# Yoshio Shirai

Yoshio Shirai (白井 義男, Shirai Yoshio, November 23, 1923 – December 26, 2003) was a professional boxer from Tokyo, Japan. He won the Undisputed Flyweight Championship in 1952, becoming the first Japanese boxer to win a world title.

## Childhood and early career

Shirai first boxed in elementary school, during a mock match-up against a kangaroo at a local carnival. He became interested in boxing afterwards, and made his professional debut in 1943, during World War II. He won his first eight professional fights before being drafted to join the Imperial Japanese Navy. After being released in 1945, he returned to boxing, but was almost forced into retirement because of injuries he had sustained during the war. However, he met Alvin Rober Cahn, a Jewish-American SCAP employee, who became his trainer and manager. Shirai's boxing skills improved dramatically under Cahn's guidance, and the two formed a close bond.
Shirai fought with the aggressive boxing style typical of the Japanese boxers of the time, but made a change to a more technical, defensive style under the guidance of his new trainer. Cahn made Shirai live in his house, and supervised everything from his health and training to his meals. Cahn began to suffer from dementia in his old age, and it was Shirai's family that took care of him. Cahn had no children when he died, and left Shirai with his entire fortune.

## Professional career

Shirai won his first fight after teaming with Cahn on July 30, 1948, and won the Japanese flyweight title in 1949. He also won the Japanese bantamweight title the same year, and held both titles for over 3 years, making 5 total defenses.
He fought flyweight world champion Dado Marino on May 21, 1951, in a non-title match. Shirai lost by split decision but fought Marino again in December, 1951, to mark a 7th round KO win. On May 19, 1952, he met Marino for the third time for the world flyweight title. Shirai won by 15 round decision, becoming the new world champion, and first ever Japanese boxer to win a world title.
Shirai made four defenses of the world title before losing his title to Pascual Perez in November, 1954 by unanimous decision. He fought Perez again in May, 1955, but lost decisively by KO in the 5th round. He announced his retirement after this loss. His professional record was 48-8-2 (20KOs).

## Post retirement

Shirai worked as a boxing commentator and critic before creating a sports gym in 1995 with former world champion Yoko Gushiken. He received an award from the Japanese government in 1995 for his efforts in boxing. He was inducted into the Ring Magazine hall of fame in 1977.

## Death

Shirai died from pneumonia on December 26, 2003. He was 80 years old.

