"Champions aren't made in gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them: A desire, a dream, a vision . . . . They have to have the skill and the will. But the will must be stronger than the skill."
Those are the words of Muhammad Ali, but they could have just as easily been the words of Yoshinori Nishizawa, Japan's oldest active boxer, who at the age of 45 continues in pursuit of his dream — "to be world champion."
He has gotten close, tauntingly, painfully close, to capturing a world title. On his first try, in 2004 in Australia at the age of 37, he went five rounds to lose on a technical knockout. That same year he took on the WBC super middleweight champion in Germany only to lose after a full 12 rounds. On his last try, again in Australia, Nishizawa came on strong and continued strong, but the side of his head was cut, and he was stopped on a technical decision in the third round.