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February 27th 1968. 2 legends of 2 different continents clashed for the Undisputed World Bantamweight Championship; the Australian challenger Lionel Rose and the Japanese champion Masashiko “Fighting” Harada defending his WBA, WBC and The Ring Bantamweight Titles.
This fight was held in Harada’s hometown of Tokyo, Japan and scored based on the 5-point must system by the referee and 2 judges.
Prefight records; Rose 27(8)-1, Harada 50(19)-3.
In May 1965, Harada garnered the WBA, WBC and The Ring Bantamweight Titles via SD15 over the “Golden Bantam” Eder Jofre to become Japan’s first ever Undisputed World Bantamweight Champion.
Note: Harada was the inaugural WBA Flyweight Champion and former The Ring Flyweight Champion. He won those titles by defeating Thai legend Pone Kingpetch via KO11 in October 1962.
Between November 1965 and July 1967, he successfully defended his titles 4 times and for his 5th defense he was up against Rose who was of the Gunditjmara indigenous tribe.
Entering his first world title opportunity, the 19 year old Rose had defeated top oppositions such as Kamara Diop, Rocky Gattellari & Ray Perez (2x) while the 24 year old Harada held notable wins over Edmundo Esparza, Hiroyuki Ebihara, Jose Medel, Alan Rudkin, Pone Kingpetch, Katsutoshi Aoki, Bernardo Caraballo & Eder Jofre (2x).
It was an intense, high speed chess match where the champion continuously pressed the action while the challenger moved and countered on his back foot for the most part to produce a close and competitive fight.
From rounds 1 to 8, both fighters were tactically competitive at near equal measure and arguably won 4 rounds apiece.
In round 9, Rose scored a flash knockdown with a right cross and slipped to the canvas just after flooring Harada.
In round 10, Harada’s head was rocked back with a sharp jab.
In round 11, Rose was hurt thrice with body punches but came back later in the round to connect with a right hook that knocked Harada off balance.
In round 12, Harada connected with a sharp right hand but lost his footing just as he was about to follow up thus allowing Rose to get in position to defend himself with about 10 seconds left to the bell.
In round 14, Rose wobbled Harada with an overhand right and later moved him backwards with a stiff jab.
In the final round, Harada stormed into action just after the bell sounded (as he did in the opening round) to rally for a knockout as he sensed he was behind on points resulting in an explosive exchange of body blows by both fighters. They were visibly exhausted from the ferocious pace as they made it to the final bell to the thunderous applause of the appreciative 10,000 Japanese fans gathered in Nippon Budokan to support their hometown hero.
After 45 minutes of tremendous tactical action, referee Ko Toyama and judges Ken Morita & Hiroyuki Tezaki scored the bout 72-71, 72-70 & 72-69 in favor of Rose who became the new Undisputed World Bantamweight Champion and the first indigenous Australian to win a world title.
Upon his return to Australia with his newfound glory and a samurai sword, Rose was greeted by more than 100,000 of his fellow countrymen outside of Melbourne’s Town Hall where he was hailed as a national hero.
Later in the year, Rose became the first indigenous Australian to be named Australian of the Year.
Enjoy this highlight of a LEGENDARY CLASSIC and remember to to SUBSCRIBE for boxing goodness!