Teiken Boxing Gym
On March 21, 2009, the minimumweight boxer of Teiken Boxing Gym in Tokyo, and Hosei University alumni Masatate Tsuji (born in 1978) lost his first title shot via a final round knockout in a ten-round bout in the thirtieth edition of the annual Japanese boxing series, the Champion Carnival at the Korakuen Hall. In October 2008, Tsuji who made a professional debut on October 19, 2002 had won the other annual series Japanese title elimination tournament nicknamed with the winner becoming the next mandatory challenger against the Japanese titleholder at the Champion Carnival, after defeating Akira Yaegashi in its semi-final match. In the scores until the ninth round of his fight in March 2009, all three judges gave a five to six point advantage for Tsuji. However fizzled from around three quarters, he lost consciousness just after the fight. Although Tsuji was taken to the hospital directly from the ring of the Korakuen Hall by the ambulance to undergo craniotomy immediately due to the acute subdural hematoma, he died without regaining consciousness on March 24, 2009. His final records were 31–19 (10 KOs) in amateur bouts, and 12–2 (3 KOs) with 2 draws in professional bouts. Tsuji now rests in peace on the Seto Inland Sea coast in his home city Hiroshima. Prior to that, the former Japanese lightweight champion Nobuo Kobayashi (born in 1910) of Teiken Boxing Gym has become the first boxing fatality in Japan at the Koshien tennis court in Nishinomiya, Hyōgo on September 1, 1930. Therefore, that was the second death for Teiken Boxing Gym as a result of injuries suffered in the ring.