Kai Ishizawa Explained

Kai Ishizawa
Real Name:石澤開
Weight:Mini-flyweight
Height:5 ft 1.5 in
Nationality:Japanese
Birth Date:23 November 1996
Birth Place:Sagamihara, Japan
Style:Orthodox
Total:15
Wins:11
Ko:10
Losses:4

Kai Ishizawa (born 23 November 1996) is a Japanese professional boxer. He is a one-time world title challenger, having fought for the WBO mini flyweight title in 2022.

Personal life

Ishizawa played soccer and practiced karate in elementary school and took up boxing in the first grade of junior high school.[1] He was the captain of the boxing club in Buso Junior High School.[2]

Ishizawa graduated from the Nippon Sport Science University.[3]

Professional career

Ishizawa made his professional debut on June 3, 2017, with a second-round knockout of fellow debutante Phongsaphon Panyakum.[4] Ishizawa followed this up with stoppage victories of Yoshimitsu Kushibe on August 4, 2017, Narathip Sungsut on January 30, 2018, and Tatsuro Nakashima on August 4, 2018. These four victories earned him the chance to fight Daiki Tomita for the inaugural Japanese Youth minimumweight championship. He was later forced to withdraw due to an injury.[5]

After recovering from his injury, Ishizawa was scheduled to fight the undefeated Yuga Inoue for the inaugural Japanese minimumweight championship on November 10, 2018. He won the fight by a sixth-round technical knockout.[6]

Ishizawa was scheduled to fight the Indonesian national mini-flyweight champion Silem Serang on June 1, 2019. He won the fight by a fourth-round technical knockout, stopping Serang with eight seconds left in the round.[7] Ishizawa was next scheduled to face Masataka Taniguchi, in a Japanese minimumweight title eliminator match, on September 21, 2019. Taniguchi won the fight by unanimous decision, with scores of 77–74, 77-74 and 78–74.[8]

Ishizawa rebounded from his first professional loss with a sixth-round technical knockout of Masashi Tada on October 13, 2020.[9] Ishizawa was next scheduled to fight Yuni Takada for the Japanese Youth minimumweight title on April 21, 2021. He won the fight by majority decision, with scores of 78–74, 76-76 and 79–73.[10]

Ishizawa was scheduled to face Naoya Haruguchi on October 8, 2021, in a Japanese minimumweight title eliminator match. He won the fight by a fourth-round technical knockout.[11]

Ishizawa was scheduled to face the undefeated Katsuki Mori for the Japanese minumweight title in the main event of "Phoenix Battle 83" at the Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan on January 11, 2022.[12] He won the fight by an eight-round technical knockout. Ishizawa dropped Mori to the canvas with a flurry of punches, which prompted his corner to throw in the towel. Ishizawa called out the reigning WBO mini-flyweight champion Masataka Taniguchi during his post-fight interview.[13]

Ishizawa is booked to challenge the reigning WBO mini-flyweight champion Masataka Taniguchi on 22 April 2022, in the main event of a Hikari TV broadcast PBX card, which will take place at the Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan. The bout is a rematch of their September 21, 2019 meeting, which Taniguchi won by unanimous decision.[14] Ishizawa vacated the Japanese minimumweight title on 3 March.[15] Ishizawa failed to make weight for the title bout, as he weighed in 2.5 kg over the championship limit in his first attempt and 2.3 kg over the limit in his second attempt.[16] Ishizawa was allowed to compete after making 49.9 kg on the day of the fight, although he was ineligible to win the title. He lost the fight by an eleventh-round technical knockout, and was down on all three of the judges scorecards at the time of the stoppage.[17]

On July 19, 2022, it was announced that JBC had handed Ishizawa a six-month ban for missing weight against Taniguchi. The suspension was backed dated to April 22 and was accompanied by a strict caution by his gym and gym manager.[18] Ishizawa was booked to face Jaysever Abcede on June 12, 2023, after serving out his ban from professional competition. He won the fight by a fifth-round knockout.[19]

