Titles: World jr. lightweight champion 1967-1971 

Record: 60-10-4

Born: August 23, 1944 in Isesaki, Japan 

Years active: 1962-1971

Nickname: None  

Hiroshi Kobayashi should be considered one of the most skilled boxers to ever come 
out of Japan. Kobayashi held the the WBA jr. lightweight title for 4 years making 
6 successful title defenses while becoming a fan favorite without the help of a
big punch. Kobayashi turned pro at the age of 17 and manage to overcome some rocky 
moments early in his career to become a world champion, at one point of Hiroshi 
lost 4 bouts in a row. What Kobayashi did have in abundance was determination as 
he only wanted to box and owned no car, had no girlfriend and no hobbies while he 
fought. Hiroshi moved his feet well setting up his punches through his movement and
steady jab. Not owning a knockout punch Hiroshi learned early to use movement to
avoid the rushes of his opponents who did not fear his punch. Shaking off early 
losses in his career Kobayashi won the Japanese featherweight crown in 1964. After
he won the title he defended it 6 times in a run of 11 straight wins. Kobayashi 
then in 1966 went on a unprecedented tour of fights which took him to Venezuela,
Ecuador, Mexico and Los Angeles. I can think of no other Japanese fighter who went
on the road to fight as a challenger overseas when he had a good fan base in Japan. 
On that 6 fight tour of the western world Kobayashi lost 2 of the fights but got
what he wanted from the tour.....knowledge and boxing skills! In 1967 Kobayashi
challenged Yoshiaki Numata for the WBA jr. lightweight crown and dominated his 
countryman before taking him out in the 12th round. It was the very first world
title bout to featuring two Japanese combatants. During the fight Kobayashi knocked 
down 4 times, once in the 6th and three times in the 12th round. None of Hiroshi's 
supporters could have expected a knockout as Kobayashi only knocked out 6 of his 
previous 57 foes! Numata was no easy foe either in his previous fight Numata had 
defeated legendary Filipino Flash Elorde. It did not look as if Hiroshi was meant 
to hang on to the title for long as he was rocked at times in his first defense 
against the very good Rene Barrientos and only his boxing skills saved him. The 
bout ended in a controversial draw. Hiroshi did not fare as well however when he 
moved up in weight to fight both Mando Ramos and Ruben Navarro but lost to both 
of the naturally larger men. Kobayashi decided to concentrate on jr. lightweight
foes and did so with success. He twice defeated Antonio Amaya and the challenges 
of Jaime Valladares and Carlos Canete. His most impressive defense was against 
Mexican Ricardo Arredondo whom he outboxed in a very good fight which saw Hiroshi
establish his jab early and ride it to victory. Hiroshi looked to be on his way 
to a seventh defense when he ran out of gas after a impressive start against 
Alfredo Marcano. Hiroshi ran into a young and very talented buzz saw named Roberto 
Duran in next bout when he tried to establish himself again in the lightweight 
division. Hiroshi decided to hang up his gloves after this loss and still runs 
a successful gym in Tokyo.

     1962

     Jul 2   Hisatsugu Kyoya         Tokyo                   W 4
     Jul 13  Michio Ishii            Tokyo                   KO 2
     Jul 30  Yuji Takase             Tokyo                   W 4
     Aug 20  Saburo Yanagi           Tokyo                   W 4
     Sep 11  Kiyokazu Komura         Tokyo                   W 4
     Sep 25  Kazuyoshi Ohashi        Tokyo                   W 4
     Oct 16  Masayoshi Otake         Tokyo                   W 4
     Nov 7   Kazuo Hayaseko          Tokyo                   W 4
     Nov 29  Saburo Yanagi           Tokyo                   W 4
     Dec 15  Hisao Omori             Tokyo                   W 4
     Dec 31  Noriyoshi Toyoshima     Tokyo                   W 6

     1963

     Jan 28  Tsutomu Yoshida         Tokyo                   W 6
     Feb 19  Isamu Kato              Tokyo                   W 6
     Mar 18  Hideo Fukuchi           Tokyo                   W 6
     Apr 4   Kazuhiro Furuya         Tokyo                   W 6
     May 2   Teruo Hino              Tokyo                   W 8
     May 13  Yuji Masuko             Tokyo                   KO 2
     Jun 24  Tommy Barahaja          Tokyo                   W 10
     Aug 19  Manzo Kikuchi           Tokyo                   L 10
     Nov 2   Johnny Jamito           Manila                  KO by 6

