[8.7] JIRO WATANABE 28-26(17)-2: Boxing Monthly online -
The first unified champion of the super-flyweight division is also one of the most bad-ass fighters to ever lace up the gloves. A kenpo karate practitioner first who later became a Yakuza enforcer, Jiro Watanabe’s long reign atop the super-flyweight division is what gets him on this list.
The great scribe Joe Koizumi once wrote in Boxing Illustrated magazine: ‘Jiro loved street fighting as a youngster’. Taking that natural enjoyment for combat into karate, Watanabe faced a six-foot, 200 lbs opponent in the All-Japan Kenpo Championship. Watanabe lost that battle, but fighters his own size would prove less formidable foes once he focused on punching.
A relaxed, precise sniper of a stylist, Watanabe was sometimes lackadaisical in his approach and sometimes found waiting for the perfect time to strike rather than creating his own offence. But when he had his man hurt, the Japanese fighting spirit came out, and he was a deadly finisher.
Before growing into the 115 lbs weight class, Watanabe had already proven himself one of the best fighters in the always heaving Japanese lower weight classes, pitching his perfect six-fight record against lanky puncher – and future lineal flyweight champion – Koji Kobayashi, laying waste to him inside the first stanza.
After ten fights, Watanabe was in position to fight for a world title, but lost a hard-fought decision to the excellent Chul-Ho Kim.
The lineal title travelled with Kim, back to Rafael Orono and then away from him again. Watanabe quietly picked up the WBA title, making six defences against fighters of a generally high quality, including Gustavo Ballas, Shoji Oguma and Soon Chun Kwon, before opting to unify with the WBC champion, then Payao Poontarat.
Trained by renowned British trainer Charles Atkinson as a pro, Poontarat was not without his chops, claiming Thailand’s first-ever Olympic medal (a bronze) in Montreal ’76, and taking that pedigree into the pros, outboxing Rafael Orono for the lineal title, and taking out the always dangerous Guty Espadas in his first defence.
Watanabe showed his nerve in gunning for the best fighter in the division, knowingly giving up his WBA title (who thought belt politics was a modern thing?) and risking coming out of the bout with nothing but his pride.
In a top-notch battle of wits and fists, Jiro Watanabe took the WBC title in a split decision. The video shows that the decision is debatable, but Watanabe proved his superiority once and for all in a rematch four months later, battering the tough Thai to a stoppage in eleven rounds.
Having spent his prime years defending the WBA trinket, Watanabe’s reign as lineal champion was short in comparison. Two years and three defences were all he could manage, before he was stifled and outmaneuvered by the brilliant Mexican who sits atop this list. However, by this stage his prominent place in the history of the 115 lbs division was secure. Boxing Monthly online article Kyle McLachlan 23rd February 2018, ‘The Top Ten Super Flyweights of All Time’