Hasegawa to fight on for world title despite family tragedy

I was saddened to read that Hozumi Hasegawa's mother passed away a few weeks ago. The tragedy hit the Japanese boxer's family in a pretty bad year: Hozumi lost the BW championship to Fernando Montiel via 4th round TKO and got his jaw broken. The timing of this sad event is also very bad, Hasegawa was preparing for his very risky FW debut on the 26th, jumping up two divisions to face unbeaten Mexican puncher Juan Carlos Burgos for the vacant WBC belt. The fight goes on regardless, and Burgos camp that leaves for Japan to finish preparations, released a respectful statement.

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]"I just learned that he lost his mother a couple of weeks ago and I want to send him and his family my deepest condolences. I am sure he has gone through a very rough time but he is still going to fight me and I take my hat off to him" - said Burgos [/FONT]

Likewise I am, and gonna root for Hasegawa in this major fight bigtime!

GO HOZUMI! :happy

 

The full press release of Team Burgos:

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Before leaving for Japan, undefeated Mexican Juan Carlos Burgos (25-0, 18 KOs) commented on his November 26 clash against highly regarded former world champion and national boxing hero Hozumi Hasegawa (28-3, 12 KOs) for the vacant WBC featherweight title. The bout will take place at the Nihon Gaishi Hall in Nagoya.

“I think every boxer has goals to make it to a world title fight, my trainers, my family, my promoters and my fans have high hopes for me. It’s now up to me to bring back this championship to Mexico, a dream I had since I was a young boy,” said Burgos before his departure. “Hasegawa is a valiant and legendary champion in Japan and it will a be a huge honor for me to trade leather with him.”

“I just learned that he lost his father a couple of weeks ago and I want to send him and his family my deepest condolences. I am sure he has gone through a very rough time but he is still going to fight me and I take my hat off to him,” said Burgos after he heard the reports that Hasegawa lost his father to long battle with cancer.”

“Juan Carlos is ready, he has had a great training camp and his strength, power and conditioning give him great confidence to bring the belt back home,” said manager Roberto Sandoval. “He will have ample time to acclimate to the time difference and the climate in Japan.” Burgos will close his training camp in Tokyo to then continue his journey to Nagoya where he will meet the former WBC Bantamweight champion Hasegawa.

“I leave everything to God and I trust in my preparation, I want the green belt around my waist and I will do the job necessary inside the ring to walk out with it,” concluded Burgos right before boarding Aeromexico flight 0058 straight from Tijuana to Tokyo. Burgos, who hails out of Tijuana, Mexico has champion lineage in his blood and looks to take after his uncle former IBF flyweight champion Victor Burgos.

 

Will be tough to get the W under the circumstances. Moving up two divisions more often works out wrong than right, but Hasegawa has a varied of skills plus was rumored to have weight problems at 118 anyway, so maybe the jump is not such a big deal. Not sure about his mental focus.