Postwar pioneers who fought for the country's first belts sit alongside modern unified champions and a couple of crowd favourites from the lighter divisions.
- 1Kenshiro TerajiWon the WBC light flyweight title in 2017, regained it in 2022 and unified it with the WBA belt later that year.1000pts
2Takashi UchiyamaHeld the WBA super featherweight title from 2010 to 2016 and made 11 successful defences.930pts
3Shinsuke YamanakaWBC bantamweight champion from 2011 to 2017, he made 12 successful title defences with a feared left hand.891pts- 4Kazuto IokaBecame the first Japanese man to win world titles in four weight classes when he took the WBO super flyweight belt in 2019.848pts
- 5Kuniaki ShibataWon world titles three times in the 1970s, once at featherweight and twice at super featherweight.818pts
- 6Masao OhbaWBA flyweight champion from 1970 who died in a car crash in January 1973 while still holding the title.734pts
7Naoya InoueA four-division world champion who became undisputed champion at bantamweight in 2022 and at super bantamweight in 2023.734pts- 8Koichi WajimaHeld the WBA light middleweight title three separate times, winning it in 1971, 1975 and 1976.734pts
- 9Yoko GushikenAn Okinawan southpaw who made 13 successful defences of the WBA light flyweight title between 1976 and 1981.636pts
10Joichiro TatsuyoshiWon the WBC bantamweight title in 1991 and regained it in 1997, becoming one of Japan's most popular fighters of the 1990s.636pts- 11Hiroshi KobayashiWon the world super featherweight title in 1967 and held it into 1971.520pts
12Fighting HaradaMasahiko Harada won the flyweight title in 1962 and the undisputed bantamweight title in 1965 by beating Éder Jofre.520pts
13Yoshio ShiraiJapan's first world boxing champion, he won the flyweight title from Dado Marino in Tokyo in 1952.382pts
14Hozumi HasegawaHeld the WBC bantamweight title from 2005 to 2010, then won further WBC belts at featherweight in 2010 and super bantamweight in 2016.382pts
15Koki KamedaA three-division world champion who won titles at light flyweight in 2006, flyweight in 2009 and bantamweight in 2010.382pts
16Hiroyuki EbiharaWon the flyweight world title with a first-round knockout of Pone Kingpetch in 1963 and regained the WBA belt in 1969.0pts
17Ryota MurataWon middleweight gold at the 2012 London Olympics and later held the WBA middleweight title before facing Gennady Golovkin in 2022.0pts- 18Junto NakataniA tall southpaw who won world titles at flyweight in 2020, super flyweight in 2023 and bantamweight in 2024.0pts
Photo credits
- Shinsuke Yamanaka — 大徳義幸, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Naoya Inoue — 内閣官房内閣広報室, CC BY 4.0
- Joichiro Tatsuyoshi — Dick Thomas Johnson from Tokyo, Japan, CC BY 2.0
- Hozumi Hasegawa — Ogiyoshisan, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Koki Kameda — Ogiyoshisan, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Ryota Murata — Ogiyoshisan, CC BY-SA 4.0
