Hozumi Hasegawa appreciation topic/retirement thread

I'm a big Hasegawa fan. I actually was hoping he'd ride into the sunset after the KO loss to Jhonny, which felt so much like the Montiel shock not long before, but ultimately now I'm glad he came back so he could scoop up one more title and retire with it around his waist. 3 weight division champion, had a very long reign with one of them, retired with the other... pretty legit. As big of a fan as I am, I can't help but think he falls a tad short of making the HOF? Believe me, I would be far from sad or questioning if he did get voted in.

 

He's turning 36 this month (Christmas child I see), and probably a good time to call it quits.
Maybe he could have milked his WBC belt for some good money against one of the bigger names, but I wish him a good life after boxing.

 

Nice to see him go out on top. It's a perfect time to go following a stirring victory over Hugo Ruiz to win a world title in a third division. Plus, the last image we'll have of him as fighter is him rallying back and engaging Ruiz in a brutal exchange after getting hurt, backing him off by the end of the round- and then celebrating when Ruiz didn't come out for the next round. Pretty epic way to go out.

 

3 weight champion, victor of 13 title fights, beat former champs like Veeraphol Sahapron and Simpiwe Vetyeka. That might be HOF material. We'll see. But he's not the best Japanese fighter of the last 20 years. Naoya Inoue has almost done as much in 11 fights. Shinsuke Yamanaka is still undefeated and has 12 title fights under his belt. Akira Yaegashi is a three weight champ now too. Kazuto Ioka is a three weight champ, and arguably should still be undefeated, victor of 12 title fights, beat Yaegashi, beat Reveco.

 

What he managed to do mid-career was pretty damn commendable.

Found power and class beyond what you would've expected possible based on the early returns.

..and even once his brief prime ended his comeback attempts were valiant.

 

I'm a huge Hasegawa fan and am glad he's retiring on top. He may not be the best Japanese fighter but feel he's way underrated! He has a lot of heart and was always amazing to watch.

お疲れさん、長谷川さん！

 

For some reason I got really hung up on the idea of seeing Hasegawa vs. Mijares after both had climbed their way up to featherweight ...just think it would have been a really satisfying technical chess match to watch. Plus it was teased at when both were briefly in the WBC rankings, which seemed like a twist-of-fate second lease on the match-up which originally had been negotiated to happen at bantamweight all the way back in 2008.

But oh well. Banzai, champ ...enjoy your life post boxing.

 

I remember when this guy was a top 10 P4P fighter for quite some time back around 2010. I really liked watching this guy perform, I personally think he's a lock for the HOF.

I used to be a bit skeptical about the quality of boxers coming out of East/SE Asia but guys like Hozumi, Chris John (Indonesia,) and Poonsawat (Thailand,) changed my perception about the quality in that region greatly.

I hope Hasegawa enjoys retirement.

 

...and tons of guys since.

 

I was high really on Hasegawa after the two Sahaprom wins. Entertaining, skilled fighter who was a P4P guy for a while. He was fun to watch in his losses too.

He had a good career and he's retired at the right time.

 

I said this after he beat that mexican bum for the title, he needs to retire. His best days are past him. I'm really happy he retired, and didn't get cocky off that win. THat mexican dude should have never been close to a title, let's be honest here Quigg and Guzman would have severely hurt the man. Pulling a Froch and retiring on a high note is the best thing he can do. He can commentate over here now.

 

who dat?

 

Bantamweight king of the mid-to-late 2000s. Stopped Hugo Ruiz to win WBC super-bantam title in last fight. Legend of Japanese boxing.

 

What about Pacquiao? Fighting Harada, Yoko Gushiken, Hiroyuki Ebihara, Jiro Watanabe, Flash Elorde, Khaosai Galaxy, Pongsaklek Wonjongkam, Pone Kingpetch, Pancho Villa, Jung Koo Chang, Ceferino Garcia, Sot Chitalada, Koichi Wajima, Yuh Myung-woo, Chartchai Chionoi, and Masao Ohba.