During his amateur boxing career, Fujii had a record of 116 wins and 16 losses over a total of 132 fights.[1]
Professional career
Fujii started boxing professionally in April 1964.[1] He traveled to Japan, where he became known as Fuji Takeshi, and joined the boxing gym run by former professional wrestler Rikidōzan. Though he fought in Japan for most of his career, he could not speak Japanese. His trainer, Eddie Townsend, was also a Japanese-American. He made his professional debut in April, 1964 with a 2nd-round KO.
In June, 1965, Fuji challenged the Japanese super lightweight title, and won by KO only 45 seconds into the first round. This was his 11th professional fight, and he defended the title once before returning it. Fuji won the OPBF light welterweight title in 1966.
World title
In April 1967, Fujii challenged Lineal, WBA and WBClight welterweight champion Sandro Lopopolo. Fujii won in an upset victory by KO in the second round to become the new world champion.[3][1] The match was declared a knockout victory for Fujii after he had knocked down Lopopolo three times in the same round, according to pre-agreed rules.[4] In October 1967, Sports Illustrated noted that at the time, Fujii was one of only two world champions recognized by the WBA who was a native of the United States; the other nine were from other countries.[5]
Fujii successfully defended his world junior welterweight title in November 1967, after knocking out Willy Quatuor of West Germany.[6] In December, 1968, he faced Nicolino Locche to defend his WBA light welterweight title, but gave up in the 10th round.[1]
Later career and legacy
In June, 1970, Fujii was scheduled to face former world champion Eddie Perkins in a non-title match, but suddenly withdrew from the fight claiming to have an injury. The Japan Boxing Commission penalized Fujii with a suspension, and he retired shortly afterwards. His record was 34-3-1 (29KOs).
In 1999, Fujii was inducted into the Hawaii Sports Hall of Fame.[7] Fujii's record as the undisputed world champion in the 140-pound (63.5 kg) class in 1968 was not repeated until 2001, when Russian Australian Kostya Tszyu claimed the IBF, WBA, and WBC titles.[8]
Paul Fujii starred in a feature-length film playing himself called The Story of Paul Fujii, which was released in 1968.[9]
Personal life
After retiring as a professional boxer, Fujii returned to Hawaii.[10] In 1996, he moved back to Japan, briefly serving as chairman of the Iwaki Kyōei Gym.[10] He went on to teach boxing mainly to children in Mito, Ibaraki, until the gym went bankrupt in June 2015.[10]
In August 2015, Fujii registered as a special trainer at a gym in Ōta, Tokyo.[10] At the time, his wife and two of his children were living in Hawaii, while his eldest son's family lived in Japan.[10]
