The “Evening of Dinner with World Champions” event, hosted by the World Champions Association (chaired by Tsuyoshi Hamada), was held on the evening of 2 June at the Tokyo Dome Hotel. Around 300 guests attended the gathering, which was graced by the presence of 53 former world champions.
世界獲得50周年を祝福された具志堅さん（中央）。沖縄の元王者たちと
The gathering, exclusively for retired former world champions, commenced with master of ceremonies and broadcaster Kenichi Takayanagi introducing each attending champion before a group photograph was taken. This year’s event marked the 50th anniversary of Yoko Gushiken (70) capturing his world title, and he was presented with a special award to commemorate the milestone. Masahiko Harada (83), fighting under the ring name Fighting Harada, who serves as the supreme advisor to the association and was the oldest former champion in attendance, presented Gushiken with a bouquet.
On 10 October 1976, at the Yamanashi Gakuin University Gymnasium, Gushiken secured the WBA world junior-flyweight title by stopping Juan Guzman (Dominican Republic) in the seventh round. Winning a world title in only his ninth professional bout set a record at the time for the fewest fights required by a Japanese boxer to become champion. His subsequent 13 consecutive title defences remains an unbroken national record. His achievement also carried significant historical weight, occurring just four years after Okinawa was officially returned to Japan in 1972, making him the first world champion from Okinawa.
Reflecting on his historic victory half a century ago, Gushiken remarked: “It was a truly brutal fight, but I managed to win by knockout. What pleased me most was becoming a world champion so soon after Okinawa’s reversion to the mainland. It brought immense joy not just to those in Okinawa, but also to Okinawan compatriots living across the mainland who celebrated wildly. I was deeply moved when they thanked me for the victory.” Despite being heralded as a “once-in-a-century genius” during his prime, Gushiken added: “I only became strong after I won the world title; before that, I wasn’t strong at all.”
Archival footage of Gushiken’s bouts, including the world title victory over Guzman, was screened inside the venue. Adding to the Okinawan-themed celebration, former WBA interim flyweight champion Koki Eto, an Okinawan native and protégé of Gushiken, performed on the sanshin, a traditional Okinawan three-stringed instrument.
The event saw a notable turnout of former champions travelling from regional areas outside Tokyo. Attendees included Jiro Watanabe, Hiroki Ioka, Hozumi Hasegawa, and Nobuhiro Ishida from the Kansai region; Kiyoshi Hatanaka and Kosei Tanaka from the Chubu region; Yota Sato from Iwate in the Tohoku region; Tomonobu Shimizu from Fukui; and Nobuaki Hiranaka and Tatsuya Fukuhara from Kyushu and Okinawa.
The dinner function was conceived by Hamada, who took over as the association’s second president the year before last, driven by his strong desire to create more opportunities for interaction with fans. This marked the second edition of the event. The former champions spent the evening signing autographs and posing for photographs with enthusiastic supporters. While the organisers intend to establish the dinner as an annual tradition on Boxing Day in Japan (19 May), this year’s event was delayed by two weeks due to venue availability.
