Japan Boxing Commission emergency meeting taking place to discuss changes and improvements on safety

Flo_Raiden · Aug 11, 2025

An emergency meeting from JBC will take place on Tuesday following the deaths of Shigetoshi Kotari and Hiromasa Urakawa. Glad they’re at least taking action to assess improvements on their safety measures on their fighters. 2 deaths from one event is too much to bear.
https://www.aljazeera.com/amp/sport...d-emergency-meeting-following-fighters-deaths

Japanese boxing officials will hold an emergency meeting on Tuesday as the sport in the country faces intense scrutiny following the deaths of two fighters in separate bouts at the same event.

Super featherweight Shigetoshi Kotari and lightweight Hiromasa Urakawa, both 28, fought on the same card at Tokyo’s Korakuen Hall on August 2 and died days later following brain surgery.

The Japan Boxing Commission (JBC), gym owners and other boxing officials are under pressure to act and will hold an emergency meeting on Tuesday.
They are also expected to have talks about safety next month, local media said.

“We are acutely aware of our responsibility as the manager of the sport,” Tsuyoshi Yasukochi, secretary-general of the JBC, told reporters on Sunday.

“We will take whatever measures we can.”
Japanese media highlighted the risks of fighters dehydrating to lose weight rapidly before weigh-ins.

“Dehydration makes the brain more susceptible to bleeding,” the Asahi Shimbun newspaper said.

That is one of the issues the JBC plans to discuss with trainers.

“They want to hear from gym officials who work closely with the athletes about such items as weight loss methods and pre-bout conditioning, which may be causally related (to deaths),” the Nikkan Sports newspaper said.

In one immediate measure, the commission has decided to reduce all Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation title bouts to 10 rounds from 12.

“The offensive power of Japanese boxing today is tremendous,” Yasukochi was quoted by the Asahi Shimbun as telling reporters.

“We have more and more boxers who are able to start exchanges of fierce blows from the first round. Maybe 12 rounds can be dangerous.”
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Badbot · Aug 11, 2025

If anyone is going to do anything productive in boxing, it´s the JBC.

Something that probably will have to change is the Japanese love for heavy sparring. From the footage I have seen, it´s quite common.
And I expect a lot of fights in the near future to be stopped faster than has been the norm.

Flo_Raiden · Aug 12, 2025

Japan adopts stricter safety rules after deaths

Japanese boxing officials have voted to implement stricter rules on weight loss and to also introduce urine tests following the deaths of two fighters in Tokyo.

Super-featherweight Shigetoshi Kotari, 28, and featherweight Hiromasa Urakawa, also 28, died after sustaining injuries in separate bouts on the same card on 2 August.

Both boxers underwent surgery for subdural haematoma - a condition where blood collects between the skull and the brain.

Following the event, the Japan Boxing Commission (JBC) announced all Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation (OPBF) title bouts will now be 10 rounds instead of 12.

The Japanese Professional Boxing Association (JPBA), the JBC and gym owners met to discuss the emergency measures on Tuesday.

They voted to include urine tests to measure dehydration and agreed that ambulances will be required on site, even for non-world title bouts.

Hospitals will partner with the governing bodies to ensure they are equipped to perform emergency surgery for head and other injuries.

Fighters will also have to adhere to new rules on how long they must stop sparring during training before a fight.

"Officials have decided to take all possible measures to ensure that the deaths of these two boxers are not in vain," Tsuyoshi Yasukochi, secretary general of the JBC, said.

Yasukochi said an accident investigation committee will work to find out the cause of the boxers' deaths later in August before updating their guidance on prevention measures.

The JBC and JPBA are also scheduled to meet with the organisations' doctors and the amateur boxing federation.

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Japan Boxing Commission emergency meeting taking place to discuss changes and improvements on safety

Flo_Raiden Obsessed with Boxing Full Member

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Japan Boxing Commission emergency meeting taking place to discuss changes and improvements on safety

Flo_Raiden Obsessed with Boxing Full Member

Badbot You can just do things.

Flo_Raiden Obsessed with Boxing Full Member