Athlete of the Month – Hayato Tsutsumi

Japan’s 17-year-old Hayato Tsutsumi had an amazing winning path in the AIBA Youth World Boxing Championships and following his great performance he achieved a gold medal in St. Petersburg, Russia. After the Facebook voting among our stakeholders the Asian Boxing Confederation named him as ASBC Athlete of November.
“It was amazing to win the gold medal in the AIBA Youth World Boxing Championships in St. Petersburg. My next goal is to get the title in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in the front of our home crowd. I will do my best to practice and become stronger from tomorrow. I am very happy I was chosen as the best Asian Boxer in the month which is a great and unexpected award for me. I would like to say everyone who supported me,” said Japan’s 17-year-old Hayato Tsutsumi.
Hayato Tsutsumi was born in Chiba Prefecture on July 12 in 1999 and began boxing seven years ago at the age of 10. He trains with Coach Takayoshi Sonezaki in the Narashino Boxing Club in the city of Chiba. He trains six days altogether 24 hours every week which was one of the key moment of his success in the AIBA Youth World Boxing Championships.
Tsutsumi won the Japanese Junior National Boxing Championships at the age of 14 in 2013 which was one of his first success in the national level. The young boxer was involved to the national junior squad in 2015 and he attended in the ASBC Asian Confederation Junior Boxing Championships in Tashkent and also in the AIBA Junior World Boxing Championships in St. Petersburg. He lost his first bouts closely against top Uzbek and Turkish rivals on these events which were great experiences for Tsutsumi.
Tsutsumi won the gold medal in the Japanese High School National Boxing Championships this March at the flyweight (52kg) where he defeated Tatsuya Ogawa and experienced Takeru Inoue as well. Following his gold medal in that national selection event he was involved to Japan’s youth squad in 2016.
Japan’s Hayato Tsutsumi proved top performance in the ASBC Asian Confederation Youth Boxing Championships in Pavlodar where he started his successful campaign against Uzbekistan’s Rakhmatulla Kuziyev and China’s tough Wu Zheng. He eliminated Kazakhstan’s two-time Brandenburg Youth Cup winner Aidos Arapov in the semi-final of the championships and advanced to the final.
The Japanese boxer tried to use closer fighting distance in the gold medal bout against South Korea’s Lee Hee Seop. In their contest he was successful with hooks and uppercuts while the Korean had quicker attacks. Tsutsumi worked better in the final round which was the difference between them therefore Japan could get a gold medal in the championships in Pavlodar. Tsutsumi won Japan’s first ever gold medal in the history of the ASBC Asian Confederation Youth Boxing Championships.
Japan’s newly crowned ASBC Asian Youth Champion Hayato Tsutsumi delivered a sensational performance in the road to the final in the AIBA Youth World Boxing Championships in St. Petersburg. He eliminated Thailand’s Sophon Klachun, Germany’s strong Hamsat Shadalov, Australia’s Commonwealth Youth Games winner Jack Bowen in the quarter-final and Uzbekistan’s Pavlyukov Youth Memorial Tournament winner Otabek Kholmatov in the semi-final.
Tsutsumi’s final opponent was Cuba’s Elio Crespo who was also born in 1999 as the Japanese talent. The Japanese boxer launched terrific left-handed jabs in the second round in their final and moved closer to his Cuban opponent. Crespo felt also the distance therefore their second round delivered a lot of successful punches in their final. Tsutsumi moved even closer to Crespo in the final round and his infighting style was uncomfortable for the Cuban youngster therefore Japan won its first ever gold medal in the history of the AIBA Youth World Boxing Championships as well.