Inoue vs Moloney Recalls Memories of Harada-Rose/Famechon Rivalries
By Teodoro Medina Reynoso
PhilBoxing.com
Sat, 22 Aug 2020
The Naoya Inoue vs Johnriel Casimero fight would have been a fitting follow up to Inoue's career best thus far win over the legendary future Hall of Fame Filipino multi division champion Nonito Donaire last year.
But it was not meant to be as promoter Bob Arum has decided to pit Inoue against Australian highly ranked contender Jason Moloney in what he claimed as an "even better matchup".
Though it raised a lot of eyebrows as many fans wanted and have waited for the triple world title clash between Inoue and Casimero, Arum have his reasons for junking the Filipino in favor of Moloney. One source hinted that Arum has been informed of a legal case in Las Vegas involving Casimero and his handlers.
It could be primarily a business decision as many suspected but not necessarily to protect his investment with his newly signed prized ward, Inoue, who shot to the top 2-3 of the pound for pound ranking, in fact even at the top of reputable one online boxing rating site, with his exciting shootout victory over Donaire.
Arum knows Moloney is no scrub despite an earlier points loss to Puerto Rico's Emmanuel Rodriguez whom Inoue demolished in just two rounds also last year. Since that only defeat, Moloney has bounced back and even showed further improvements in winning his last four fights.
On the other hand, Inoue struggled for the first time and had to survive some dangerous moments against the aging Donaire in eking out a hard earned decision victory in a fight where he suffered his most serious damage, physically and perhaps even mentally.
Arum for all his long years in pro boxing should know what he means by this fight to be an even better match up.
Arum should also been aware of the historical significance of this first major Japanese versus Australian matchup since Fighting Harada fought Lionel Rose and Johnny Famechon in the late 60s.
Many fans in Japan and elsewhere see in Inoue as the second coming of the great Masahiko Fighting Harada who came close to becoming the first Japanese triple world boxing champion in and among the greatest fighters of arguably the best era in boxing (The 60s) and of all time if not for those two Australian upstarts.
Per Wikipedia, below is a biography of Fighting Harada:
Fighting Harada.
Masahiko Harada (born April 5, 1943), better known as Fighting Harada, is a former world boxing champion in the Flyweight and Bantamweight divisions, and also challenged for the Featherweight title twice. He is currently the president of the Japanese boxing association.
Harada was arguably one of Japan's most popular boxers; his fame reached international status, and Puerto Rico's Wilfredo Gómez declared that Harada was his idol as a child.[1] Harada was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1995. In 2002, he was ranked as the 32nd greatest boxer of the past 80 years by Ring magazine.
Harada began fighting as a professional on February 21, 1960, knocking out Isami Masui in round four, in Tokyo. He won his first twenty four bouts. Among the notables he beat during that span were Ken Morita, who later became a respected boxing official and who was beaten by Harada on June 26 in the first round, and future world champion Hiroyuki Ebihara, who was undefeated in nine fights before meeting Harada and who was beaten by Harada on December 24, by a decision in six rounds.
On June 15, 1962, he suffered his first defeat, being beaten on points by Edmundo Esparza over ten rounds in Tokyo.
After one more win, Harada received his first world title try: on October 10 of that year, he became the Lineal and WBA world flyweight champion by knocking out Pone Kingpetch in the eleventh round, in Tokyo.
A rematch followed, and Harada lost the title in his first defense, being outpointed by Kingpetch over fifteen rounds on January 12, 1963 in Bangkok, Thailand. This was Harada's first fight outside Japan.
Harada posted four more wins in a row before losing by knockout in six to Jose Medel on September 26.
After that loss, Harada posted another winning streak, which reached seven before he was given another world title shot. Among the boxers he beat was top contenders Ray Asis, Oscar Reyes, and Katsutoshi Aoki.
On May 18, 1965, Harada extended his winning streak to eight, when he defeated Lineal, WBA and WBC bantamweight champion Eder Jofre in Nagoya, by a fifteen round decision, to win his second world title. Jofre was undefeated in fifty fights coming into this bout, and considered by many of his fans to be invincible.
On November 30, he defeated perennial British contender Alan Rudkin by a fifteen round decision to retain the title. On June 1, 1966, he and Jofre had a rematch in Tokyo, and Harada defeated Jofre once again, by a fifteen round decision. Losing for the second time to Harada prompted Jofre to retire; he would make a successful comeback three years later. Harada was the only boxer to beat Jofre.
After two more, non-title wins, Harada had a chance to avenge his defeat against Jose Medel. On January 3, 1967, Harada retained his world bantamweight title with a fifteen round decision over Medel in Nagoya.
On July 4 he retained the title against Colombian Bernardo Caraballo, a fighter who was well liked in his country. Harada outpointed him over fifteen rounds.
On February 27, 1968, Lionel Rose became the first Indigenous Australian to become a world boxing champion, when he outpointed Harada over fifteen rounds in Tokyo. Having lost his world bantamweight crown, Harada then set his sights on regaining it.
He won four of his next five fights. Among those he defeated were American Dwight Hawkins and his countryman Nobuo Chiba. His lone loss during that span came at the hands of American Alton Colter by a ten round, split decision. Then, he received another world title shot.
On July 28, 1969, after the WBA and WBC had split the world featherweight title, Harada fought Australia's Johnny Famechon for the WBC world belt. The fight was held in Sydney, and the referee and only judge was the legendary former world featherweight champion Willie Pep. Pep scored the fight a tie (draw), but Famechon's fans rallied over the call by booing Pep, who then announced he had miscalculated his scorecard and actually had Famechon ahead, making Harada a loser by a fifteen round decision. This fight was, nevertheless, controversial because of the nature of its ending, and the WBC clamoured for a rematch.
After a knockout win in eight rounds over Pat Gonzalez, the rematch came. Harada's management wanted the fight to be held in Tokyo, and so, on January 6, 1970, Harada and Famechon met once again, this time at Tokyo's Metropolitan Gym. Harada dropped the champion in round ten, but Famechon recovered, knocking Harada off the ring in round fourteen and retaining the title by knockout in that round. This was Harada's last fight as a professional.
Arum was already around at the time, co promoting the great Muhammad Ali and although his focus was on heavyweight boxing, he should be aware of Fighting Harada among the very few fighters at the time outside of the heavyweights to command global attention.
Was it merely coincidental that Arum signed up current heavyweight toast Tyson Fury and Inoue merely days apart late last year after both came from career best yet victories?
Note that Moloney is also a contract fighter under Arum's Top Rank.
Step aside, Casimero. History beckons an Inoue-Moloney 50 years after the Harada-Rose/Famechon.
The author Teodoro Medina Reynoso is a veteran boxing radio talk show host living in the Philippines. He can be reached at teddyreynoso@yahoo.com and by phone 09215309477.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Teodoro Medina Reynoso.
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