BoxRec

a good '90s lower weight fighter that ppl don't talk much of nowadays.

had some really hard fought battles for the WBC bantam title, most notably the 12 rd war with rival star joichiro tatsuyoshi, a fight described by one commentator as the japanese benn-eubank - thogh for my money the japanese fight far eclipsed the british one in sustained action and quality boxing. yakushiji won, narrowly. could have gone the other way.

of course, ppl remember yakushiji for another very close fight, in which he lost to the up and coming wayne mccullough. mccullough looked too strong, though yakushiji made it close and worrying with his rally in the final 2 sessions.

apparently yakushiji was in lots of close, debatable fights? what were his bouts with jung-il byung like?

Autobarn wrote:
apparently yakushiji was in lots of close, debatable fights?

with his style, he would be. he tended to try and start and finish rounds with real flourishes, with the 2 minutes in between often spent on the retreat (albeit, especially against the face-first Tatsuyoshi, with some very good clean punching). kinda style can often lead to a split in scoring opinions when up against a McCullough/tatsuyoshi come-forwards type.

he seems to have been a big weight drainer. really had to pace himself vs wayne mccullough. i think those hard fights must have taken something out of him. seemed to get out of boxing at the right time, unlike tatusyoshi.

oh, i would imagine he drained big, yes. thick, strong legs for a very tall bantam.