| This article only covers series-related information on Piston Horiguchi |
Piston Horiguchi (ピストン堀口, Piston Horiguchi) is a Japanese boxer, and former JBC Featherweight, OPBF Featherweight, and JBC Middleweight Champion. He was called "拳聖" (Kensei or Saint Fist) as a symbol of the Japanese boxing world in the early Showa period.
The name "Piston Horiguchi" is not an official ring name, but the real name Tsuneo Horiguchi (堀口 恒男) is the official ring name, but from around the time the synonym "Piston Horiguchi Tsuneo" came to be used in newspaper articles etc. , In general, the name "piston Horiguchi" had become established. Horiguchi's style of fighting, which was known as the "piston attack," after the piston-like way that his arms kept hammering the opponent without giving any thought to defense, exemplified pre-World War II Japanese theories of personal combat. However Tsumeo was criticed for it, where people admitted that the piston attack wasn't boxing, but it did satisfy fans, and to the Imperial Japanese boxer, pleasing the crowd was far more important than winning or losing, or even his health.
When he traveled to Hawaii in 1936, the abandoned piston tactics that were enthusiastically accepted in Japan were criticized by local newspapers that were developed countries as "not to be called boxing." Around this time, footwork and defence techniques have already been emphasized in the American boxing world, and the style of integrated defense has become mainstream, and Horiguchi's fight style, which neglected defense, was outdated. The experience of this time gave him the opportunity to practice spiritually through martial arts such as kendo and karate (yasuhiro Konishi was a master), and as a fighter rather than as a boxer, he began to work harder to improve his mental strength and body.
References in Hajime no Ippo
- In Round 228, Yagi Haruhiko was talking about Kamogawa Genji and Nekota Ginpachi's past when they were Prize Fighters. Kimura Tatsuya mentioned that boxers back then didn't have any safety requirements, where they will fight multiple times every day. Aoki Masaru pointed out that legendary boxers like Piston Horiguchi was believed to have fought 4 times in one day.
