Catharine Ritsuko Aiura: “I’ve always believed I will win a world title. It can and will happen.”

Catharine Ritsuko Aiura: “I’ve always believed I will win a world title. It can and will happen.”

I last spoke to Catharine Ritsuko Aiura in August. The American lightweight hopeful turned professional in 2023, and she had managed to stay unbeaten in five fights. But there had been certain frustrations along the way. Aiura wanted more. Fights had fallen through. And plenty of them. Over a year of inactivity had left her ambitions somewhat on ice. But in November, Aiura finally got her career going again. A six-round points victory over Helen Lucero got the career up and running again.

“I felt like I definitely had some ring rust to shake off, but I felt incredible,” Aiura told FightPost. “I was working with David Ortiz, the coach who took me to Nationals in 2019, and Billy Hubert, who is the partner in their gym, Undefined One Way Boxing Club, as well as the head strength and conditioning coach for the boxing competition team. The addition of an elite strength and conditioning program in addition to a really solid boxing program made me feel explosive, confident and fully able to complete six rounds.”

Aiura makes a relatively quiet return on March 28th in Cicero when she meets Victoria Mason over six rounds. “This upcoming fight at the end of the month is going to be my statement to the world that I’m here to stay,” Aiura says. “I’m active, I’m climbing, I’m fighting a challenging opponent, and it’s just the beginning. I’m so excited to be working with a new promotion in Chicago called One City Promotions, which I feel is going to be the future of the sport in this city. So it’s electrifying to get in on the ground floor of such an exciting chapter in this city’s boxing history.”

After an incredibly frustrating part of her career where Aiura has been starved of fights, she now just wants to stay busy. “This year, the goal is to stay as active as possible and start landing those bigger fights and taking on more challenges. With the incredible team and promotion behind me, there’s no reason why I shouldn’t be in a position to fight for a title by the end of the year. One of the other big goals that we have for this year is to intentionally build out my sponsors and partnerships. I’m really excited to be progressing as a professional athlete and racking up the wins and experience, and yet it is extremely difficult to do without the right partnerships. All the blood, sweat and tears put professional athletes in a position where they can finally start seeing financial gain, and for me, with a young daughter doing it all on my own in every single aspect, the main goal of my career is to be able to provide for her and take care of her in the future. So this is going to be a huge focus for this year. To talk about all the ways we’ve had to sacrifice and scrape to get to this point would take a whole other interview.”

BoxRec rates Aiura as the 5th-best lightweight in America. Options are seemingly plenty for her going forward. Aiura is clearly excited about what potentially lies ahead. “It’s such a great feeling to finally see all the good work paying off and climbing in the rankings,” Aiura relayed to me. “There are loads of talented women in this division, I’d say it’s one of the deepest women’s divisions of all. In America, the top two spots are Stephanie Han and Holly Holm, who are two women who I’d definitely have on my list to fight, especially since they are with MVP in the new women’s league, which I think is incredible, historic, and so great for women in boxing and sport in general. I’d love to be a part of that, and it just so happens the top female fighters in the country in this division are part of that great movement, a fight with either would definitely make my hit list.”

“Absolutely,” Aiura says when I ask if she still has a belief that she will win a world title down the line. “And with renewed hope. I’m injury-free. I’m feeling so grateful and motivated that I got through so many hopeless and heartbreaking moments in the last ten years and held on. This moment in time isn’t without its struggles, but I am starting to see some real momentum and results. Just imagine, if I were that motivated and sure of myself, the last time we talked, with absolutely no reason to be. How much more so I am now with more than a sliver of hope and some real results and opportunities knocking on the door. I feel invincible. I’ve always believed I will win a world title. It can and will happen. I believe that with my whole heart.”