Yutaka Niida
# Yutaka Niida

Yutaka Niida (新井田豊, Niida Yutaka, born October 2, 1978 in Yokohama, Kanagawa) is a retired professional boxer in the minimumweight (105 lb) division and former WBA world minimumweight champion.

## Professional boxing career

Niida belonged to the Yokohama Hikari Boxing Gym, his trainer was Mitsunori Seki and Hidefumi Oikawa. He first won the WBA minimumweight title at the Pacifico Yokohama on August 25, 2001, when he defeated Chana Porpaoin by unanimous decision. On October 22 only two months later, Niida vacated the title, with the intention of retiring due to back problems and lost interest in boxing.

Niida returned two years later and challenged Noel Arambulet for the title at the same venue, but Niida suffered his first loss, by split decision. Niida fought against Arambulet again at the Korakuen Hall on July 3, 2004; this time Niida won the title by unanimous decision in addition to Arambulet not making the weight. Niida has successfully defended the title seven times since he regained it, winning his last defense occurring against Jose Luis Varela at the Korakuen Hall on March 1, 2008 by knockout in the 6th round. However Mitsunori Seki died from a subarachnoid hemorrhage on June 6, 2008, his death gave Niida an intense shock.

Yutaka Niida lost his title via a fourth-round TKO at the Pacifico Yokohama on September 15, 2008 to Nicaragua's Román González. Presumably, he hung his gloves after the fight. Niida won the achievement award for the 41st Japan Professional Sports Grand Prize that year.

In 2010, Niida founded a public company "World Famous" named after the entrance song of his champion days created by the Japanese rapper BiARD for him, and established a sports gym "Body Design 新井田式 (which means Niida method)" in Yokohama on November 20. Hidefumi Oikawa also works as one of ten or so trainers in this gym.

## Professional boxing record

| 28 fights | 23 wins | 2 losses |
| - | - | - |
| By knockout | 9 | 1 |
| By decision | 14 | 1 |
| Draws | 3 | 3 |
| No. | Result | Record | Opponent | Type | Round, time | Date | Location | Notes |
| 28 | Loss | 23–2–3 | Román González | TKO | 4 (12), 1:59 | 15 Sep 2008 | Pacifico Yokohama, Yokohama, Japan | Lost WBA minimumweight title |
| 27 | Win | 23–1–3 | José Luis Varela | KO | 6 (12), 2:16 | 3 Mar 2008 | Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan | Retained WBA minimumweight title |
| 26 | Win | 22–1–3 | Eriberto Gejon | UD | 12 | 1 Sep 2007 | Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan | Retained WBA minimumweight title |
| 25 | Win | 21–1–3 | Katsunari Takayama | SD | 12 | 7 Apr 2007 | Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan | Retained WBA minimumweight title |
| 24 | Win | 20–1–3 | Ronald Barrera | UD | 12 | 4 Mar 2006 | Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan | Retained WBA minimumweight title |
| 23 | Win | 19–1–3 | Eriberto Gejon | TD | 10 (12), 2:01 | 25 Sep 2005 | Yokohama Arena, Yokohama, Japan | Retained WBA minimumweight title |
| 22 | Win | 18–1–3 | Jae Won Kim | UD | 12 | 16 Apr 2005 | Nippon Budokan, Tokyo, Japan | Retained WBA minimumweight title |
| 21 | Win | 17–1–3 | Juan Jose Landaeta | SD | 12 | 30 Oct 2004 | Ryōgoku Kokugikan, Tokyo, Japan | Retained WBA minimumweight title |
| 20 | Win | 16–1–3 | Noel Arambulet | UD | 12 | 3 Jul 2004 | Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan | Won vacant WBA minimumweight title |
| 19 | Win | 15–1–3 | Ut Taprakhon | TKO | 5 (10), 2:55 | 8 Dec 2003 | Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan | |
| 18 | Loss | 14–1–3 | Noel Arambulet | SD | 12 | 12 Jul 2003 | Pacifico Yokohama, Yokohama, Japan | For vacant WBA minimumweight title |
| 17 | Win | 14–0–3 | Chana Porpaoin | UD | 12 | 25 Aug 2001 | Pacifico Yokohama, Yokohama, Japan | Won WBA minimumweight title |
| 16 | Draw | 13–0–3 | Daisuke Iida | UD | 10 | 14 May 2001 | Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan | Retained Japanese minimumweight title |
| 15 | Win | 13–0–2 | Makoto Suzuki | TKO | 9 (10), 2:53 | 8 Jan 2001 | Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan | Won Japanese minimumweight title |
| 14 | Win | 12–0–2 | Sonny Boy Panding | KO | 1 (8) | 11 Oct 2000 | Pacifico Yokohama, Yokohama, Japan | |
| 13 | Win | 11–0–2 | Itsuo Oka | TKO | 8 (10) | 30 May 2000 | Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan | |
| 12 | Win | 10–0–2 | Atsuomi Maeda | UD | 8 | 23 Mar 2000 | Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan | |
| 11 | Win | 9–0–2 | Rudolfo Fernandez | KO | 2 (10) | 18 Oct 1999 | Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan | |
| 10 | Win | 8–0–2 | Masanori Suga | KO | 2 (10) | 27 Jun 1999 | Ariake Coliseum, Tokyo, Japan | |
| 9 | Win | 7–0–2 | Rogelio Lapian | UD | 8 | 15 Feb 1999 | Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan | |
| 8 | Win | 6–0–2 | Hidetaka Kitano | KO | 1 (6) | 3 Dec 1998 | Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan | |
| 7 | Draw | 5–0–2 | Kenichiro Hamaguchi | MD | 6 | 18 Sep 1998 | Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan | |
| 6 | Draw | 5–0–1 | Tsutomu Oshigane | SD | 6 | 29 Mar 1998 | Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan | |
| 5 | Win | 5–0 | Yuki Hashiguchi | UD | 6 | 3 Oct 1997 | Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan | |
| 4 | Win | 4–0 | Kazuhisa Takahashi | UD | 4 | 26 Jul 1997 | Yokohama Arena, Yokohama, Japan | |
| 3 | Win | 3–0 | Tatsuro Oya | KO | 1 (4) | 17 Sep 1997 | Korakuen Hall, Yokohama, Japan | |
| 2 | Win | 2–0 | Akio Yamamoto | UD | 4 | 20 Dec 1996 | Nanba Grand Kagetsu, Osaka, Japan | |
| 1 | Win | 1–0 | Satoshi Shinkai | KO | 1 (4) | 15 Nov 1996 | Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan | |
