Naoko Fujioka

Naoko Fujioka (藤岡奈穂子, Fujioka Naoko, born 18 August 1975) is a Japanese professional boxer. She is Japan's first ever five-division world champion, having held the WBA female flyweight title since 2018 and previously the WBC female minimumweight; WBO female junior-flyweight; WBA female super-flyweight; and WBO female bantamweight titles between 2012 and 2017. As of September 2020, she is ranked as the world's best active female flyweight by The Ring[2] and BoxRec.[3]

Naoko Fujioka 藤岡奈穂子
Statistics
Weight(s)	Mini-flyweight Light-flyweight Flyweight Super-flyweight Bantamweight
Height	5 ft 2 in (157 cm)
Reach	63 ^1⁄2 in (161 cm)
Nationality	Japanese
Born	18 August 1975 Ōsaki, Miyagi, Japan
Stance	Orthodox
Boxing record[1]
Total fights	21
Wins	18
Wins by KO	7
Losses	2
Draws	1

Professional career

Fujioka made her professional debut on 15 September 2009, scoring a second-round technical knockout (TKO) victory against Napaporn Boonchuon (5–6, 3 KOs) at the Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan.[4] After winning her first three fights, all by TKO, she faced Kanittha Kokietgym (8–2, 2 KOs) for the vacant WBC-OPBF female minimumweight title on 24 September 2010, at the Korakuen Hall. Fujioka captured her first professional title via unanimous decision (UD), with two judges scoring the bout 98–92 and the third scoring it 98–93.[5]

She successfully defended her WBC regional title in December before challenging for her first world title against reigning champion Anabel Ortiz. The bout took place on 8 May 2011 at the Korakuen Hall. Fujioka captured Ortiz' WBC female minimumweight title by eighth-round corner retirement (RTD) after Ortiz failed to come off her stool for the ninth round. At the time of the stoppage, Fujioka was ahead on all three judges' scorecards by 78–72.[6]

Following four more wins, including two defences of her WBC world title against Kanittha Kokietgym in September 2011[7] and Victoria Argueta in October 2012,[8] Fujioka moved up three weight divisions to challenge Naoko Yamaguchi for her WBA female super-flyweight title on 13 November 2013 at the Korakuen Hall. Fujioka scored a third-round knockdown en route to a UD victory to become a two division world champion, with two judges scoring the bout 97–92 and the third scoring it 98–91.[9] After successfully defending her title against Tomoko Kawanishi in July 2014,[10] Fujioka moved down in weight to challenge Susi Kentikian for her WBA female flyweight title on 8 November 2014 at the Porsche-Arena in Stuttgart, Germany. Fighting for the first time outside of Japan, Fujioka suffered the first defeat of her career in her attempt at a third world title via UD, with the judges' scorecards reading 96–94, 97–94 and 97–93.[11]

She bounced back from defeat with a split decision (SD) win against Mariana Juárez in March 2015[12] before facing Hee Jung Yuh for the vacant WBO female bantamweight title. The bout took place on 19 October 2015 at the Korakuen Hall. Fujioka defeated Jung Yuh by UD, becoming a three-division world champion with two judges scoring the fight 100–90 and the third scoring it 99–91.[13] Following a successful defence against Shindo Go in June 2016,[14] she moved down two-divisions to challenge Jessica Chávez for her WBC female flyweight title on 1 October 2016 at Centro Regional de Deporte de Las Américas in Ecatepec de Morelos, Mexico. In a contest which saw Fujioka knocked down in the sixth round and a point deduction from Chavez in the tenth and final round for excessive holding, Fujioka suffered the second defeat of her career via UD, with the scorecards reading 94–93, 95–93 and 96–92.[15]

In her next fight she faced Isabel Millan, making her second attempt for the WBA female flyweight title which was left vacant by Kentikian. The bout took place on 13 March 2017 at the Korakuen Hall. Fujioka dropped Millan twice, first in the second round and again in the tenth and final round, prompting the referee to call off the fight 21 seconds into the round, awarding Fujioka a TKO victory. At the time of the stoppage, all three judges had her ahead, with scores of 89–81 twice and 88–82. With the win, she became Japan's first ever four-division world champion.[16][17] She moved down in weight for her next fight, facing Yokasta Valle for the vacant WBO junior-flyweight title on 1 December 2017 at the Korakuen Hall. Fujioka defeated Valle via UD with scores of 99–91, 98–92, and 96–94[18] to become Japan's first ever five-division world champion.[19] Moving back up to flyweight, she successfully defended her WBA title by UD against Irma Sánchez in September 2018[20] before retaining the title through a split draw (SD) against WBO female junior-flyweight champion Tenkai Tsunami in July 2019.[21]

