Takao Sakurai

Takao Sakurai (Japanese:桜 井 孝 雄, Takao Sakurai, born September 25, 1941 in Sawara, today: Katori, Chiba Prefecture, † January 10, 2012 in Tokyo ) was a Japanese boxer in the bantamweight.

Amateur

Sakurai won in 1964 at the Olympic Games in Tokyo, the gold medal in the bantamweight. In the final, he defeated the South Korean Chung Shin- cho. He thus became the first Japanese Olympic gold medalist in boxing. Only in 2012 could again win Olympic gold, namely Ryota Murata, a Japanese middleweight boxer.

Professional career

1965 Sakurai was professional. His first 22 fights he ended victorious. In July 1968, Sakurai challenged the Australian Lionel Rose; it was about the world champion bantamweight titles after WBA and WBC version. Sakurai succeeded in the second round of a precipitate, but was defeated in the battle ultimately in a majority decision just on points.

His second defeat had Sakurai in May 1969 against the Mexican Rubén Olivares in an elimination to accept the right to a world championship match, he lost by technical knockout in the sixth round.

In October 1969, Sakurai took the Asian bantamweight championship. He defeated the South Korean Won- Suk Lee. After the victories in the title defenses over the two Filipinos Alberto Jangalay and Joe Malonso Sakurai finished his boxing career in 1970 as the Asian champions.

He died on January 10, 2012 in Tokyo at the age of 70 years from the effects of esophageal disease.