NISHIJIMA IS A TRUE FREEDOM-FIGHTER.

Byline: MICHAEL ROSENTHAL Boxing

Yosuke Nishijima thinks of himself as a simple boxer, a boxer with typical dreams. He wants to win a major world championship and make a good living to support his wife and toddler son.

However, fate appears to have more grandiose plans for the taciturn cruiserweight from Tokyo.

Nishijima is nothing less than a pioneer: He is the first to escape a boxing system in which fighters are as much indentured servants to their managers and trainers as they are athletes and, if he succeeds in the ring, could be a catalyst for change that could rock the boxing establishment back home.

Call Nishijima, scheduled to fight Aljenon DeBose tonight at the Forum, the one who got away.

``He may actually change the system forever,'' said Tetsuji Yano, a filmmaker working on a documentary about Nishijima since 1992.

In Japan, as dictated by the powerful Japanese Boxing Commission and a culture that values loyalty, boxers are bound to their managers and trainers for life. When Nishijima walked into a Tokyo gym at 16, precedent said he wasn't walking out.

And then he did.

In November of 1997, Nishijima, now 25, left his country and the only gym he'd known and came to the United States, where he believed he would receive better training and control his own destiny. He has found freedom, but still deflects the tentacles of a Japanese system determined to bring him back.

Nishijima first felt helpless in the grip of the system in mid-1997. He wasn't getting the sparring he believed he needed for lack of capable big fighters in Japan. His handlers - including manager Osamu Watanabe - wanted to exploit him by having him fight George Foreman, Nishijima said.

And, as it was, they collected an unconscionable percentage of his paydays. Yano said those on the periphery collect more of the profits than the fighters do in Japan.

Still, like his predecessors, Nishijima felt trapped.

``Yes, you could say I was frustrated,'' he said through an interpreter. ``. . . I was always told, `If you leave the gym, you will never box the rest of your life.' It was almost like a threat. I thought there was no way out.

``I went through a lot of agony.''

It wasn't as hopeless as he believed.

Nishijima had something no other Japanese fighter before him had: A friend from Japan who lived in the U.S. and was intimately familiar with the boxing business here.

This friend, who has asked to remain anonymous, set Nishijima up with Roach and promoter Don Chargin and helped arrange the logistics of the unprecedented move.

He continues to pay a price emotionally, but he's convinced he made the right decision.

``I can say now it's the best thing,'' he said. ``I finally felt free. . . . It takes a long time to sort things out, though. Sometimes I still struggle. I think about it even now.''

So do Japanese boxing authorities.

The JBC, described by one American boxing authority as a conglomeration of managers and trainers rather than an objective body that regulates the sport, has followed through on threats to obstruct Nishijima's career.

Apparently trying to use language American authorities will understand, the JBC claims to have a legitimate contract with Nishijima while the fighter says it has expired. At the moment, the matter is in the hands of lawyers in Japan.

However, the JBC hasn't left it at that.

The California Athletic Commission has received a half-dozen letters from the JBC asking that authorities here honor what they believe are their legal rights by refusing to allow Nishijima to fight. The last letter, dated March 2, 1998, was an attempt to scuttle the Forum fight.

California has rejected each request for several reasons.

``They just haven't presented us with a legal contract that would prohibit (Nishijima) from fighting,'' said Rob Lynch, executive director of the commission.

Lynch wrote in a letter to Shigeru Kojima, executive secretary of the JBC, dated May 12, 1998: ``Apparently the contract expired January 31, 1997 and was to be automatically renewed. This commission does not permit such automatic renewals of contracts as all boxers and managers must personally appear before a California Commission representative to sign an original or renewal contract. This automatic renewal must also be considered an option clause which is not permitted by this commission.''

Still, the JBC doesn't give up.

Back home, where Nishijima is well known, the media has been reluctant to report on him for fear the JBC will restrict access to its fighters, according to Yano and other sources. Almost all of the limited publicity Nishijima has received since he left Japan has been negative.

And, here, representatives of the JBC have contacted him by phone and confronted him at awkward times. For example, Roach said his fighter was once approached by several Japanese men in the hallway of an arena before a fight.

Nishijima swears he's able to shut out all such distractions. He said his focus is where it should be: on the next fight.

Roach isn't so sure.

``In the gym, he's focused and trains hard,'' Roach said. ``When they start making calls to him and his family, when they show up at fights, it's a distraction. I try to keep everything private, but what can you do when (they) stand in the hallway and start speaking Japanese to him? It does affect him.

``If they ever tried to come into the locker room, though, they wouldn't get too far. They think they own him, like he's a slave. It's crazy. Let the kid get on with his life.''

Nishijima is reluctant to discuss his situation.

He refused to comment on the boxing system in Japan, allowing only that he much prefers the American way.

And it's difficult to understand the toll it has taken on him. He admitted he doesn't show his emotions. He said only that he ``still struggles inside'' and remains bitter toward his Japanese handlers.

Like it or not, however, Nishijima's struggle could ultimately place him in the forefront of sports in his country.

The magnitude of his impact could hinge on his success. If he fails as a fighter, his cause could go largely unnoticed. If he succeeds, he becomes a fighter of international stature and the JBC's greatest fears could become reality.

How good is Nishijima?

Plenty good, according to Roach. He has good power - he's 19-1 with 12 knockouts - and exceptional speed for a cruiserweight. His skills are evolving though he's fought only twice in two years because of an eye injury.

``He'll be a potential threat to anyone in the cruiserweight division,'' Roach said.

If that's the case, the JBC and Co. have reason to worry.

If Nishijima makes a name for himself, the Japanese media will have no choice but to chronicle his career. Then comes the domino effect: Other fighters will see they do have a way out of the chains and follow his path.

Then, logic says, the old system will crumble.

``They (Nishijima's handlers and the JBC) are very fearful of what Nishijima may pull off,'' Yano said. ``. . . If he's able to really make it here, the news cannot be controlled by the JBC. Nishijima would be too big. The media couldn't ignore him.

``The key is he has to be successful. And I think he will. He has the will, the courage, the determination and also the support of many people.''

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Photo

PHOTO Japanese cruiserweight Yosuke Nishijima has broken free from his country's strict boxing structure, fighting for himself in the United States. Still, the pressures to return home are strong.

Evan Yee/Daily News