July 30, 2001
JAPAN-Ex-OPBF feather champ Seiji Asakawa, 33, was drowned in a lake in Miki City, Japan, on July 25 and his drowned body was found on the morning on July 30.
Asakawa was enjoying a summer vacation for fishing there, and became missing while swimming to bring back his floating rubber boat.
Asakawa had an ambitious crack at the WBA 126-pound title twice, losing to Youngkyun Park by a 9th round KO in Seoul, Korea, in 1992 and to Venezuelan Eloy Rojas by a 5th round TKO in his native Kobe, Japan, in 1994.
Asakawa, a hard-puncher with an overall record of 23-4-1, 17 KOs, captured the OPBF throne by defeating Filipino Cris Saguid on points in 1992, and kept it until the next year.
He made an announcement to hang up gloves for good after his failure to win the world belt from Rojas, and became an instructor of aerobics in combination with boxing training and sometimes appeared on TV thereafter. Asakawa had an intention to open his boxing gym to cultivate young boxers. We sincerely mourn the ex-OPBF champ.