## Professional boxing record

| 58 fights | 46 wins | 8 losses |
| By knockout | 18 | 3 |
| By decision | 27 | 4 |
| By disqualification | 1 | 1 |
| Draws | 4 | 4 |
| No. | Result | Record | Opponent | Type | Round, time | Date | Location | Notes |
| 58 | Loss | 46–8–4 | Pascual Pérez | KO | 5 (15), 2:59 | May 30, 1955 | Korakuen Baseball Stadium, Japan | For NBA and The Ring flyweight titles |
| 57 | Loss | 46–7–4 | Pascual Pérez | UD | 15 | Nov 26, 1954 | Korakuen Baseball Stadium, Japan | Lost NBA and The Ring flyweight titles |
| 56 | Win | 46–6–4 | Takashi Seno | KO | 4 (8) | Sep 18, 1954 | Japan | |
| 55 | Win | 45–6–4 | Alberto Barenghi | PTS | 10 | Aug 11, 1954 | Estadio Luna Park, Buenos Aires, Argentina | |
| 54 | Draw | 44–6–4 | Pascual Pérez | PTS | 10 | Jul 24, 1954 | Estadio Luna Park, Buenos Aires, Argentina | |
| 53 | Win | 44–6–3 | Leo Espinosa | SD | 15 | May 24, 1954 | Korakuen Baseball Stadium, Japan | Retained NBA and The Ring flyweight titles |
| 52 | Win | 43–6–3 | Masaru Kaneko | RTD | 8 (10) | Apr 8, 1954 | Osaka, Japan | |
| 51 | Win | 42–6–3 | Terry Allen | UD | 15 | Oct 27, 1953 | Korakuen Baseball Stadium, Japan | Retained NBA and The Ring flyweight titles |
| 50 | Loss | 41–6–3 | Leo Espinosa | RTD | 7 (10) | Sep 19, 1953 | Osaka Stadium, Osaka, Japan | |
| 49 | Win | 41–5–3 | Vic Herman | TKO | 10 (10) | Jul 17, 1953 | Korakuen Baseball Stadium, Japan | |
| 48 | Win | 40–5–3 | Tanny Campo | UD | 15 | May 18, 1953 | Korakuen Baseball Stadium, Japan | Retained NBA and The Ring flyweight titles |
| 47 | Win | 39–5–3 | Mario Macias | UD | 10 | Apr 17, 1953 | Japan | |
| 46 | Win | 38–5–3 | Dado Marino | UD | 15 | Nov 15, 1952 | Korakuen Baseball Stadium, Japan | Retained NBA and The Ring flyweight titles |
| 45 | Win | 37–5–3 | Roy Higa | UD | 10 | Sep 26, 1952 | Korakuen Baseball Stadium, Japan | |
| 44 | Win | 36–5–3 | Dado Marino | UD | 15 | May 19, 1952 | Korakuen Baseball Stadium, Japan | Won NBA and The Ring flyweight titles |
| 43 | Win | 35–5–3 | Kyoichi Muto | RTD | 6 (8) | Apr 4, 1952 | Japan | |
| 42 | Win | 34–5–3 | Hiroshi Horiguchi | UD | 10 | Feb 9, 1952 | Japan | Retained Japan bantamweight title |
| 41 | Win | 33–5–3 | Dado Marino | TKO | 7 (10), 1:11 | Dec 4, 1951 | Honolulu Stadium, Honolulu, Hawaii | |
| 40 | Win | 32–5–3 | Takahisa Horiguchi | KO | 6 (10), 0:42 | Oct 25, 1951 | Japan | Retained Japan flyweight title |
| 39 | Win | 31–5–3 | Hidemasa Nagashima | PTS | 10 | Sep 20, 1951 | Japan | Won Japan bantamweight title |
| 38 | Loss | 30–5–3 | Dado Marino | SD | 10 | May 21, 1951 | Korakuen Baseball Stadium, Japan | |
| 37 | Loss | 30–4–3 | Hidemasa Nagashima | DQ | 8 (10), 2:25 | Mar 17, 1951 | Japan | Lost Japan bantamweight title |
| 36 | Win | 30–3–3 | Yukio Takahashi | DQ | 7 (10) | Feb 3, 1951 | Japan | |
| 35 | Win | 29–3–3 | Takashi Seno | PTS | 10 | Oct 26, 1950 | Japan | Retained Japan bantamweight title |
| 34 | Win | 28–3–3 | Katsumi Kobayashi | KO | 2 (10) | Sep 25, 1950 | Japan | |
