Royal Kobayashi

Kazuo Kobayashi (小林 和男^[1], Kobayashi Kazuo, born October 10, 1949 – November 17, 2020), better known as Royal Kobayashi, was a Japanese boxer who competed at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games in the featherweight division, and won the WBC junior featherweight titles in 1976. He is an alumnus of the Takushoku University.^[2]

Royal Kobayashi 小林 和男
Born	Kazuo Kobayashi (1949-10-10)October 10, 1949 Shimomashiki District, Kumamoto, Japan
Died	November 17, 2020(2020-11-17) (aged 71) Kumamoto, Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan
Nationality	Japanese
Other names	KO maker
Statistics
Weight(s)	Super bantamweight Featherweight
Height	5 ft 5+1⁄2 in (166 cm)
Stance	Orthodox
Boxing record
Total fights	43
Wins	35
Wins by KO	27
Losses	8

Amateur career

Kobayashi who had practiced kendo until high school graduation, began boxing after admission to the Physical Training School of the Self Defense Forces.^[3][4] He won the All-Japan Amateur Boxing Championships in the featherweight division in 1971 and 1972.^[4]

Kobayashi represented Japan at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich. In the second round match against Pat Ryan, Kobayashi knocked him down thrice, badly damaged his face, and won by a 4–1 decision. Beaver County Times called the one vote against Kobayashi "the most ridiculous decision (vote) of the night".^[5] Kobayashi then knocked out Italy's Pasqualino Morbidelli in one round, before losing 1–4 to András Botos in the quarterfinals. He compiled an amateur record of 34–3 (28 KOs)^[1] before turning professional.

Professional career

Since Kobayashi was an amateur boxer, he was said to be suitable for professional for his hard punches. In 1973, Kobayashi ran into Yoshinori Takahashi who is the president of Kokusai Boxing Sports Gym established in Tokyo in 1971 at a sports massage clinic, and was encouraged to turn professional.^[6]

Kobayashi made his professional debut under the ring name Royal Kobayashi in an eight-round bout in February 1973. His first world title shot against WBA featherweight champion Alexis Argüello ended in a fifth round knockout loss,^[7] in front of 16,000 spectators at the Kuramae Kokugikan in Tokyo in October 1975. After the fight, Kobayashi stated that he felt as if he had been beaten with a chunk of ice.^[8] In February 1976, he made an expedition to Panama,^[9] and lost on points there.

On October 9, 1976, Kobayashi moved down a weight class and dethroned Rigoberto Riasco as the WBC and lineal junior featherweight champion while being watched by 9,000 spectators at the Kuramae Kokugikan.^[10] He floored Riasco once with his left hook in the seventh round, and twice with his right hooks in the eighth round.^[11][12] However, he lost the title in his first defense against Dong-Kyun Yum via a majority decision at the Jangchung Gymnasium in Seoul, South Korea, on November 24 of that year.^[13][14] In January 1978, Kobayashi challenged Wilfredo Gómez to regain the WBC junior featherweight title in front of 10,000 spectators^[14] at the Kitakyūshū Municipal Gymnasium in Fukuoka, but was knocked out in the third round.^[15]

Kobayashi went back to the featherweight division, and captured the OPBF title in April 1978. After defending that title once, he fought against Eusebio Pedroza for the WBA featherweight title at the Korakuen Hall in January 1979. However he quit after thirteen rounds with his face swollen by a barrage of blows in the eighth round.^[16] Kobayashi defended the OPBF title seven times in total, for about two and a half years. In his eighth defense in October 1981, he suffered a first round knockout loss and retired as a boxer. His manager Takahashi later told that he realized the importance of short punches when Kobayashi lost to Pedroza and when he brought up Leopard Tamakuma to be a world champion he taught it to him thoroughly.^[6]

