At 41 years old the Japanese Katsunari Takayama is a true legend of the Strawweight / Mini-Flyweight division was a world champion in all five majors federations : IBO, WBA, WBC, WBO, IBF. He announces his retirement from Boxing definetely !
Great news, the Japanese has a career spanning more than 20 years and will leave the ring after one victory.
He still looked terrific just recently against Kha Lu. But yeah, 41 at his weight range is pretty damn old.
Good for the Lightning Kid to finally hang up the gloves after a long, illustrious, and immensely exciting career. He never ducked anybody and always came to fight, a true warrior who will be missed but I'm glad to see him end on a high.
5 if we count IBO, most European, Africans, Asians watch their championship ! And for to be honest when we some WBA Championship like Stiverne vs Bryan, I'm not sure the IBO is so weak like that.
Haha most Europeans do not watch their championship. I promise you. No idea about Africa/Asia but I know Japan 100% does not. They didn't even recognize the WBO or IBF until fairly recently And you know nobody considers the regular title to be a legitimate world title. It's a promotional stunt
Bro in all the case Katsunari Takayama is one of the best Strawweight in History ! The guy was world champion IBO 8 years after he make his vacant WBO belt in 2016, and he was IBF World champion 7 years after loose his WBA belt and he was the first unified world champion in Japan .... I think he is a hall of fame definitely !
Takuyama's terrific, but the IBO isn't even close to being in the same league as the Big Four. It isn't perceived by most fans as a legit world championship sanctioning org and it's doubtful it ever will be. It took a long time for the WBO to become accepted, and even there the dilution is problematic...there's simply no room for another at that level.