     1964

     Jan 25  Kang-Il Suh             Tokyo                   L 10
     Feb 20  Lalo Guerrero           Tokyo                   L 10
     Apr 6   Porte Villa             Tokyo                   W 10
     Apr 25  Misunori Seki           Tokyo                   W 10
     Jul 9   Dong-Chun Lee           Tokyo                   W 10
     Sep 28  Yuji Masuko             Tokyo                   W 10
     Nov 9   Atsushi Gunzi           Tokyo                   W 10
     Dec 12  Hyon Kim                Maebashi, Japan         W 10

     1965

     Jan 18  Yuji Masuko             Tokyo                   W 10
     Mar 1   Soo-Bok Kwan            Tokyo                   KO 7
     May 9   Shigeo Shioyama         Tokyo                   W 10
     Jun 27  Chong-Tai Lim           Tokyo                   W 10
     Jul 18  Kunio Sakata            Tokyo                   W 10
     Aug 30  Atsushi Gunzi           Tokyo                   W 10
     Sep 23  Hyon Kim                Tokyo                   W 10
     Oct 29  Sugar Carreon           Tokyo                   W 10
     Dec 9   Orlando Medina          Tokyo                   W 10

     1966

     Jan 27  Katsustoshi Aoki        Tokyo                   W 10
     Feb 28  Hiroshi Mori            Tokyo                   W 10
     May 14  Jaime Valladares        Quito, Ecuador          D 10
     May 30  Freddy Rengifo          Caracas, Venzuela       L 10
     Jun 25  Pedro Gomez             Caracas, Venezuela      KO by 7
     Jul 3   Fino Rosales            Culiacan, Mexico        KO 9
     Jul 10  Aurelio Cazares         Sinaloa, Mexico         D 10
     Aug 18  Bobby Valdez            Los Angeles             KO 7
     Oct 10  Nobuo Chiba             Tokyo                   W 10
     Nov 10  Sumio Nobata            Nagoya, Japan           W 10
     Nov 28  Kid Rosario             Tokyo                   W 10

     1967

     Jan 17  Chun-Kyo Shin           Tokyo                   W 10
     Feb 2   Kang-Il Suh             Tokyo                   W 10
     Feb 27  Vicente Derado          Tokyo                   W 10
     May 8   Takao Mihashi           Tokyo                   W 10
     Jun 26  Dony Tesorio            Fukushima, Japan        W 10
     Aug 11  Man-IL Soo              Tokyo                   KO 7
     Sep 4   Soo-Yun Chang           Tokyo                   KO 7
     Oct 16  Song-Ki Chin            Tokyo                   KO 8
     Dec 14  Yoshiaki Numata         Tokyo                   KO 12
             (Wins World Jr. Lightweight Title)

     1968

     Mar 30  Rene Barrientos         Tokyo                   D 15
             (Retains World Jr. Lightweight Title)
     Jun 20  Mando Ramos             Los Angeles             L 10
     Jul 21  Ulysses Botero          Tokyo                   KO 6
     Aug 26  Ruben Navarro           Tokyo                   L 10
     Oct 6   Jaime Valladares        Tokyo                   W 15
             (Retains World Jr. Lightweight Title)

     1968

     Jan 27  Toro George             Tokyo                   W 10
     Apr 6   Antonio Amaya           Tokyo                   W 15
             (Retains World Jr. Lightweight Title)
     Jul 7   Victor Ramos            Tokyo                   KO 2
     Nov 9   Carlos Canete           Tokyo                   W 15
             (Retains World Jr. Lightweight Title)

     1970

     Feb 15  Hiroshi Shoji           Tokushima, Japan        D 10
     Jun 21  Ray Adigun              Tokyo                   W 10
     Aug 23  Antonio Amaya           Tokyo                   W 15
             (Retains World Jr. Lightweight Title)
     Dec 3   Sho Saijyo              Tokyo                   W 10

     1971

     Mar 4   Ricardo Arredondo       Tokyo                   W 15
             (Retains World Jr. Lightweight Title)
     Jul 24  Alfredo Marcano         Aomori, Japan           KO by 10
             (Loses World Jr. Lightweight Title)
     Oct 16  Roberto Duran           Panama City             KO by 7