| 33 | Win | 27–3–3 | Hideo Kijima | KO | 2 (10), 2:07 | Jun 28, 1950 | Japan | Retained Japan flyweight title |
| 32 | Win | 26–3–3 | Yoichiro Hanada | PTS | 10 | May 25, 1950 | Japan | Retained Japan bantamweight title |
| 31 | Win | 25–3–3 | Yoshiaki Nario | PTS | 8 | Apr 14, 1950 | Japan | |
| 30 | Win | 24–3–3 | Hiroshi Horiguchi | UD | 10 | Dec 15, 1949 | Japan | Won Japan bantamweight title |
| 29 | Win | 23–3–3 | Kyoichi Muto | KO | 3 (8) | Sep 28, 1949 | Japan | |
| 28 | Win | 22–3–3 | Noboru Kushida | PTS | 10 | Jun 25, 1949 | Japan | Retained Japan flyweight title |
| 27 | Win | 21–3–3 | Eijiro Yajima | PTS | 10 | May 2, 1949 | Japan | |
| 26 | Win | 20–3–3 | Tomoyoshi Yanagida | KO | 2 (10) | Mar 21, 1949 | Japan | |
| 25 | Win | 19–3–3 | Yoichiro Hanada | KO | 5 (10) | Jan 28, 1949 | Japan | Won Japan flyweight title |
| 24 | Win | 18–3–3 | Noboru Kushida | SD | 8 | Oct 9, 1948 | Japan | |
| 23 | Win | 17–3–3 | Eijiro Yajima | UD | 8 | Sep 11, 1948 | Japan | |
| 22 | Win | 16–3–3 | Nobuyuki Ishimori | KO | 2 (8) | Jul 30, 1948 | Japan | |
| 21 | Win | 15–3–3 | Kiyoshi Nishimura | PTS | 8 | Jul 10, 1948 | Japan | |
| 20 | Draw | 14–3–3 | Kunimatsu Suda | PTS | 6 | Jun 21, 1948 | Japan | |
| 19 | Draw | 14–3–2 | Eijiro Yajima | PTS | 8 | Jun 6, 1948 | Japan | |
| 18 | Win | 14–3–1 | Sadaji Wada | PTS | 8 | May 7, 1948 | Japan | |
| 17 | Win | 13–3–1 | Kazumi Ueda | PTS | 6 | Apr 3, 1948 | Fuji, Japan | |
| 16 | Win | 12–3–1 | Kazumi Ueda | PTS | 6 | Feb 15, 1948 | Japan | |
| 15 | Win | 11–3–1 | Michiyosi Koizumi | KO | 2 (6) | Dec 25, 1947 | Japan | |
| 14 | Draw | 10–3–1 | Takeshi Makino | PTS | 8 | Oct 27, 1947 | Japan | |
| 13 | Loss | 10–3 | Eijiro Yajima | PTS | 8 | Sep 11, 1947 | Japan | |
| 12 | Loss | 10–2 | Yoichiro Hanada | PTS | 8 | Jul 18, 1947 | Japan | |
| 11 | Win | 10–1 | Toshimitsu Kushihashi | PTS | 6 | Jul 6, 1947 | Japan | |
| 10 | Win | 9–1 | Kazumi Ueda | PTS | 6 | Jun 27, 1947 | Japan | |
| 9 | Loss | 8–1 | Noboru Kushida | KO | 5 (8) | Dec 14, 1946 | Japan | |
| 8 | Win | 8–0 | Sakae Suzuki | KO | 1 (6) | Mar 28, 1944 | Japan | |
| 7 | Win | 7–0 | Sadasuke Aoki | PTS | 4 | Mar 5, 1944 | Japan | |
| 6 | Win | 6–0 | Shigeo Tanaka | PTS | 4 | Feb 10, 1944 | Japan | |
| 5 | Win | 5–0 | Makoto Yamada | KO | 1 (4) | Feb 6, 1944 | Japan | |
| 4 | Win | 4–0 | Masao Ito | KO | 1 (4) | Jan 20, 1944 | Japan | |
| 3 | Win | 3–0 | Tomisaburo Oura | PTS | 4 | Dec 23, 1943 | Japan | |
| 2 | Win | 2–0 | Saichi Kubota | KO | 1 (4) | Dec 10, 1943 | Japan | |
| 1 | Win | 1–0 | Jumpo Umiyama | KO | 1 (4) | Nov 26, 1943 | Japan | |

## Titles in boxing
### Major world titles

* NBA (WBA) flyweight champion (112 lbs)

### The Ring magazine titles

* The Ring flyweight champion (112 lbs)

### Regional/International titles

* Japan flyweight champion (112 lbs)
* Japan bantamweight champion (118 lbs) (2×)

### Undisputed titles

* Undisputed flyweight champion