Shohei Omori announces retirement
Last in December we saw a then unheralded Ryosuke Nishida (4-0, 1) [西田凌佑] score his then career best win, as he defeated former world title challenger Shohei Omori (21-4, 16) [大森 将平], and has since bettered that win by beating former world champion Daigo Higa. That bout was as much an impressive performance by Nishida, fighting for just the third time as a professional, as it was an underwhelming one from Omori, who looked very much a shadow of the fighter he had been a few years earlier.
Following the loss Omori made it clear he was considering his future in the sport. Today that he finally announced what is next for him in regards to boxing, and sadly that's for him to hang up the gloves and call time on his career, that once promised so much.
Omori made his debut in 2011, following an amateur career that saw him have mixed results, and in 2012 he went on to win the All Japan Rookie of the Year. That saw him getting a lot of attention and in 2014 he would on to beat former world title challenger Christian Esquivel, who had faced Shinsuke Yamanaka, before smashing Kentaro Masuda for the Japanese title in 2015. By that point there was a lot of excitement in Japan about the heavy handed southpaw, who was being dubbed "The Demon Left", and being viewed as the Japanese successor to the aforementioned Yamanaka.
Sadly that was about as good as things ever got for Omori who would suffer his first professional loss in December 2015, losing in 2 rounds to Marlon Tapales. He would lose a rematch to Tapales in 2017, for the WBO Bantamweight title, and suffer significant facial injuries in that loss that kept him out of the ring for over a year. Sadly he never really looked the same after that defeat, and suffered subsequent losses to Hiroaki Teshigawara and the aforementioned Nisida. Those 4 losses saw him fall from 14-0 (9) to 21-4 (16) and it was very much clear that he wasn't able to reach the heights expected of him.
As big fans of Omori coming through we are sad to see his career ending like this, though in all honest the loss to Nishida, and his 2020 bout against Danny Tampipi, did seem to suggest that he wasn't the fighter he had looked prior to the two bouts with Tapales.
We want to wish Omori all the best in his post-boxing career, and at 28 he is getting out of the sports with some youth still on his side.
Following the loss Omori made it clear he was considering his future in the sport. Today that he finally announced what is next for him in regards to boxing, and sadly that's for him to hang up the gloves and call time on his career, that once promised so much.
Omori made his debut in 2011, following an amateur career that saw him have mixed results, and in 2012 he went on to win the All Japan Rookie of the Year. That saw him getting a lot of attention and in 2014 he would on to beat former world title challenger Christian Esquivel, who had faced Shinsuke Yamanaka, before smashing Kentaro Masuda for the Japanese title in 2015. By that point there was a lot of excitement in Japan about the heavy handed southpaw, who was being dubbed "The Demon Left", and being viewed as the Japanese successor to the aforementioned Yamanaka.
Sadly that was about as good as things ever got for Omori who would suffer his first professional loss in December 2015, losing in 2 rounds to Marlon Tapales. He would lose a rematch to Tapales in 2017, for the WBO Bantamweight title, and suffer significant facial injuries in that loss that kept him out of the ring for over a year. Sadly he never really looked the same after that defeat, and suffered subsequent losses to Hiroaki Teshigawara and the aforementioned Nisida. Those 4 losses saw him fall from 14-0 (9) to 21-4 (16) and it was very much clear that he wasn't able to reach the heights expected of him.
As big fans of Omori coming through we are sad to see his career ending like this, though in all honest the loss to Nishida, and his 2020 bout against Danny Tampipi, did seem to suggest that he wasn't the fighter he had looked prior to the two bouts with Tapales.
We want to wish Omori all the best in his post-boxing career, and at 28 he is getting out of the sports with some youth still on his side.