blog:  shslheavyweight

With nine younger siblings, a constantly-absent mother, and a host of different fathers who may as well have not existed, Ushio Yamaguchi seemed like the kind of person who would never amount to anything, an opinion she’d agree with. Throughout her childhood she often found herself fighting on behalf of her sukeban older sister, but when she tried to teach herself boxing and came across a veteran personal trainer who used to overlook professionals, someone who finally thought she had potential, it became something more. When she knocked out her opponent thirty seconds into her first amateur bout, she proved she would take out anything her coach pointed her towards, and became the terror of the women’s amateur boxing circuit. 

By the time of her Hope’s Peak acceptance at 18 after her stunning breakout performance in that year’s Women’s World Amateur Boxing Championships, she was harboring dreams of being the first Japanese medalist in women’s Olympic boxing