Boxer-Turned-Policeman Aims to Knock Out Crime

The Yomiuri Shimbun

A nationally ranked Japanese pro boxer will start a second career as a police officer from October, a result of the Japan Boxing Commission's new project to help retired boxers secure law enforcement jobs.

The JBC program to help former pros has included measures such as hosting a Metropolitan Police Department career open house for boxers in February.

Two boxers already have passed the employment test to become a police officer.

One of them is Tatsuya Tsubouchi, 27, who will become an Osaka prefectural police officer from October. He is ranked ninth in the Japan superbantamweight class (55.3 kilograms and under), belonging to the Osaka Teiken Gym in Miyakojima Ward, Osaka.

Over three years his record is nine wins, including three knockouts, and one loss--a record that underscores his reputation as an aggressive fighter.

However, Tsubouchi also has been grappling with chronic pain in his lower back, and finds it difficult to lose the necessary 8 kilograms before each bout, something he has to do to meet the weight requirement for his class.

The boxer first considered retirement from the ring after feeling an unusually acute pain in his back in January. At that time, he came across a newspaper article covering the JBC's effort to help boxers become police officers.

Reading the article, Tsubouchi recalled his childhood dream of becoming a policeman and thought that his instinctive intolerance of injustice made him well suited to the job. He also felt the determination he had developed during his years of boxing would help him in his new career.
Tsubouchi started attending a vocational school specializing in preparing candidates for civil servant examinations in the spring. He then attended the highly competitive examination for entry to the Osaka prefectural police, which fewer than one in six applicants pass. He was among the select few, however, and received a letter of acceptance to the force in August.

Tsubouchi is still in fighting condition. The pain in his lower back has abated slightly, and he won a match on points in June. However, he has decided that a match to be held in Kariya, Aichi Prefecture, on Sept. 23, will be his last.

That match will mark the end of Tsubouchi's dream of becoming Japan champion, but also the start of his new life. After joining the police, he is hoping to be posted to the riot squad.

Meanwhile, a retired boxer who has fought three matches at MT Gym in Kanagawa Prefecture will become an MPD officer from April.

(Sep. 6, 2007)