Hideyuki Ohashi on developing Naoya Inoue from amateur to icon

Hideyuki Ohashi stopped a 21-fight losing streak by Japanese challengers in world title bouts when he knocked out Jum Hwan Choi in the ninth round to claim the WBC strawweight belt in February 1990. Three decades later, the 61-year-old promoter steered Naoya Inoue from amateur standout to four-division champion and the most accomplished fighter Japan has ever produced.

In an interview with The Ring published ahead of Inoue's May 24 superfight against Junto Nakatani, Ohashi recalled the night he became a national hero. A black limousine whisked him from the arena to TV Asahi for a live news appearance, then straight to NHK. The next morning, he visited the prime minister's office and received a tie pin from Toshiki Kaifu. "After that victory, so many things in my life changed dramatically," Ohashi said, per The Ring.

From world champion to shaping The Monster

Ohashi had been tagged "a once-in-150-years genius" by Yonekura Gym head Kenji Yonekura before his pro debut, a label the fighter treated as a joke. "Boxing didn't even exist 150 years ago," he said with a laugh. But Ohashi acknowledged one boxer who might deserve that billing. "After I retired, I may have actually met a true once-in-150-years talent," he told the magazine. "Naoya Inoue probably won't come around again for another 150 years."

The losses in Ohashi's own career left deeper marks than his title win. He challenged Jung Koo Chang twice at junior flyweight, dropping a fifth-round knockout in Seoul in 1986 before 40,000 hostile fans. Ohashi landed a clean counter in the third round of their rematch that rolled Chang's eyes back, but the Korean champion kept coming and stopped him again. "That was incredible," Ohashi said of Chang's recovery.

Ohashi now runs the largest boxing gym in Japan and has guided multiple world titleholders through his promotional stable. The Inoue-Nakatani clash at Tokyo Dome represents the peak of that work. His next challenge is maintaining Japan's momentum in an era when world title fights no longer command the television audiences they did 35 years ago.

Source: ringmagazine.com