.

Hozumi Hasegawa managed to knock down Garcia again in the 8th, though his own face was covered with blood, and his eye was practically sealed shut from the cut.

Hozumi Hasegawa fought undefeated challenger Simpiwe Vetyeka of South Africa on May 3,2007, for the fourth defense of his title.

Hozumi Hasegawa was said to have compiled an exceptional career in the amateur ring.

The open scoring system was used in the fight, and Hozumi Hasegawa was leading in the judges' scorecards going into the later rounds, but Vetyeka continued to lie back and wait for Hozumi Hasegawa to attack.

Hozumi Hasegawa finally stepped up to decisively win the final two rounds, and won his fourth defense with a unanimous decision.

Hozumi Hasegawa defended his title for the fifth time on January 10,2008, with a 12-round unanimous decision victory against top-ranked WBC contender Simone Maludrottu.

Hozumi Hasegawa had transferred to the newly established Shinsei Boxing Gym in Kobe along with its founder and his trainer, Masato Yamashita, during the 8-month layoff since his last defense.

Hozumi Hasegawa defended it again for the sixth time, defeating Venezuela's Cristian Faccio with a second-round TKO on June 12,2008.

Hozumi Hasegawa fought on October 16,2008, when he defended his title for the 7th time by taking on Mexican prospect Alejandro Valdez.

Hozumi Hasegawa won the fight by technical knockout in the second round.

Hozumi Hasegawa's eighth title defense was a lot more impressive as he stopped Vusi Malinga in a single round on March 12,2009.

Hozumi Hasegawa defended it again for the ninth time, defeating USA's Nestor Rocha with a first-round TKO on July 14,2009.

Hozumi Hasegawa defended his title for the tenth time by knocking out Alvaro Perez on December 12,2009.

At the bout, Hozumi Hasegawa won the first three rounds, frustrating the Mexican visitor.

The injury was caused not by Montiel's barrage of attacks in the 4th round but by an impact Hozumi Hasegawa took in the first round.

Hozumi Hasegawa was nominated as return of the year for the Best of 2010 awards by WBC, but was granted the most dramatic fight of the year for the match against Fernando Montiel, after all.

Hozumi Hasegawa was slated to make his return to the ring against the undefeated Mexican featherweight Carlos Felipe Felix on December 17,2011.

Hozumi Hasegawa stopped the opponent in the seventh round in that comeback appearance.

In October 2012, it was announced that Hozumi Hasegawa would move down a weight division to super-bantamweight in his next fight in December.

Hozumi Hasegawa defeated Arturo Santos Reyes via a unanimous decision in Kobe on December 22,2012.

Hozumi Hasegawa told that he had needed two years after winning the featherweight title to recapture his early style.

Hozumi Hasegawa faced Genaro Camargo in a bout in Tokyo on August 12,2013.

Hozumi Hasegawa fought for the IBF super-bantamweight title against reigning champion Kiko Martinez on April 23,2014 in Osaka.

However, Hozumi Hasegawa returned to the ring on May 9,2015 in Kobe against undefeated Mexican Horacio Garcia.

Hozumi Hasegawa won the fight comfortably via UD over 10 rounds.

On September 15,2016, Hozumi Hasegawa defeated Hugo Ruiz by technical knockout to become WBC super-bantamweight champion.