Professional boxing record

Professional record summary

21 fights	18 wins	2 losses
By knockout	7	0
By decision	11	2
Draws	1

No.	Result	Record	Opponent	Type	Round, time	Date	Location	Notes
21	Draw	18–2–1	Tenkai Tsunami	SD	10	12 Jul 2019	Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan	Retained WBA female flyweight title
20	Win	18–2	Irma Sánchez	UD	10	14 Sep 2018	Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan	Retained WBA female flyweight title
19	Win	17–2	Yokasta Valle	UD	10	1 Dec 2017	Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan	Won vacant WBO female junior-flyweight title
18	Win	16–2	Isabel Millan	TKO	10 (10), 0:21	13 Mar 2017	Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan	Won vacant WBA female flyweight title
17	Loss	15–2	Jessica Chávez	UD	10	1 Oct 2016	Centro Regional de Deporte de Las Américas, Ecatepec de Morelos, Mexico	For WBC female flyweight title
16	Win	15–1	Shindo Go	UD	10	13 Jun 2016	Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan	Retained WBO female bantamweight title
15	Win	14–1	Hee Jung Yuh	UD	10	19 Oct 2015	Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan	Won vacant WBO female bantamweight title
14	Win	13–1	Mariana Juárez	SD	10	14 Mar 2015	Auditorio Municipal, Naucalpan, Mexico
13	Loss	12–1	Susi Kentikian	UD	10	8 Nov 2014	Porsche-Arena, Stuttgart, Germany	For WBA female flyweight title
12	Win	12–0	Tomoko Kawanishi	UD	10	7 Jul 2014	Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan	Retained WBA female super-flyweight title
11	Win	11–0	Naoko Yamaguchi	UD	10	13 Nov 2013	Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan	Won WBA female super-flyweight title
10	Win	10–0	Maribel Ramírez	KO	4 (8), 1:30	12 Mar 2013	Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan
9	Win	9–0	Victoria Argueta	UD	10	28 Oct 2012	Furukawa Sogo Gym, Ōsaki, Japan	Retained WBC female minimumweight title
8	Win	8–0	Mayela Perez	UD	8	11 Jul 2012	Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan
7	Win	7–0	Kanittha Kokietgym	TKO	9 (10), 0:37	22 Sep 2011	Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan	Retained WBC female minimumweight title
6	Win	6–0	Anabel Ortiz	RTD	8 (10), 2:00	8 May 2011	Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan	Won WBC female minimumweight title
5	Win	5–0	Naoko Shibata	UD	10	15 Dec 2010	Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan	Retained WBC-OPBF female minimumweight title
4	Win	4–0	Kanittha Kokietgym	UD	10	24 Sep 2010	Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan	Won vacant WBC-OPBF female minimumweight title
3	Win	3–0	Pornboonon Por Vongporramet	TKO	2 (8), 1:58	1 Apr 2010	Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan
2	Win	2–0	Kazumi Izaki	TKO	2 (6), 1:55	30 Nov 2009	Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan
1	Win	1–0	Napaporn Boonchuon	TKO	2 (6), 1:27	15 Sep 2009	Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan

References

1. "Boxing record for Naoko Fujioka
   藤岡奈穂子". BoxRec.
2. "The Ring Women's Ratings". The Ring. 8 September 2020. Retrieved 3 October 2020.
3. "BoxRec: Female flyweight ratings". boxrec.com. Retrieved 30 April 2020.
4. "BoxRec: Naoko Fujioka vs. Napaporn Boonchuon". boxrec.com. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
5. "BoxRec: Naoko Fujioka vs. Kanittha Kokietgym". boxrec.com. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
6. "BoxRec: Naoko Fujioka vs. Anabel Ortiz". boxrec.com. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
7. "BoxRec: Naoko Fujioka vs. Kanittha Kokietgym II". boxrec.com. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
8. McGrady, Jim (29 October 2012). "Women's Boxing: The Weekly Wrap Up". The Boxing Tribune. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
9. "Naoko Fujioka dethrones Yamaguchi in Tokyo". World Boxing Association. 13 November 2013. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
10. McGrady, Jim (9 July 2014). "Fujioka Retains WBA Title: Women's Boxing – The Weekly Wrap Up". The Boxing Tribune. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
11. Fischer, Doug (8 November 2014). "Felix Sturm, Robert Stieglitz battle to split-draw verdict". The Ring. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
12. Donovan, Jake (15 March 2015). "Fujioka Outlasts Juarez In Fight of the Year Candidate". BoxingScene.com. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
13. "Category: Naoko Fujioka Vs Hee Jung Yuh". ASIAN BOXING. 29 October 2015. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
14. Koizumi, Joe (16 June 2016). "Naoko Fujioka Retains her WBO Title by Unanimous Decision". Women of Boxing. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
15. "Chavez Retains WBC Title, Ashley Unseated of WBC Belt". BoxingScene.com. 2 October 2016. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
16. "Category: Naoko Fujioka Vs Isabel Millan". ASIAN BOXING. 15 March 2017. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
17. "Naoko Fujioka vs. Isabel Millan". The Ring. 13 March 2017. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
18. "BoxRec: Naoko Fujioka vs. Yokasta Valle". boxrec.com. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
19. "Photo gallery: Naoko Fujioka vs. Yokasta Valle". The Ring. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
20. "Category: Naoko Fujioka Vs Irma Sanchez". ASIAN BOXING. 14 September 2018. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
21. "Naoko Fujioka Escapes Tenkai Tsunami Challenge with her WBA Flyweight Title After Split Draw". Women of Boxing. 15 July 2019. Retrieved 26 April 2020.

External links