Toshio Fujiwara

Toshio Fujiwara (藤原 敏男 Fujiwara Toshio, born March 3, 1948) is a Japanese former kickboxer. Out of 141 professional fights before retiring at age 35, Fujiwara won 126, with a remarkable 99 by knockout; most notably, he was the first non-Thai to win a national Muay Thai title belt in Bangkok, a fact that many older Thais still remember and respect about him.

Biography and career Prior to his kickboxing career, Toshio Fujiwara was mainly engaged in table tennis and maintained great physical fitness. He had no martial arts background before starting Taikiken, a Yiquan derative founded by Kenichi Sawai.

A graduate from the Chuo University, he started training kickboxing at the Mejiro Gym in July 1969, learning under Kenji Kurosaki. He soon won the All Japan Kickboxing Federation championship, and did his first travels to Thailand in 1971.

In late April 1972, Fujiwara fought Rungnapa Sitsomsak. The even fight ended in a DQ win for Fujiwara, as Sitsomak's unsportsmanlike conduct got him disqualified in the third round.

In 1975, he had surgery to his left shin which left him hospitalised for 6 weeks. Three days after leaving hospital he ran at a long-distance event.

Fujiwara retired from fighting in 1983 with an impressive fight record. Subsequently, he founded his own gym, Toshio Fujiwara Sports Gym, which he runs presently in Tokyo. His most famous student in recent years is Satoshi Kobayashi, but many other well-known kickboxers and martial artists have also trained with him, including Masahiro Yamamoto, Satoru Sayama, Sanshu Tsubakichi and Takaaki Nakamura.

In 2010, he was appointed Chairman of Japan Martial arts Directors (JMD), a commissioning group co-operating with the World Professional Muaythai Federation to oversee the development of the sport in Japan.

Fight record