By Joe Koizumi
Photo: Naoki Fukuda
Pitifully Japanese boxer Kazuki Anaguchi (6-1, 2 KOs), 23, passed away yesterday (Friday) evening in Tokyo, Japan. Anaguchi, an unbeaten southpaw boxer-puncher, demonstrated a gallant performance in the semi-final to support the undisputed super bantam title bout of Naoya “The Monster” Inoue and Marlon Tapales, but failed to win the national bantamweight belt from also unbeaten WBA#3 Seiya Tsutsumi on December 26.
Kazuki, whose amateur mark was so excellent as 68-8 while boxing at Ashiya University, couldn’t participate in the Tokyo Olympic Games, and then entered the paid ranks at Shinsei Gym in Kobe city in 2021. The fast-punching prospect made a good start with a TKO victory and stayed unbeaten since to make an entry in the “Bantamweight Monster Tournament”. He kept winning and then, in the final of the tourney with 10,000,000 Yen ($66,666) at stake, faced Japanese champ Seiya Tsutsumi in quest of the national belt.
Anaguchi was winning after the fifth on the open scoring system: 48-46 twice and 47-47. He looked to have won all other rounds than four rounds (the fourth, seventh, ninth and tenth) when he took a count, eventually losing a unanimous decision (94-92 twice, 95-91). The 94-92 tally means Tsutsumi won 10-8 four times in total, while Anaguchi swept all other six sessions. After the ninth, the two judges’ scores read 84-84 to have it a literally one-round fight in the final session.
In such a hard-fought see-saw contest, it might have been very hard for the referee or the corner to halt it midway through the bout. Kazuki reportedly lost consciousness in the dressing room and was immediately rushed by ambulance to the hospital. After undergoing brain surgery, he stayed in a deep coma for more than a month and passed away at the hospital in Tokyo.
It was yesterday, almost at the same time as his pitiful passing, that it was named The Fight of the Year in the domestic category. Anaguchi’s last fight truly deserves it. May his soul rest in peace.
https://boxrec.com/en/box-pro/1022028