MightyGloves.com

A Short on Shibata

posted by Kathleen Holland on April 5, 2008, in Features

Story by Jim Amato

Kuniaki Shibata was one of Japan's most under rated fighters of all time. He was crowned three times as a world champion in two different weight divisions. This was in the 1970's when boxers had to go the "real" championship distance of fifteen rounds.There were only two governing bodies back then, the WBA and the WBC.

Born in 1947 Shibata turned professional in 1965. He was a very strong fighter with decent power but he could also be a clever boxer at times. It was Shibata's chin that would betray him on five different occasions and probably eliminated him years later as a potential Hall Of Famer. In the late 60's Shibata was stopped by dangerous Dwight Hopkins and Hubert Kang for the Orient featherweight title. Finally in 1970 Shibata shook up the world by forcing the great featherweight champion Vincente Saldivar to retire after twelve brutal rounds of action. In 1971 he stopped Raul Cruz in one round. Then he drew with Panama's Ernesto Marcel to retain his WBC title. Nine months later Marcel would win the WBA's version of the featherweight title from Antonio Gomez. In 1972 Shibata's chin was exposed again as Mexico's Clemente Sanchez destroyed him in three rounds. In 1973 Kuniaki pulled another upset by cleverly outboxing hard hitting Ben Villaflor to win the WBA super featherweight title. Shibata held on to his title with a draw against the always tough Victor Echegaray. In his rematch with Villaflor, Shibata was caught cold and flattened in the first round. Next Shibata would score another upset in 1974 with a points verdict over Ricardo Arredondo to add the WBA super featherweight title to his belt collection. Shibata was a worthy champion as he defended his crown successfully three times. In 1975 Shibata tasted the canvas again as he was stopped in two by the great champion Alfredo Escalera. Kuniaki would win three more fights and would finally hang up the gloves in 1977. In 56 fights his record was 47-6-3 with 25 KO's. In turn Shibata was blasted out on five occasions. I will be doing a full length feature on Shibata for the next issue of Boxing World magazine....JIM AMATO

« Previous article: Cleveland Lightweight Tommy Salem

Next article: VIDEO - JESSICA RAKOCZY AND DEWEY COOPER INTERVIEW »