Scott watches countless hours of boxing each week. His specialty is Asian Boxing and he covers the Asian scene on both Ringnews24 and Asian Boxing. His articles are very insightful and anyone who doesn’t follow the Asian scene can keep up-to-date by reading his articles.

As part of this “Closet Classic” series of articles I’ve allowed myself to dig really deep in to the closet for some bouts, one of those from of the closet that had me captivated was the January 1989 clash between American born Japanese based Mark Horikoshi and Japanese native Naoto Takahashi.

Coming in to the bout Horikoshi, born Mark Anthony Brooks in California, was 17-1 (13) and had been the Japanese champion since January 1987 and had defended the title 6 times, all by T/KO. He wasn’t just the defending champion but was a man in great form having won 10 straight since suffering his sole defeat. Takahashi on the other hand was looking to become a 2-weight Japanese champion after having previously won the Japanese Bantamweight title. The challenger was 15-2 (10) and had won his previous 3 bouts, but was just 3-2 in his previous 5 and, of course, was coming up in weight.

Typically a “closet Classic” is all action, a war, a battle of machismo. This bout however started as a jab fest with Horikoshi boxing on his toes and getting his razor like jab going very early on. The jabs worked well with Horikoshi trying to pressure the challenger, and being made to pay through much of the opening stanza. Although not an exhilarating opening round it was a busy round and a technically solid round with a lot of leather being thrown.

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The second round again began with Takahashi jabbing from the outside but suddenly saw the pace heat up part way through with Horikoshi cutting the distance as the two men began hold their feet and go to war. The heavy leather saw the atmosphere in the Korakuen Hall raise significantly and a assault from Takahashi forced a response from Horikoshi as we entered the final minute of the round.

It was fair to say that Takahashi had taken the first two rounds, and had shown he could out box Horikoshi or go to war with him. In round 3 however third changes with Horikoshi’s pressure getting some solid results, particularly with his over-hand rights. Again the round wasn’t a non-stop all-action round but it was a round that saw the pace pick up and saw the fight swing in favour of the defending champion, who rocked Takahashi to his boots on the bell.

The ending to round 3 left Horikoshi smelling blood and the champion came out hungry in round 4, rocking Takahashi after 30 seconds and going on an all out offensive onslaught that caused the crowd to go crazy. It seemed like the champion was set for another stoppage win as Takahashi survived. All of a sudden through Takahashi unloaded off the ropes and dropped Horikoshi for the first knockdown of the fight. The champion seemed more embarrassed than hurt and went straight back on to the offensive before being dropped again, though he clear yelled “slip” at the referee. Despite the knockdowns Horikoshi went back on the offensive before being rocked again in a round that may go down as one of the best to ever take place at the Korakuen Hall.

Having slipped a long way behind on the cards due to those knockdowns Horikoshi may have given up, especially with the crown chanting “Na-Oh-to” at the start of round 5, however the champion refused to cave in that easily and tried to turn the fight around. Sadly for him he seemed to take a while to catch his breath following the intense and all-action 4th round. Unsurprisingly however the pace from both men dropped off in the 5th. The round did have it’s moments, especially late on, with Horikoshi being rocked twice, but was a significantly quieter round.

The pace returned in round 6 with Horikoshi beginning to get his second wind and forcing Takahashi to jab and move. The legs of the challenger were however slowing and it seemed and after about 50 seconds of the round it seemed like Horikoshi was beginning to get to his man. Takahashi knew that he’d have to fight fire with fire and at times we got some great back and forth, but overall it was a better round for the champion who suddenly looked like the stronger man whilst Takahashi was lucking like he was feeling the pace.

The momentum continued to turn in the champions favour in round 7 as he cut the ring down and managed to get on the inside to damage Takahashi with his combinations and land right hands over the top. Takahashi did have his moments but on the whole it was a round that Horikoshi’s backers would have been pleased with. It was starting to look like the pace of the fight had begun to take it’s toll on Takahashi.

The fights second stand out round was round 8 where Horikoshi continued to turn the fight in his favour and finally scored a knockdown on the challenger, who was felled following a number of spiteful body shots. It looked like the beginning of the end for the challenger with the champion spending the final minute of the round bringing the fight to the challenger and getting in his face. Takahashi did his best to fight back but it seemed like the champion was going to walk through hell and high water to break down the gutsy Takahashi, who seen the fight turn against him.

With his success growing from round 6 it looked like Horikoshi was going to continue bringing the fight to Takahashi and eventually break him down. He seemed to think as much and appeared to hurt Takahashi a number of times in the first minute. Takahashi however gutted tor worrying moments out before catching Horikoshi with a left hook that sent the champion stumbling backwards. A huge right hand moments later sent Horikawa stumbling across the ring and he was forced to hold on. A left hook when the men exchanged saw Horikoshi again stumble backwards and another left hand came close to dropping him before he eventually went down. By now the champion was responding badly to almost every shot that landed, but found a way to get up from the knockdown almost instantly. A follow up attack sent Horikoshi down, for the 4th time in the fight and although he again got to his feet he stumbled across the the ring with the referee finally waving the contest off.

The bout may not be well known outside of Japan, and may well have been deeply buried in the back of the proverbial closet, but it’s a bout that had everything. It featured a total of 5 knockdowns, numerous momentum shifts, technical boxing, intense exchanges and some amazing action, as well as some post-fight humour from Takahashi and his team.

Sadly the bout really did take it’s toll on both men. Takahashi went 3-2 in his next 5 bouts before retiring in 1991, aged just 23. He had been a 2-weight Japanese champion but his early potential had promised much more. He had won the Japanese Bantamweight title at 19 years old, with a 11-0 (7) record and had looked like a potential star of the future but only managed a 19-4 (14) record. Horikoshi went on to win just 3 of his following 8 before ending his career 20-7 (14), with his final bout coming in 1997. His final 8 bouts all came in the US though the appearances were sporadic, with his final 3 bouts coming in 1991, 1993 and 1997. Sadly Brooks passed away in 2014, aged 52.

Note-The opening bell on the video is around 15:40 in, following some lengthy build up for the fight.

Scott Graveson covers the Asian boxing scene for www.asianboxing.info