Former three-division titleholder Akira Yaegashi retires at 37

Akira Yaegashi, the former three-division titleholder, is retiring at 37, according to The Japan Times.

Yaegashi (28-7, 16 KOs) won major titles as a strawweight, junior flyweight and flyweight. He never fought outside of his native Japan in his 15-year career.

Hideyuki Ohashi, a former champion and founder of the gym at which Yaegashi has trained, reportedly told him, “You’ve done enough.” Yaegashi agreed.

“Although I haven’t ever felt the limits of my physical strength, I’m not able to continue as an active boxer all on my own,” Yaegashi said on a conference call.

The Yokohama resident won a strawweight title when he stopped Somporn Seeta in 10 rounds in October 2011. He lost it to Kazuto Ioka by a close unanimous decision in his next fight, which was a title-unification matchup.

Two fights later, in April 2013, he defeated Toshiyuki Igarashi by a unanimous decision to win a flyweight title. He lost that belt in his fourth defense against Roman Gonzalez, who stopped Yaegashi in nine rounds in September 2014.

Yaegashi then went down to junior flyweight, at which he easily outpointed Javier Mendoza to win a title in a third division in December 2015. He successfully defended twice before losing his belt to Milan Melindo by first-round knockout in May 2015.

In his final fight, he lost by ninth-round TKO against flyweight titleholder Moruti Mthalane in December.

Yaegashi is expected to become a trainer .