Professional boxing record

43 fights	35 wins	8 losses
By knockout	27	4
By decision	8	4

No.	Result	Record	Opponent	Type	Round, time	Date	Location	Notes
43	Loss	35–8	Jung Han Hwang	KO	1 (12)	1981-10-18	Munhwa Gymnasium, Seoul, South Korea	Lost OPBF featherweight title
42	Loss	35–7	Young Se Oh	UD	12 (12)	1981-09-06	Munhwa Gymnasium, Seoul, South Korea
41	Win	35–6	Dae Hwan Lee	PTS	12 (12)	1981-05-19	Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan	Retained OPBF featherweight title
40	Win	34–6	Koichi Matsushima	KO	8 (12)	1981-01-25	Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan	Retained OPBF featherweight title
39	Win	33–6	Dae Hwan Lee	SD	12 (12)	1980-08-19	Japan	Retained OPBF featherweight title
38	Win	32–6	Takao Maruki	KO	6 (12)	1980-06-09	Nagoya, Japan	Retained OPBF featherweight title
37	Win	31–6	Masa Ito	KO	7 (10)	1980-02-24	City Gymnasium, Hofu, Japan
36	Win	30–6	Kashi Keno	KO	6 (10)	1979-12-20	Japan
35	Win	29–6	Suk Tae Yun	UD	12 (12)	1979-10-28	Aomori City, Japan	Retained OPBF featherweight title
34	Win	28–6	Chong Yun Lee	KO	5 (10)	1979-09-08	Seoul, South Korea
33	Loss	27–6	Hikaru Tomonari	MD	10 (10)	1979-07-26	Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan
32	Win	27–5	Bok Soo Hwang	PTS	12 (12)	1979-04-27	Kumamoto, Japan	Retained OPBF featherweight title
31	Loss	26–5	Eusebio Pedroza	RTD	13 (15)	1979-01-09	Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan	For WBA featherweight title
30	Win	26–4	Spider Nemoto	SD	12 (12)	1978-08-06	Japan	Retained OPBF featherweight title
29	Win	25–4	Bok Soo Hwang	TKO	10 (12)	1978-04-27	Japan	Won OPBF featherweight title
28	Loss	24–4	Wilfredo Gómez	KO	3 (15)	1978-01-19	Municipal Gymnasium, Kitakyushu, Japan	For WBC super bantamweight title
27	Win	24–3	Satoshi Nakai	TKO	1 (10)	1977-11-03	Japan
26	Win	23–3	Shigeru Sasaki	KO	1 (10)	1977-05-23	Japan
25	Win	22–3	Blazer Okubo	KO	7 (10)	1977-02-08	Ōtsu, Japan
24	Loss	21–3	Yum Dong-kyun	MD	15 (15)	1976-11-24	Jangchung Gymnasium, Seoul, South Korea	Lost WBC super bantamweight title
23	Win	21–2	Rigoberto Riasco	KO	8 (15)	1976-10-09	Kuramae Kokugikan, Tokyo, Japan	Won WBC super bantamweight title
22	Win	20–2	Jaguar Sekino	TKO	5 (10)	1976-07-10	Japan
21	Loss	19–2	Emilio Salcedo	UD	10 (10)	1976-02-15	Feria de David, David, Panama
20	Win	19–1	Ushiwakamaru Harada	PTS	10 (10)	1975-12-21	Japan
19	Loss	18–1	Alexis Argüello	KO	5 (15)	1975-10-12	Kuramae Kokugikan, Tokyo, Japan	For WBA & The Ring featherweight titles
18	Win	18–0	Hwa Ryong Yuh	KO	4 (10)	1975-06-16	Japan
17	Win	17–0	Zensuke Utagawa	KO	2 (12)	1975-05-09	Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan
16	Win	16–0	Jun Gallego	KO	9 (10)	1975-04-04	Sendai, Japan
15	Win	15–0	Masanao Toyoshima	KO	6 (10)	1975-02-17	Japan
14	Win	14–0	Sanjo Takemori	KO	2 (10)	1974-12-30	Japan
13	Win	13–0	Bert Nabalatan	UD	10 (10)	1974-09-16	Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan
12	Win	12–0	Ryu Fukita	KO	4 (10)	1974-09-05	Osaka, Japan
11	Win	11–0	Freddie Mensah	KO	7 (10)	1974-08-04	Japan
10	Win	10–0	José Medel	RTD	6 (10)	1974-06-09	Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan
9	Win	9–0	Sung Jong Hong	KO	3 (10)	1974-03-17	Japan
8	Win	8–0	Hiroshi Nunose	KO	4 (10)	1974-02-01	Japan
7	Win	7–0	Jaguar Sekino	KO	2 (10)	1973-11-23	Japan
6	Win	6–0	Nam Chul Chung	KO	5 (10)	1973-10-19	Japan
5	Win	5–0	Katsutoshi Inuzuka	KO	5 (10)	1973-09-07	Japan
4	Win	4–0	Victor Dounue	KO	7 (10)	1973-07-21	Kumamoto, Japan
3	Win	3–0	Hiroshi Miura	KO	2 (10)	1973-06-15	Japan
2	Win	2–0	Gypsy Sato	KO	2 (8)	1973-04-27	Japan
1	Win	1–0	Baron Kumazawa	PTS	8 (8)	1973-02-25	Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan

