Airman 1st Class Craig Jeudy, a communications specialist with 5th Air Force, poses with his boxing trainer, Hideaki Ohara, at Ringside Fitness Gym near Yokota Air Base, Japan, June 7, 2025. (Seth Robson/Stars and Stripes)
YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan — An American service member at this airlift hub in western Tokyo is set for his professional boxing debut Tuesday night in Tokyo.
Airman 1st Class Craig Jeudy, a communications specialist with 5th Air Force, will fight on the undercard of the International Boxing Federation and World Boxing Organization’s Asia-Pacific super lightweight title bout at Korakuen Hall near Tokyo Dome.
The 6-foot-2, 160-pound native of Brooklyn, N.Y., will face Japanese middleweight Ryohei Ibuki in the second fight of the evening. The event begins at 6 p.m.
Jeudy, the son of Haitian immigrants, played college basketball at Fisk University in Tennessee, he told Stars and Stripes during a training break Saturday evening. He turned to boxing after a knee injury ended his basketball aspirations.
Jeudy said he joined the Air Force two years ago to support his young daughter and arrived in Japan in October 2023.
Tuesday’s match marks Jeudy’s professional debut. He has a 3-1 record as an amateur.
Ibuki enters the ring with a 3-3 professional record. He is the grandson of Goro Ibuki, a prominent Japanese actor best known for his role in the long-running samurai drama “Mito Komon,” which aired from 1969-2011.
Jeudy trains at Ringside Fitness Gym in Fussa, a short walk from Yokota’s supply gate. The gym is frequented by both American and Japanese boxers.
To prepare for the fight, Jeudy said he has followed a strict diet and runs five to 10 miles each morning before training two to three hours in the evenings.
“I try to emulate Muhammad Ali’s jab,” said Jeudy, who also cites Thomas “The Hitman” Hearns and Sugar Ray Leonard as inspirations.
Jeudy, who also works as a resilience trainer, said he has encouraged up to 30 other airmen to try boxing since arriving in Japan.
The young boxer said he appreciates the discipline and respect shown by Japanese fighters both in and out of the ring.
“I have been to pro fights in Japan where you can hear a pin drop because of the appreciation of the sport,” he said. “People really give the fighters the attention they need in the ring.”
Hideaki Ohara, Jeudy’s trainer at Ringside Fitness, praised the airman’s speed and movement.
“His is much faster than a Japanese middleweight,” Ohara said.
