Masamichi Yabuki (born July 9, 1992) is a Japanese

professional boxer Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional fights are supervised by a regulatory auth ...

. He is a world champion in two weight classes, having held the

International Boxing Federation The International Boxing Federation (IBF) is one of four major organizations recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) which sanctions professional boxing bouts. The others are the World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing C ...

(IBF)

flyweight Flyweight is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Flyweight is a class in boxing which includes fighters weighing up to and including 51 kg (112 lb) for a title fight. Professional boxing The flyweight division was the last of boxin ...

title since March 2025. He also previously held the

World Boxing Council The World Boxing Council (WBC) is an international professional boxing organization. It is among the four major organizations which sanction professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Association (WBA), International Boxing Federation ...

(WBC) light flyweight title from 2021 to 2022 and the IBF light flyweight title from 2024 to 2025.

Professional career

Early career

Yabuki made his professional debut against Shohei Horii on March 27, 2016. He won the fight by a first-round technical knockout. He would go on to amass a 7–3 record over the next two years, most notably losing a close unanimous decision against

Junto Nakatani is a Japanese professional boxer. He has held world championships in three weight classes, including the World Boxing Organization (WBO) flyweight title from 2020 to 2022, the WBO junior-bantamweight title in 2023. He is currently the unifie ...

on December 23, 2016, and a split decision to Daniel Matellon on September 28, 2018. Yabuki won his next three fights, achieving stoppage victories against Bae Min-Chul, Ryuto Oho and Rikito Shiba, before he was scheduled to face Tsuyoshi Sato for the vacant Japanese light flyweight title on July 26, 2020. Yabuki stopped Sato with a left hook, near the end of the first round. He was scheduled to make his first title defense against Toshimasa Ouchi on December 26, 2020. He won the fight by unanimous decision.

WBC light flyweight champion

Yabuki vs. Shiro

Yabuki, at the time the #1 ranked WBC light flyweight contender, was scheduled to challenge the reigning WBC light flyweight champion

Kenshiro Teraji , also known as , is a Japanese professional boxer and unified flyweight champion, having held the World Boxing Council (WBC) title since October 2024, and the World Boxing Association (WBA) title since March 2025. He has unified titles in two ...

, in Shiro's ninth title defense, on September 10, 2021, at the City Gym in

Kyoto Kyoto ( or ; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan's largest and most populous island of Honshu. , the city had a population of 1.46 million, making it t ...

, Japan. The bout was later postponed for September 22, 2021, as both Shiro and his coach tested positive for

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

. The fight was rescheduled for September 22, 2021. Yabuki won the fight by a tenth-round technical knockout. He appeared to be ahead on the scorecards heading into the tenth round, which prompted Shiro to increase his pace and volume. Although Shiro seemed close to finishing him, Yabuki managed to take over the round near its end and unload with volume which forced the referee to stop the fight.

Yabuki vs. Shiro II

On November 15, 2021, representatives of Kenshiro Teraji and Masamichi Yabuki held a press conference to announce that they’d agreed to a rematch, which would be held sometime in spring of 2022. The rematch for the WBC title was officially announced on January 24, 2022. It took place at the City Gym in Kyoto, Japan, on March 19, 2022. Yabuki lost the fight by a third-round knockout.

Post title reign

Yabuki faced the undefeated Thanongsak Simsri on September 10, 2022 in what was promoted as a world title prelude. He won the fight by a seventh-round technical knockout. Yabuki knocked his opponent down twice prior to the stoppage, in the second and sixth rounds. During the in-ring post-fight speech, Yabuki revealed that he had injured his

pelvis The pelvis (: pelves or pelvises) is the lower part of an Anatomy, anatomical Trunk (anatomy), trunk, between the human abdomen, abdomen and the thighs (sometimes also called pelvic region), together with its embedded skeleton (sometimes also c ...

in the third round. He also announced that he was considering moving up to fight for a title at

The fight was held at a catchweight of 50 kilograms. Yabuki faced Ronald Chacon on January 28, 2023. He won the fight by an eleventh-round technical knockout.

Professional boxing record

References

External links

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Masamichi Yabuki - Profile, News Archive & Current Rankings
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Box.Live
, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Yabuki, Masamichi 1992 births Living people Japanese male boxers Martial artists from Mie Prefecture World light-flyweight boxing champions World flyweight boxing champions World Boxing Council champions International Boxing Federation champions