Later life & death

After retiring in 1981 with a record of 35-8 (27 KOs), Kobayashi worked as a trainer at the Yokohama Hikari Gym. He returned to his hometown of Kumamoto & worked as a security guard until his passing in 2020.^[17][18]

See also

• Boxing in Japan
• List of Japanese boxing world champions
• List of world super-bantamweight boxing champions

References

1. Baseball Magazine Sha 2002, p. 295.
2. Takahashi & Ashizawa 1993, p. 25
3. Takahashi & Ashizawa 1993, p. 80
4. Boxing Magazine editorial department, ed. (March 1, 2004). "ロイヤル小林". 日本プロボクシングチャンピオン大鑑 (in Japanese). Tokyo, Japan: Baseball Magazine Sha Co., Ltd. p. 41. ISBN 978-4-583-03784-4.
5. Mike Rabun (UPI) (August 30, 1972). "Decisions 'Disgusting': Officials On Hot Seat". Beaver County Times. p. D-2. Retrieved September 8, 2011.
6. Jun'ichi Hirata; et al. (January 15, 2000). "名伯楽は語る〜世界王者育成秘話〜". In Boxing Magazine editorial department (ed.). The Glorious Moments 究極の栄光・世界チャンピオン名鑑 – 日本ボクシング史に輝く41人の男たち. B.B.mook; 117, sports series; No.72 (in Japanese). Tokyo, Japan: Baseball Magazine Sha Co., Ltd. p. 108. ISBN 978-4-583-61076-4.
7. UPI (October 14, 1975). "Arguello keeps feather crown". The Gazette. p. 24. Retrieved September 8, 2011.
8. Baseball Magazine Sha 2002, p. 196.
9. Takahashi & Ashizawa 1993, p. 81
10. "Royal Kobayashi - Lineal Jr. Featherweight Champion". The Cyber Boxing Zone Encyclopedia.
11. "Sports Briefs". Tri-City Herald. October 10, 1976. p. 23. Retrieved September 8, 2011.
12. Baseball Magazine Sha 2002, p. 172.
13. AP (November 24, 1976). "Dong-Kyun Winner In Title Go". Reading Eagle. p. 37. Retrieved September 8, 2011.
14. Baseball Magazine Sha 2002, p. 173.
15. AP (January 20, 1978). "Gomez retains title". The StarPhoenix. p. 9. Retrieved September 8, 2011.
16. Baseball Magazine Sha 2002, p. 198.
17. "Requiem to former WBC-122Lb. champ Royal Kobayashi". World Boxing Council. 10 December 2020. Retrieved 2024-03-08.
18. "FORMER WBC 122-POUND TITLEHOLDER KAZUO 'ROYAL' KOBAYASHI DEAD AT 71". The Ring. 9 December 2020. Retrieved 2024-03-08.

Bibliography

• Boxing Magazine editorial department, ed. (May 31, 2002). 日本プロボクシング史 世界タイトルマッチで見る50年 (Japan Pro Boxing History – 50 Years of World Title Bouts) (in Japanese). Tokyo, Japan: Baseball Magazine Sha Co., Ltd. pp. 172–173, 196, 198, 295. ISBN 978-4-583-03695-3.
• Takahashi, Takashi; Ashizawa, Seiichi (June 1993). ボクシング写真画報. World Boxing (in Japanese) (special issue). Tokyo, Japan: Nippon Sports Publishing Co., Ltd.: 25, 80–81.

External links

• Boxing record for Royal Kobayashi from BoxRec (registration required)
• Royal Kobayashi at Olympedia (archive)

Sporting positions
Regional boxing titles
Preceded by Bok Soo Hwang	OPBF featherweight champion April 27, 1978 – October 18, 1981	Succeeded by Jung Han Hwang
World boxing titles
Preceded by Rigoberto Riasco	WBC super bantamweight champion October 9, 1976 – November 24, 1976	Succeeded by Yum Dong-kyun