Toshiaki Nishioka boxer

Toshiaki Nishioka (西岡 利晃, Nishioka Toshiaki, born July 25, 1976) is a Japanese former professional boxer who competed from 1994 to 2012. He held the WBC super bantamweight title from 2008 to 2012, and challenged for the lineal super bantamweight title in his final fight. Nishioka is known for his series of fights against Veeraphol Nakonluang-Promotion, with two of their four encounters ending in draws. Unlike many of Japan's other world champions, Nishioka willingly fought outside of his own country.Nishioka was born in Kakogawa, Hyōgo, Japan, in July 1976, and has one younger sister. He started boxing at age ten when he was in the fifth grade of elementary school on the recommendation of his father who runs a tavern. He compiled an amateur record of 10–2. Since before his professional debut, Nishioka had served as a sparring partner of the reigning WBC bantamweight champion Yasuei Yakushiji.Nicknamed "Speed King", Nishioka won his professional debut by a first-round knockout in Himeji, Hyōgo, on December 11, 1994. But he was knocked out in the fourth round of the next fight at the Korakuen Hall, and was carried out on a stretcher. Nishioka won the annual Japanese boxing series, West Japan Rookie King Tournament in the super bantamweight division at the Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium in September 1995. Winning over the Central Japan rookie king in the next fight at the Nagoya Civic Assembly Hall, he fought against the rookie king of the Western part of Japan in Fukuoka in December of the same year. Though Nishioka was convinced of his victory, the judges were in favor of his opponent.During his early career, Nishioka was expected to be Joichiro Tatsuyoshi's successor, and served as his sparring partner for two years since 1996. Nishioka went down a weight division to capture the Japanese bantamweight title at the Osaka Municipal Central Gymnasium on December 29, 1998, the last day when Tatsuyoshi was a world champion. Although Nishioka was knocked down once when away from the clinch in the first round, he twice floored his opponent while wearing a confident and defiant smile in the second round to be crowned, and defended the title twice before returning it.In June 2000, Nishioka challenged the WBC bantamweight champion Veeraphol Nakonluang-Promotion in Takasago, Hyōgo, and lost via a unanimous decision. He had belonged to the JM Kakogawa Gym until that fight, and has been managed by the Teiken Boxing Gym in Tokyo under Akihiko Honda's supervision and Yūichi Kasai's guidance since September 2000.The second world title shot was watched by 12,000 spectators at the Yokohama Arena in September 2001, and was a very close fight in which the scores were 115–113 for Nishioka, 116–113 for Veeraphol, and 114–114 even. Nishioka suffered an Achilles tendon rupture twice during that year. In December 2002, he returned to the ring for the first time in fifteen months to gain a first-round knockout victory at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. However his style was totally different from the previous one. He challenged Veeraphol for the third time at the Ryōgoku Kokugikan in October 2003, but the result was a draw by a hometown decision. In his fourth world title shot against Veeraphol in March 2004, he lost via a unanimous decision by a wide margin of points at the Saitama Super Arena.