Kenji Yonekura

was a Japanese boxer who competed at the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games in the flyweight division, and was a two-time world title challenger in the flyweight and bantamweight divisions. He later served as the president of Yonekura Boxing Gym.

Amateur career Yonekura saw the United States Armed Forces' boxing fights in the Itazuke Air Base, which was his first encounter with boxing. Yonekura began boxing at the age of a high school student. He was training and sparring with Yoshio Shirai under Alvin Rober Cahn's guidance.

Yonekura won the All-Japan Amateur Boxing Championships in the flyweight division in 1956, and represented Japan at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, while studying at Meiji University. Before his official debut, he made an exhibition match against the Japanese flyweight champion Sadao Yaoita as a welcome bout for the NBA's public relations manager. He was awarded Japan's Fight of the Year and Technical Award in his debut year. His ring name was changed into 米倉 健志, pronounced the same, during his professional career.

His first world title shot against Pascual Pérez in the flyweight division, which was postponed three days due to rain, ended in a unanimous decision loss after being knocked down in the second round, in front of 9,000 spectators at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium in August 1959. However, as Yonekura had been highly expected to be the winner of it as a former Olympian, its audience rating was 88.0 percent. Yonekura was featured on the front covers of not only boxing-related periodical s such as (Japan's) Boxing Gazette, Puroresu & Boxing, and Weekly Sports: Fight, but also various magazines such as Weekly Shōnen Magazine, Weekly Yomiuri Sports, Weekly Sankei Sports, and Olympic Gahō, as a handsome superstar.

Yonekura moved up in weight division to capture the OPBF bantamweight title in January 1960. In his second world title shot in the bantamweight division in May of that year, he lost to José Becerra via a split decision while being watched by 17,000 spectators at the Korakuen Baseball Stadium. From 1960 through 1961, he made an expedition to Mexico and fought four times in Tijuana and Mexico City, but was defeated in all those fights. He also served as the president of Japan Pro Boxing Association (JPBA) for three years from 1986 to 1989. In March 1995, Yonekura received the Distinguished Service Award in Sports from the education minister at the time, Kaoru Yosano.

Death Yonekura died on 20 April 2023, at the age of 88.