Catharine Ritsuko Aiura: “I would love to find out what I have inside of me. I would love to be pushed to that level and see just how good I can be.” 

Catharine Ritsuko Aiura: “I would love to find out what I have inside of me. I would love to be pushed to that level and see just how good I can be.” 

Like that old famous line Tom Hanks uttered all those years ago in that classic 1994 film, interviewing someone for the first time, you never quite know what you’re gonna get. I spent thirty minutes with Catharine Ritsuko Aiura on Zoom recently, and that was very much the case. Her young daughter made a few cameo appearances on camera, climbing on her mother’s back. At one point, a nice little choke looked locked on in Aiura. There was no tap from the mother, and that pretty much sums up the life and career of Aiura.

It’s not been easy. Far from it. Many would have walked away. But there is something about this crazy, unforgiving sport that, no matter what happens, it sucks you in and never lets go. Aiura is one of those who can’t let go.

Aiura is an unbeaten lightweight prospect. Five fights. Five wins. But the American has been inactive since last June. “I had a bunch of fights set up, and they all fell through,” Aiura told FightPost. “I guess most fighters have to go through that at some point in their career. But mine have been back-to-back, really good opportunities that have fallen through. It’s been really upsetting because it was a time when my team and I decided that we were ready to go to the next level. It can be damaging to a sponsor relationship and all those who come to support you. Camps are also expensive; there is a lot of expense that goes into a training camp.”

In many ways, the cost of inactivity can be pivotal to a fighter’s career. Momentum lost. Financial implications. Aiura is one of the lucky ones. Despite a long period away from the ring, Aiura gets by. “I have gone more into becoming a full-time boxer since I have been getting more and more sponsors, but I have had a regular bartending job for about fifteen years as well. So I moonlight as a bartender, I guess. Which I am grateful for because it is a good gig”

Aiura is recovering from injury, the latest setback for the 34-year-old. “The last fight I had lined was in May, which was going to be on DAZN against another undefeated fighter. A proper 50/50 fight, but I then got injured a couple of days before the fight. I tore my calf muscle. It was a really exciting opportunity. It was really heartbreaking. I still wanted to fight, but I couldn’t walk. I have been recovering from my injury, I took a little trip to Japan to see my family, and I have been easing myself back into my training.

“Staying out of the ring is dangerous for a fighter, especially if they are trying to build momentum and a fan base. There are so many active fighters, and they are going for the same things I am going for. So, falling behind is not really an option.”

“I grew up in the north-west suburbs of Chicago,” Aiura says about her early years. “I was born in Des Plaines, which is near Wisconsin. My mum grew up there as well, but my dad is from Japan, and they met at college in Chicago. So my dad just stayed over here and had his family in Chicago. I have three other brothers and one younger sister. It was hard for my dad to get employment over here, so he went back to Japan to work to try and keep the family afloat. So, I spent most of my time in high school in Japan, but I came back for college.”

“Boxing came into my life a little late compared to everyone else who is a pro right now,” Aiura adds when I ask about her entry into the sport. “I was a junior in college, so I must have been twenty-one. I had experienced quite a traumatic event in the middle of college. It was kind of difficult for me to recover from that. Just doing basic things was really difficult for me. I was trying to find something to focus me. I have always been an athlete, so my mind and body were connected like that. I wanted to do something to my body that involved and something with a level of challenge and pain. I wanted to understand about living with something that was so painful to help me get through the day. Boxing was perfect for that. I think everyone finds boxing for a reason. It’s a piece of you that suddenly clicks. I have played soccer and did ballet for most of my life, so I have always had something like that.”

Very quickly, boxing morphed into so much more for Aiura. “I was doing it initially for personal reasons, but my coach said I was pretty good, you should try to get a fight, and I ended up winning the Chicago Golden Gloves three times. I loved it so much that I wanted to progress up the rankings as an amateur. I was all in because I needed it personally. I wanted to go to the Olympics, especially as it was in Tokyo. It would have been amazing. I got in the top ten rankings, but I felt as though I was running out of time a little bit. So it made sense to turn pro.”

With each word spoken, the passion for her sport is obvious. It consumes her. The attraction to boxing is almost spiritual. “You remember when Rocky said you have to be dumb to want to be a boxer,” Aiura says. “It’s like the odds are always stacked against you type of sport. Boxing has that type of element, and it is also slightly individualistic. If you have that mindset where you are your biggest competition and you don’t mind that pressure, you have that control. Everything you gain, you can say you did that. People who box understand pain. When you are in a fight, you have to manage pain. You take your mind and your spirit to a different level. You are never the same person when you go into camp. It’s like a constant opportunity to jump off a cliff. There is nothing like boxing, and everybody says it’s hard to let it go. Even in training, you have that opportunity to go to the edge of your bravery. You are so in the moment. It’s like a drug. It’s so addictive. An addiction to the best version of yourself.”

Aiura left the amateur ranks after forty fights and a more than respectable 30-10 record. But her time in the world of professional boxing has been very much swimming against the tide. “I think my entire boxing career has been incredibly frustrating. I have always felt that this isn’t going to work, and I am not going to make it. I have always had this vision of knowing what I can do. It is so strong, and it has pushed me on through every single setback. The only difficulty is having my daughter and being a parent. I will never give up pushing until I crack it and break through. But how much does it take away from the quality of life for my daughter? As a parent, is it selfish to keep pushing through the extreme? It’s hard to find that balance because there is always this guilt. But I am that type of person who will never give up. I don’t want to live my life wondering.”

Aiura is inspired by many. The likes of Usyk and Ali are obvious names. But she also cites virtually anyone who enters a boxing gym. But one name stands out for inspiration. “Katie Taylor is always at the top of my list,” Aiura relays to me. “I get so much from her story and how much of a leader she has been in the sport.”

Catharine Ritsuko Aiura still holds that passion. The love, and crucially, she retains her ambition. With hopes of making her ‘comeback’ before the year ends, Aiura hopes to kick-start a career that she hopes will end with a world title.

“I would love to be a world champion,” Aiura says. “I would love to be unified. I would love to be undisputed. I would love to be part of something historic like that all-female MVP card that is also meaningful for the next generation. I would love to find out what I have inside of me. I would love to be pushed to that level and see just how good I can be.”   

There is something incredibly impressive about Aiura. Her belief and resilience stand out. Many would have walked away after all the frustrations that her sport has thrown her way. In a perfect world, that persistence should be rewarded. It doesn’t necessarily have to come with a world title to her name, but as she says herself, to just find out how good she really is. Is that really too much to ask for?