Nobuhiro Ishida

Nobuhiro Ishida (石田 順裕) is a Japanese former professional boxer.

Although it was an interim title, no Japanese boxers have regained the world super welterweight title since Tadashi Mihara was dethroned in February 1982.

Yet, on that day, the general election where the historical change of government occurred was made in Japan, so Ishida's fight was broadcast only on a pay TV channel, sky-A sports+.

He won the national high school invitational tournament in the lightweight division in 1993.

After graduating from Kinki University, Ishida won another amateur title in the light middleweight in 1998.

He compiled an amateur record of 101–15 (50 KOs).

Ishida worked for the child welfare for two years and two months from August 1998.

He paused his boxing career to pursue studies, and qualified as a social welfare secretary.

Ishida worked at an orphanage.

His experience of living with the orphans motivated him to turn professional.

Ishida restarted his boxing career in 2000.

He made his professional debut on May 20 of that year under the management of Kanazawa Boxing Gym.

Ishida won the OPBF super welterweight title via a technical decision on March 1, 2001.

The bout was stopped in the eleventh round as Ishida's right eye was injured after the accidental headbutt.

He managed to get his first title in his sixth match.

He lost the unification match against the OPBF interim champion by a twelve-round unanimous decision on May 13, 2001.

That was his first loss in his professional career.

Ishida lost the Japanese super welterweight title shot in his next fight on September 24 of that year by a ten-round majority decision.

In June and October, 2002, Ishida fought for the OPBF and interim Japanese title respectively in the same weight division, but lost two in a row.

At that time, Ishida trained in Los Angeles for the first time to get out of the slump.

He watched the boxing matches in Las Vegas and felt that he would like to someday fight there.

Ishida married on Christmas Day, 2003.

His wife has worked as a clinical psychologist.

They have one daughter and two sons.

Loren Goodman noted the words of Ishida in his book published in 2006.

Ishida captured the vacant Japanese super welterweight title on December 2, 2006, and defended the title twice before vacating it.

He has often trained under the guidance of Rudy Hernández at the Maywood Boxing Club in Maywood, California.

When Ishida who used to be a in-fighter outpointed the WBA number six and WBC number seven ranked Javier Alberto Mamaní with scores of 100–91, 100–91, 98–94 in October 2007, he had turned into a good defensive out-fighter controlling the fight with his left jabs and forehand blows.

Ishida won the WBA super welterweight title eliminator over Venezuelan Marco Antonio Avendaño via a split decision at the Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium on September 22, 2008.

He had decided to be a bullfighter for that fight.

However, the world title shot against the regular champion Daniel Santos did not materialize.

Ishida won the interim WBA world super welterweight title over Avendaño via a wide margin unanimous decision in front of spectators including one hundred children and staff whom he invited from the orphanage where he had worked before his professional debut, at the Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium on August 30, 2009.

In order to make that matchup, his manager Kanazawa mortgaged building which served as the gym and his home.

The purse was not paid to Ishida.

There he received Toshihiro Fujitani's guidance until the end of 2010.

He is a former WBA interim super welterweight champion who is best known for knocking out James Kirkland in a middleweight bout at the MGM Grand Las Vegas in April 2011.

Ishida has so far been promoted by Canelo Promotions and Golden Boy Promotions among others and has been co-trained by Rudy Hernández and Daisuke Okabe, while residing back and forth between Los Angeles, California, United States and Osaka, Japan.

Ishida was born in Tamana District, Kumamoto and moved to Neyagawa, Osaka soon after.

He began boxing at the Osaka Teiken Boxing Gym at the sixth grade of elementary school (at age eleven).

When Ishida was a high school freshman, he fought as an in-fighter in the flyweight division at 176 centimeters (5 feet 10 inches) tall.