# Yasutsune Uehara

Yasutsune Uehara (上原 康恒, Uehara Yasutsune, born October 12, 1949 in Okinawa, Japan) is a former professional boxer and former WBA and lineal super featherweight champion. He is one of the few Japanese boxers to have won the world title fighting outside Japan.

## Biography

Uehara was born in Naha, Okinawa. He won the inter-high school boxing tournament in his senior year in high school, and moved on to Nihon University, where he won amateur titles in two weight classes, compiling a distinguished amateur record of 117–8 (87RSC). He was already touted as the next Japanese world champion when he announced his decision to turn professional.
Uehara made his debut on November 14, 1972, with a fourth-round knockout in Honolulu, Hawaii. He suffered his first professional loss in his second fight. He returned to Japan after five fights in the United States.
He won nine fights in a row after returning to Japan, including seven victories by knockout. Uehara returned to the United States in August, 1974 to challenge WBA super featherweight champion Ben Villaflor, but lost by second-round knockout.
Uehara won the Japanese super featherweight title on July 21, 1971, knocking out his opponent in the first round. He defended the title a total of ten times, a considerable number of defenses for a regional title.
Uehara was once again ranked as the number one WBA super featherweight challenger in 1980, and challenged Samuel Serrano for the Lineal and WBA super featherweight titles on the undercard of Thomas Hearns' win over José Cuevas in Detroit. Uehara was losing on all three judges' scorecards before connecting with a right hook to knock out the defending champion in the sixth round. Uehara's victory was named The Ring's 1980 upset of the year.
Uehara defended his title in November 1980, before meeting Serrano for the second time in April 1981. He lost the rematch by unanimous decision, and announced his retirement shortly afterwards. His record was 27-5-0 (21KOs).

## Professional boxing record

| 32 fights | 27 wins | 5 losses |
| By knockout | 21 | 1 |
| By decision | 6 | 4 |
| No. | Result | Record | Opponent | Type | Round, time | Date | Location | Notes |
| 32 | Loss | 27–5 | Samuel Serrano | UD | 15 | Apr 9, 1981 | Prefectural Gymnasium, Wakayama, Japan | Lost WBA and The Ring super featherweight titles |
| 31 | Win | 27–4 | Leonel Hernandez | SD | 15 | Nov 20, 1980 | Kokugikan, Tokyo, Japan | Retained WBA and The Ring super featherweight titles |
| 30 | Win | 26–4 | Samuel Serrano | KO | 6 (15), 2:59 | Aug 2, 1980 | Joe Louis Arena, Detroit, Michigan, U.S. | Won WBA and The Ring super featherweight titles |
| 29 | Win | 25–4 | Blazer Okubo | KO | 5 (10), 2:23 | Mar 18, 1980 | Japan | Retained Japanese super featherweight title |
| 28 | Win | 24–4 | Kojiro Sasaki | KO | 10 (10), 2:39 | Nov 10, 1979 | Naha, Japan | Retained Japanese super featherweight title |
| 27 | Win | 23–4 | Yoshitaka Ikehara | PTS | 10 | Jul 12, 1979 | Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan | Retained Japanese super featherweight title |
| 26 | Win | 22–4 | Yasuhide Takahashi | KO | 6 (10) | Feb 27, 1979 | Japan | |
| 25 | Win | 21–4 | Hideyoshi Horinaga | KO | 2 (10), 0:50 | Nov 25, 1978 | Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan | Retained Japanese super featherweight title |
| 24 | Win | 20–4 | Tatsuya Moriyasu | KO | 2 (10) | Aug 9, 1978 | Omiya, Japan | |
| 23 | Win | 19–4 | Ryu Fukita | KO | 7 (10), 1:50 | Apr 28, 1978 | Japan | Retained Japanese super featherweight title |
| 22 | Win | 18–4 | Tadashi Akiyama | RTD | 7 (10), 3:00 | Dec 4, 1977 | Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan | Retained Japanese super featherweight title |
| 21 | Win | 17–4 | Suketoshi Maruyama | KO | 6 (10) | Sep 9, 1977 | Nagoya, Japan | |
| 20 | Win | 16–4 | Shoji Okano | KO | 2 (10), 1:33 | May 29, 1977 | Onoyama Gym, Naha, Japan | Retained Japanese super featherweight title |
| 19 | Loss | 15–4 | Joe Lim | PTS | 10 | Nov 25, 1976 | Manila, Philippines | |
| 18 | Win | 15–3 | Masa Ito | PTS | 10 | Jul 29, 1976 | Japan | Won Japanese super featherweight title |
| 17 | Loss | 14–3 | Masa Ito | PTS | 10 | Apr 23, 1976 | Tokuyama, Japan | Lost Japanese super featherweight title |
| 16 | Win | 14–2 | Susumu Okabe | KO | 8 (10), 2:24 | Dec 9, 1975 | Japan | Retained Japanese super featherweight title |
| 15 | Win | 13–2 | Masa Ito | KO | 5 (10), 2:21 | Oct 19, 1975 | City Gymnasium, Okinawa, Japan | Retained Japanese super featherweight title |
| 14 | Win | 12–2 | Susumu Okabe | KO | 1 (10), 1:52 | Jul 21, 1975 | Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan | Won Japanese super featherweight title |
| 13 | Win | 11–2 | Freddie Mensah | PTS | 10 | Nov 30, 1974 | Akita City, Japan | |
| 12 | Loss | 10–2 | Ben Villaflor | KO | 2 (15), 1:17 | Aug 24, 1974 | Honolulu International Center, Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S. | For WBA and The Ring super featherweight title |
| 11 | Win | 10–1 | Masaharu Tsuchiya | KO | 1 (10) | May 28, 1974 | Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan | |
| 10 | Win | 9–1 | Kae Shik Yuh | KO | 6 (12) | Mar 26, 1974 | Nagoya, Japan | |
| 9 | Win | 8–1 | Ricardo Arredondo | UD | 10 | Nov 29, 1973 | Onoyama Gym, Naha, Japan | |
| 8 | Win | 7–1 | Tokikazu Ichikawa | KO | 3 (10) | Oct 28, 1973 | Japan | |
| 7 | Win | 6–1 | Ricky Sawa | KO | 6 (10) | Aug 4, 1973 | Naha, Japan | |
| 6 | Win | 5–1 | Noriaki Yoshimura | KO | 5 (10) | Jun 14, 1973 | Japan | |
| 5 | Win | 4–1 | Danny Campos | TKO | 6 (8) | Mar 12, 1973 | Honolulu International Center, Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S. | |
| 4 | Win | 3–1 | Rogelio Tulunghari | TKO | 1 (6) | Feb 13, 1973 | Honolulu International Center, Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S. | |
| 3 | Win | 2–1 | Shichiro Saito | PTS | 6 | Dec 12, 1972 | Honolulu International Center, Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S. | |
| 2 | Loss | 1–1 | Mar Yuzon | PTS | 6 | Nov 21, 1972 | Honolulu International Center, Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S. | |
| 1 | Win | 1–0 | Sam Fraticelli | TKO | 4 (6) | Nov 14, 1972 | Honolulu International Center, Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S. | |