Last week my “Closet Classic” covered Naoto Takahashi’s brilliant war with Mark Horikoshi. Unsurprisingly that wasn’t the only war to feature Takahashi, in fact it was one of a handful of great bouts the “Gyakuten no kikōshi” was involved in.
As I’m actually going to be busy this weekend I decided to stay with Takahashi for a second week running, though it’s not with out merit as his very next bout was another sensational war and featured a remarkable comeback that deserves to be seen to be believed.
That bout came in May 1989, less than 4 months after the war with Horikoshi, and saw Takahashi battle Thai teenager Noree Jockygym.
Coming in to the bout Takahashi, then 21 years old, was 16-2 (11) and a 2-weight Japanese champion with huge expectations on his young shoulders. Noree, the then Thai Bantamweight champion, was 18 years old with a record of 25-7-2 (12) and was fighting outside of Thailand for just the second time, following a loss to Seung Hoon Lee less than 3 months earlier.
The fight started relatively quick with Takahashi landing a solid counter in the opening seconds as the two looked for openings. During the opening minute it seemed that Takahashi’s more rounded boxing ability was going to allow him to box to a win, but before long Noree had began to land his own solid blows and by the final minute of the opening round the pace had moved up.
Although the opening round was an entertaining one it was quickly over-shadowed courtesy of a sensational second round. This one started quick, with and for the first minute it was Takahashi looking the boss, again. That all changed however when he was caught about 80 seconds into the round, and wobbled massively. From then on the round was an intense slugfest with Takahashi fighting on instinct alone and Noree looking for the knock out. For 100 seconds the action was insane, wild and amazing.
With less than 35 seconds of the round left Noree rocked Takahashi, big time, and a follow up attack saw Noree really go to town, eventually dropping the gutsy Japanese warrior with a right hand that appeared to break Takahashi’s nose. With his face disfigured and blood smeared from his nose over his face, neck, shoulder, chest and even his ear it seemed like Takahashi was a man on the verge of defeat. Noree could smell victory and celebrated whilst Takahashi was down. Some how Takahashi made it to the end of the round, though was clearly saved by the bell and looked like a man who needed saving by his corner.
Takahashi’s team spent almost the full minute between rounds wiping the blood from their fighter who they sent out for round 3. As he came out for the round it seemed clear that Takahashi was still feeling the effects and Noree seemed to know it as he went for the finish. For the first minute of the round it seemed like Noree was breaking down the local favourite, though part way through the round the spring returned to Takahashi’s boxing and amazingly the local caught Noree with a thunderbolt right hand, then a left hook that wobbled Noree. Suddenly the fight changed and it was now Noree looking to survive as Takahashi unloaded, dropping Noree to the seat of his pants.
The tide had turned in an instant but Noree wasn’t going to be seen off that easily and he was up quickly. His mistake was getting up and Takahashi jumped on him, with more than a minute of the round remaining. This time there was no bell with the Japanese warrior eventually dropping Noree for a second time, in the Thai’s corner with a sickening uppercutt.
This time Noree wouldn’t beat the count, suffering a third round loss to the local star.
Although Noree lost he would have the last laugh, beating Takahashi in a rematch in 1990 at the Tokyo Dome, on the under-card of the Mike Tyson Vs James “Buster” Douglas fight. That was a very one sided win for Noree and spelled the start of the end for Takahashi, who fought twice more. His final bout, in 1991, forced his retirement due to a brain haemorrhage and it’s fair to say that his wars took their toll on him. At the time of his retirement he was 19-4 (14) and just 23 years old. For Noree the rematch was later followed by a WBA world title fight, and he would fight on until 2000, when he retired with a 46-19-2 (29) record.
Scott Graveson covers the Asian boxing scene for http://www.asianboxing.info/
