30 Facts About Ryoji Fukunaga

Ryoji Fukunaga is a retired Japanese professional boxer.

Ryoji Fukunaga made his professional debut against Seita Mochizuki on 10 August 2013, at the Azalea Taisho in Osaka, Japan.

Ryoji Fukunaga fought twice during the next two years, against Retsu Hosokawa on 15 December 2013 and Seita Shimamiya on 28 January 2018, winning both fights by knockout.

Ryoji Fukunaga faced Ryo Matsubara in the tournament semifinals on 25 September 2015.

Matsubara stopped Ryoji Fukunaga's tournament run, as he won the fight by a first-round technical knockout.

Ryoji Fukunaga returned to action seven months later, to participate in the 2016 "Rookie of the Year" super-flyweight tournament.

Ryoji Fukunaga was able to skip the opening round this time around and was immediately booked to face Takuya Numasawa in the tournament quarterfinals.

Ryoji Fukunaga won the fight by a first-round technical knockout.

Ryoji Fukunaga faced Rikiya Ono in the tournament semifinals on 4 October 2016, and won the fight by a fourth-round technical knockout.

Ryoji Fukunaga faced Yukito Tomori in the tournament finals, held on 13 November 2016.

Ryoji Fukunaga was able to win the tournament this time around, as he stopped Tomori by a third-round knockout.

Ryoji Fukunaga won the fight by a fifth-round technical knockout.

Ryoji Fukunaga faced Yoshinobu Kakinaga on 1 April 2017, in the first eight-round bout of his career.

Ryoji Fukunaga won the fight by a seventh-round technical knockout.

Ryoji Fukunaga won his next eight round bout as well, as stopped Patiphon Upanan in the second round on 13 September 2017.

Ryoji Fukunaga was booked to face Yuta Matsuo on 26 April 2018.

Ryoji Fukunaga was scheduled to challenge the reigning WBO Asia Pacific champion Froilan Saludar on 14 February 2020, at the Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan, in the first twelve-round bout of his career.

Ryoji Fukunaga first knocked Saludar down with a body strike, before forcing the referee to wave the fight off with a flurry of punches.

Ryoji Fukunaga was booked to make his first title defense against the reigning Japanese super-flyweight champion Kenta Nakagawa on 14 December 2020, at the Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan.

Ryoji Fukunaga was seen as the slight favorite, with Ryoji Fukunaga's power being seen as the great advantage.

Ryoji Fukunaga was scheduled to make the second defense of his WBO Asia Pacific title and the first defense of his newly acquired Japanese title against fellow southpaw Takahiro Fujii on 21 June 2021, at the Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan.

Fujii was seen as a surprising and somewhat undeserving title challenger, and as such Ryoji Fukunaga entered the fight as a favorite.

Ryoji Fukunaga badly knocked Fujii down at the 1:19 minute mark of the eight rounds, which left him unable to raise from the canvas.

Ryoji Fukunaga made the first defense of all three titles against the undefeated Hayate Kaji on 2 October 2021, at the Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan.

Kaji was seen as the best opponent he had faced up to that point in his career, but Ryoji Fukunaga nevertheless entered the fight as the favorite.

Ryoji Fukunaga expected to earn a title shot should he beat Kaji, stating: "If I beat Mr Kaji, I think I can say I am qualified for taking a crack at a world title".

On 17 November 2021, Ryoji Fukunaga vacated the OPBF super-flyweight title.

On 28 December 2021, Ryoji Fukunaga vacated the Japanese, OPBF and the WBO Asia Pacific super-flyweight titles.

Ryoji Fukunaga had a strong start to the fight, but Ioka began to take over from the midpoint of the fight onward.

On 10 August 2022, Ryoji Fukunaga announced his retirement from the sport.