Royal Kobayashi


Kazuo Kobayashi, better known as Royal Kobayashi, was a Japanese boxer who competed at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games in the featherweight division, and won the WBC junior featherweight titles in 1976. He is an alumnus of the Takushoku University.

Amateur career

Kobayashi who had practiced kendo until high school graduation, began boxing after admission to the Physical Training School of the Self Defense Forces. He won the All-Japan Amateur Boxing Championships in the featherweight division in 1971 and 1972.
Kobayashi represented Japan at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich. In the second round match against Pat Ryan, Kobayashi knocked him down thrice, badly damaged his face, and won by a 4–1 decision. Beaver County Times called the one vote against Kobayashi "the most ridiculous decision of the night". Kobayashi then knocked out Italy's Pasqualino Morbidelli in one round, before losing 1–4 to András Botos in the quarterfinals. He compiled an amateur record of 34–3 before turning professional.

Professional career

Since Kobayashi was an amateur boxer, he was said to be suitable for professional for his hard punches. In 1973, Kobayashi ran into Yoshinori Takahashi, who was the president of Kokusai Boxing Sports Gym at a sports massage clinic, and was encouraged to turn professional.
Kobayashi made his professional debut under the ring name Royal Kobayashi in an eight-round bout in February 1973. His first world title shot against WBA featherweight champion Alexis Argüello ended in a fifth round knockout loss, in front of 16,000 spectators at the Kuramae Kokugikan in Tokyo in October 1975. After the fight, Kobayashi stated that he felt as if he had been beaten with a chunk of ice. In February 1976, he made an expedition to Panama, and lost on points there.
On October 9, 1976, Kobayashi moved down a weight class and dethroned Rigoberto Riasco as the WBC and lineal junior featherweight champion while being watched by 9,000 spectators at the Kuramae Kokugikan. He floored Riasco once with his left hook in the seventh round, and twice with his right hooks in the eighth round. However, he lost the title in his first defense against Dong-Kyun Yum via a majority decision at the Jangchung Gymnasium in Seoul, South Korea, on November 24 of that year. In January 1978, Kobayashi challenged Wilfredo Gómez to regain the WBC junior featherweight title in front of 10,000 spectators at the Kitakyūshū Municipal Gymnasium in Fukuoka, but was knocked out in the third round.
Kobayashi went back to the featherweight division, and captured the OPBF title in April 1978. After defending that title once, he fought against Eusebio Pedroza for the WBA featherweight title at the Korakuen Hall in January 1979. However he quit after thirteen rounds with his face swollen by a barrage of blows in the eighth round. Kobayashi defended the OPBF title seven times in total, for about two and a half years. In his eighth defense in October 1981, he suffered a first round knockout loss and retired as a boxer. His manager Takahashi later told that he realized the importance of short punches when Kobayashi lost to Pedroza and when he brought up Leopard Tamakuma to be a world champion he taught it to him thoroughly.

Professional boxing record

No.ResultRecordOpponentTypeRound, timeDateLocationNotes
43Loss35–8Jung Han HwangKO1 1981-10-18Munhwa Gymnasium, Seoul, South KoreaLost OPBF featherweight title
42Loss35–7Young Se OhUD12 1981-09-06Munhwa Gymnasium, Seoul, South Korea
41Win35–6Dae Hwan LeePTS12 1981-05-19Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, JapanRetained OPBF featherweight title
40Win34–6Koichi MatsushimaKO8 1981-01-25Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, JapanRetained OPBF featherweight title
39Win33–6Dae Hwan LeeSD12 1980-08-19JapanRetained OPBF featherweight title
38Win32–6Takao MarukiKO6 1980-06-09Nagoya, JapanRetained OPBF featherweight title
37Win31–6Masa ItoKO7 1980-02-24City Gymnasium, Hofu, Japan
36Win30–6Kashi KenoKO6 1979-12-20Japan
35Win29–6Suk Tae YunUD12 1979-10-28Aomori City, JapanRetained OPBF featherweight title
34Win28–6Chong Yun LeeKO5 1979-09-08Seoul, South Korea
33Loss27–6Hikaru TomonariMD10 1979-07-26Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan
32Win27–5Bok Soo HwangPTS12 1979-04-27Kumamoto, JapanRetained OPBF featherweight title
31Loss26–5Eusebio PedrozaRTD13 1979-01-09Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, JapanFor WBA featherweight title
30Win26–4Spider NemotoSD12 1978-08-06JapanRetained OPBF featherweight title
29Win25–4Bok Soo HwangTKO10 1978-04-27JapanWon OPBF featherweight title
28Loss24–4Wilfredo GómezKO3 1978-01-19Municipal Gymnasium, Kitakyushu, JapanFor WBC super bantamweight title
27Win24–3Satoshi NakaiTKO1 1977-11-03Japan
26Win23–3Shigeru SasakiKO1 1977-05-23Japan
25Win22–3Blazer OkuboKO7 1977-02-08Ōtsu, Japan
24Loss21–3Yum Dong-kyunMD15 1976-11-24Jangchung Gymnasium, Seoul, South KoreaLost WBC super bantamweight title
23Win21–2Rigoberto RiascoKO8 1976-10-09Kuramae Kokugikan, Tokyo, JapanWon WBC super bantamweight title
22Win20–2Jaguar SekinoTKO5 1976-07-10Japan
21Loss19–2Emilio SalcedoUD10 1976-02-15Feria de David, David, Panama
20Win19–1Ushiwakamaru HaradaPTS10 1975-12-21Japan
19Loss18–1Alexis ArgüelloKO5 1975-10-12Kuramae Kokugikan, Tokyo, JapanFor WBA & The Ring featherweight titles
18Win18–0Hwa Ryong YuhKO4 1975-06-16Japan
17Win17–0Zensuke UtagawaKO2 1975-05-09Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan
16Win16–0Jun GallegoKO9 1975-04-04Sendai, Japan
15Win15–0Masanao ToyoshimaKO6 1975-02-17Japan
14Win14–0Sanjo TakemoriKO2 1974-12-30Japan
13Win13–0Bert NabalatanUD10 1974-09-16Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan
12Win12–0Ryu FukitaKO4 1974-09-05Osaka, Japan
11Win11–0Freddie MensahKO7 1974-08-04Japan
10Win10–0José MedelRTD6 1974-06-09Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan
9Win9–0Sung Jong HongKO3 1974-03-17Japan
8Win8–0Hiroshi NunoseKO4 1974-02-01Japan
7Win7–0Jaguar SekinoKO2 1973-11-23Japan
6Win6–0Nam Chul ChungKO5 1973-10-19Japan
5Win5–0Katsutoshi InuzukaKO5 1973-09-07Japan
4Win4–0Victor DounueKO7 1973-07-21Kumamoto, Japan
3Win3–0Hiroshi MiuraKO2 1973-06-15Japan
2Win2–0Gypsy SatoKO2 1973-04-27Japan
1Win1–0Baron KumazawaPTS8 1973-02-25Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan

Later life & death

After retiring in 1981 with a record of 35-8, Kobayashi worked as a trainer at the Yokohama Hikari Gym. He returned to his hometown of Kumamoto & worked as a security guard until his passing in 2020.