Japanese international matchmaker Joe Koizumi’s Ring Japan, Inc. dealt with 209 international bouts between Japanese boxers and foreign fighters during 2006. It’s a record for his enterprise, surpassing 170 matchmaking fights in the previous year. There were some 300 promotions in Japan this year, and Japanese promoters asked Joe for his matchmaking or coordination in WBA/WBC world title bouts, OPBF title goes and regular ten-round bouts, plus preliminary bouts. Joe, TV commentator and journalist as well, kept working at his office, except going to arenas such as the Korakuen Hall, from 9 am to 1 am during December, when he covered the WBA 115-pound title bout of Nobuo Nashiro and Eduardo Garcia in Osaka, the WBC feather title bout between Rudy Lopez and Injin Chi in Korea and the WBA light-fly title go of Koki Kameda and Juan Jose Landaeta in Tokyo.
Having finished coordinating ten bouts between Japanese and Thai fighters on December 30, Joe is preparing for a forthcoming world twinbill on January 3 featuring the WBC 115-pound title fight between Cristian Mijares and Katsushige Kawashima and WBA 130-pound clash between Edwin Valero and Michael Lozada in Tokyo.
For Joe there’s no Christmas nor New Year holidays as he devoted all himself to making fights, preparing contracts and visa documents, arranging hotels for coming boxers from foreign countries, sending his staff to airports to pick up boxing people from other countries and escorting them to gyms or arenas. The hard-working Joe has a dream to start a second career as professional singer, but has had no time to have a voice training session at a karaoke bar.