Professional boxing record

ResultRecordOpponentTypeRound, timeDateLocationNotes
15Loss11–4Regie SuganobTKO8 (12), 30 Apr 2024
14Loss11–3Vince ParasSD812 Oct 2023
13Win11–2Jaysever AbcedeKO5 (8), 12 Jun 2023
12Loss10–2Masataka TaniguchiTKO11 (12), 22 Apr 2022
11Win10–1Katsuki MoriKO8 (10), 11 Jan 2022
10Win9–1Naoya HaruguchiTKO4 (8), 8 Oct 2021
9Win8–1Yuni TakadaMD821 Apr 2021
8Win7–1Masashi TadaTKO6 (8), 13 Oct 2020
7Loss6–1Masataka TaniguchiUD821 Sep 2019
6Win6–0Silem SerangTKO4 (8), 1 Jun 2019
5Win5–0Yuga InoueTKO6 (8), 10 Nov 2018
4Win4–0Tatsuro NakashimaTKO5 (6), 8 Apr 2018
3Win3–0Narathip SungsutKO1 (6), 30 Jan 2018
2Win2–0Yoshimitsu KushibeTKO2 (4), 4 Aug 2017
1Win1–0Phongsaphon PanyakumKO2 (6), 3 Jun 2017

Notes and References

  1. Web site: 石澤 開(かい)さん . townnews.co.jp . 5 November 2021.
  2. Web site: 4階級で県王者に . townnews.co.jp . 5 November 2021.
  3. Web site: 日体大が慶大に勝利 KO、TKOで4勝/BOX . sanspo.com . 5 November 2021.
  4. Web site: 日本ボクシングコミッション(JBC) . jbc.or.jp . 5 November 2021.
  5. Web site: 久我vs和氣が公開計量、同日の日本ユース戦は中止 . boxingnews.jp . 5 November 2021.
  6. Web site: 船井龍一が右一撃 IBF・S・フライ級挑戦権獲得 . boxingnews.jp . 5 November 2021.
  7. Web site: 中谷潤人が初回KO勝ち 無傷19連勝で世界アピール . boxingnews.jp . 5 November 2021.
  8. Web site: 谷口将隆が世界戦敗退から再起 日本挑戦権獲得  オールKO勝ちの石澤はダウン奪うも及ばず . boxingnews.jp . 5 November 2021.
  9. Web site: 【ボクシング】「天才」阿部麗也が心機一転のカムバック . bbm-japan.com . 5 November 2021.
  10. Web site: 石澤開が日本ユース王座V1「もう一度谷口さんとやりたい」 . hochi.news . 5 November 2021.
  11. Web site: 石澤選手、日本王座挑戦へ . townnews.co.jp . 5 November 2021.
  12. Web site: 石澤開vs森且貴の日本ミニマム級王座決定戦が実現… 来年1月のフェニックスバトル . hochi.news . 29 December 2021.
  13. Web site: 【ボクシング】石澤開が8回TKOで新王者。無敗・森且貴をコンパクト&パワーで仕留める . news.yahoo.co.jp . 12 January 2022.
  14. Web site: Donovan . Jake . Masataka Taniguchi First WBO Title Defense Set, April 22 Rematch With Kai Ishizawa In Tokyo . boxingscene.com . 22 February 2022 . 22 February 2022.
  15. Web site: Ishizawa vacates Japanese title . asianboxing.info . 4 March 2022.
  16. Web site: 【ボクシング】WBO王者・谷口将隆、石澤開の体重超過に困惑、再計量もパスできず . efight.jp . 21 April 2022.
  17. Web site: Donovan . Jake . Masataka Taniguchi Stops Kai Ishizawa In 11th Round, Retains WBO Title In Tokyo . boxingscene.com . 22 April 2022 . 22 April 2022.
  18. Web site: 世界戦体重超過の石沢開に6か月ライセンス停止処分…4月のWBO世界ミニマム級タイトルマッチ . article.auone.jp . 21 July 2022.
  19. Web site: 神足茂利がランカー中川兼玄をTKO 世界戦で計量失格の石澤開がKO勝ちで再起 . boxingnews.jp . 15 June 2023.