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The story
On September 15, Miyuu Yamamoto (52), making her Japan debut at the “DANGAN” pro boxing event at Tokyo’s Korakuen Hall, attended the weigh-in the day before and made weight at 50.2kg — 600g under the flyweight limit. Yamamoto, a three-time wrestling world champion who also competed in RIZIN, acquired Canadian citizenship during her wrestling career, and without belonging to a gym affiliated with the Japan Boxing Commission, she is competing as a Canadian national holding an Australian boxing license. Her pro debut in March ended in a decision loss. On 5ch, users voiced concern about her competing at age 52, alongside a technical debate over age and KO risk in women’s boxing.
Miyuu Yamamoto (Canada), who makes her domestic pro boxing debut at “DANGAN” on Tuesday, September 15, 2026 at Tokyo’s Korakuen Hall, attended the pre-fight weigh-in on the 14th. She made weight at 50.2kg, 600g under the flyweight limit. Her opponent, Chika Taguchi (Hanagata), made weight at 50.4kg, 400g under the limit.
Yamamoto, a three-time world wrestling champion who also competed in RIZIN, acquired Canadian citizenship during her wrestling days. Although she isn’t registered with a gym affiliated with the Japan Pro Boxing Association, she will fight in Japan as a Canadian national holding an Australian boxer’s license.
Ahead of her pro debut in Australia, she fractured her arm while serving as an MMA sparring partner in December 2025 and underwent surgery, leaving her without enough sparring time. She still made her pro boxing debut in March in a six-round bout, but lost a split decision (1-2) to local fighter Michelle Mack.
Source: gonkaku.jp / Original article here
What people said
Yeah, she looks like a stranger to me too.
I feel like I've only ever seen her on stage 3 of Gradius (a classic shoot-'em-up game — likely a joke about a boss character's look).
Impressive, but is she really going to be okay?
1995-1999: Nobuyasu Ikeda (former soccer player), 4 years older
2000-2004: Ensen Inoue (pro wrestler), 7 years older
2006-2011: Akira Sasaki (pro skier), 7 years younger
2020-present: Kyle Aguon (MMA fighter), 15 years younger
I thought Ensen's son was named Arsen.
I wonder if her eyes can still keep up with the punches.
Yeah, that's rough.
Human dynamic visual acuity starts declining from your late 20s, and she's past 50…
A woman who can land a 👊 clean enough to actually drop someone is rare.
Which also means less damage to the 🧠.
Women also can't cut and rehydrate as much water weight as men can, due to the difference in muscle mass.
So the toll from cutting weight ends up being lighter for women too.
It's the weak punches that don't KO you that get dangerous when you keep eating them over and over.
You're playing expert but you're clearly a total amateur.
Even with fewer punches taken, losing by KO to a head shot in an early round is generally more dangerous.
At least medically speaking.
Nice try playing expert 🤣
There's a theory that ring fatalities are more likely to happen in the mid-to-late rounds once accumulated head damage builds up, but the statistics don't actually show a clear trend like that.
Since the effects of head punches depend on a mix of factors from both the puncher and the one being hit, many experts say it's hard to pin down exactly what causes ring fatalities.
You really shouldn't underestimate boxing.
Is she a Saiyan or something?
https://video.fc2.com/ja/content/20220228U77Wdv4z
Accident statistics show ring fatality rates are about the same for flyweight and heavyweight,
and most ring deaths happen in fights that end in a KO loss.
why could Tatsuyoshi never get licensed all those years? (Likely referring to legendary boxer Jôichirô Tatsuyoshi, repeatedly denied a license over a detached retina.)
Even in MMA, I remember she was great at getting the takedown but couldn't do much once she was there.
Background and Key Points of This Story
Miyuu Yamamoto comes from a family of fighters and is a three-time world wrestling champion; her younger brother, Norifumi “KID” Yamamoto, was also a celebrated MMA fighter who passed away from illness in 2018. This “domestic debut” isn’t the result of going through Japan’s usual pro boxing licensing process — instead, she’s competing in Japan using the Canadian citizenship she obtained during her wrestling career and an Australian boxing license, without belonging to a gym affiliated with the Japan Boxing Commission, a detail the original article doesn’t explain in much depth and that readers can easily misread. On the forum thread, opinion split over how KO risk in women’s boxing relates to age and punches taken, with one camp judging danger by the gender gap in punching power and another emphasizing cumulative damage. Commenters noted this isn’t medically settled, so there’s no simple conclusion.
※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Geinou/Sports Express+) thread “[Women’s Boxing] Miyuu Yamamoto, at 52 years and 42 days old, passes weigh-in to become the oldest Japanese competitor in an official bout: “Win fight after fight, and all kinds of things come into view”.”
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