Bernardo Caraballo vs. Harada
Tokyo, Japan / April 7, 1967
photo courtesy
David Martinez
private collection
By Jim Amato / Senior Boxing Writer
He just may be the most popular Japanese fighter of all time. In a
career that lasted a little over a decade he squeezed in 63 pro contests.
He was the winner of 55 of those. He won world championships in two weight
divisions and he came very close to becoming a three weight class
titleholder. Please remember this was back in the day when there were only
eight weight classes and one champion per division. He is the only man to
beat the legendary Eder Jofre and he turned the trick twice. His name was
Masahiko but in boxing circles his nickname was ” Fighting “. That should
tell you something about his aggressive whirlwind style. He was ” Fighting
” Harada.
Harada started his career in 1960 and in less then three years he reeled
off 25 straight wins, ten by knockout. He had established himself as a top
ranking flyweight contender. Edmundo Esparza upset Harada by decision in
June of 1962 to end his win streak but two fights later on October 10th he
was in a Tokyo ring facing world flyweight champion Pone Kingpetch. The
champion was unable to keep the swarming Harada off of him and he finally
lost his title in the eleventh round.
Kingpetch lured Harada to his home country of Thailand and on January
12th, 1963 in Bangkok, Pone regained his title by decision.Harada bounced
back to win three straight and the he was surprisingly stopped by the
talented Mexican Jose Medel in Tokyo.Undaunted Harada went on a six fight
win steak that carried him to the end of 1964.
In 1965 Harada entered the bantamweight class and on May 17th he met the
unbeaten and highly respected champion Eder Jofre. In a classic between
two great boxers, Harada out slugged Jofre to capture his second world
title. By the years end he would add a successful defense against
Britain’s highly touted Alan Rudkin.
Harada and Jofre would hook up again on June 1st, 1966 and the verdict
again went to the busier Harada. On January 3rd, 1967 Harada avenged his
knockout loss to Medel while retaining his title via the decision route.
On July 4th Harada turned back the challenge of tough Bernardo Caraballo
and it looked like he would reign for quite some time.
On February 27th, 1968 Australian Lionel Rose came to Tokyo to challenge
Harada. In an impressive display of ring generalship the classy Rose
outboxed Harada to lift the crown. Harada would come right back in June to
decision a fine fighter in Dwight Hawkins.
On April 2nd, 1969 Harada was upset on points by Alton Colter.
Nevertheless he was invited to Sydney, Australia on July 28th to challenge
Johnny Famechon for the world featherweight championship. It was a
rock-em-sock-em affair that in the end was called a draw by guest referee
Willie Pep. After re-checking Pep’s scorecard a mistake was found and
Famechon was awarded the decision. Many felt that Harada had done more
then enough to earn the verdict and the title. There was a high demand for
a rematch.
Famechon and Harada would hook up again on January 6th, 1970 in Tokyo.
This time there would be no controversial decision. Famechon saw to that.
Harada seemed to age overnight. Famechon blasted Harada out in the
fourteenth round to end any doubt who the better man was. Harada realized
he was no longer the fighting machine he had been and the next day he
announced his retirement. The end of the line had come for one of the most
exciting fighters of his era.