Yoko Gushiken, a boxing legend who hails from Okinawa, hopes young people from prefecture will be brave enough to take on any challenge and succeed in any field.

"I had been fighting 120 percent for Okinawa," Gushiken said in a recent interview, recalling the days when he defended the World Boxing Association junior flyweight title from 1976 to 1981. The title has been renamed as light flyweight champion.

Gushiken, a native of Ishigaki Island, came to Naha on Okinawa Island when he was 15. He began boxing in a club of Konan High School and won the national high school championship when he was in his senior year.