Checked out him sparring (and getting the better of) a young Hasegawa. Also his record on box-rec with wins over Penalosa and Kawashima. How good was he? And what style would you say he fought in?
I didn't like him much to be honest.Competent mobile boxer type, but very uninspiring in a sammy Serrano sort of way. I'll get around to watching his fights again someday, and seeing if anything changes my opinion, but i doubt i'll see much different.
I actually quite liked him at the time..I had a mini fascination with him, I thought he was underrated and a bit of a dark horse. He was athletically gifted boxer-type like lora said..Very quick and fluid, and quite unorthodox at times. I thought he was a very difficult guy to contend with, he schooled the shite out of Kirolov...EDIT actually not really that bad on second viewing. His offensive output is what hurt him..it lacked variety and consistency...and of course power. Mainly he would just pot shot with single shots and dart back out. Also his chin once he slowed down proved to be a bit suspect and his stamina was only so-so....He either was dropped, hurt or clearly outworked in every 12th round I saw him in I think. He desperately chased a fight with Hasegawa but couldnt get him in the ring...Hozumi was a bit green at that stage, so the timing wasnt right. He also lacked popularity at home because of his controversial antics...like walking into the ring with the North Korean flag. He was born and bred in Japan but is ethnically Korean Im pretty sure.
he was a superb boxer, he made many quality title defenses, had a big japanese rivalry that must have made him some good money (kawashima), and was a tough, fast, mobile master boxer. he did lack power, but many top fighters in japan lack real power. this guy was good; a master boxer. only weakness is he looked very uncomfortable vs southpaws. ppl sometimes confuse tokuyama with kawashima, and say that tokuyama "got lucky" vs jose navarro. no, that was kawashima. tokuyama beat him fairly.
Stumbled on a shite load of Tokuyama on the tube today. Tell us what you think...he is a tad less impressive than I remember him but still a fan. This is his 2nd fight with Choo by the looks of it...nice finish. [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=795vF4iW974&feature=related[/ame] At a guess I reckon this is his first fight with Kawashima [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfhdmbN3bXg[/ame] [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zINTAyaFeiw&feature=related[/ame] [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApN0m8sJNAc&feature=related[/ame]
Excellent fighter. Impressed the hell out of me by rebounded from a hellacious narrow win and subsequent 1st round kayo loss to Kasagawa to win the rubber match heavily. He had a legendary taste for vodka which probably didn't serve his career very well but he had good longevity.
Some of his fight with Kirilov [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fP7U8IACdc[/ame] [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQSTvNsEzpU&feature=related[/ame] [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_wCNKbRUsk&feature=related[/ame]
