and injured his right ankle while falling to the canvas. He managed to pick himself up, and his corner iced his ankle in between rounds, but Ohba limped as he exchanged punches with Chionoi. Even with his injury, Ohba managed to overpower Chionoi in the middle rounds, often using rights to the head, and finally knocked down the challenger for the first time a 2:19 into the 12th round. Chionoi was knocked down two more times in the round, and having been knocked down three times, the bout was ruled an automatic knockout. Ohba marked a dramatic 12th-round KO win for his 5th WBA World Flyweight Title defense. He remarked to an interviewer after the bout that "I did not expect the Thai to put up such a good fight, it was my hardest fight so far." He also noted "I did not expect the long hook that hit me first and made me groggy", and "I did not expect the second that dropped me on my pants." Premature death in car accident On the morning of January 25, 1973, only three weeks after his last defense, Ohba died in a car accident. He was returning to the Teiken Gym where he both trained and lived. Ohba was driving his new 1973 ivory Chevrolet Corvette down an expressway in Tokyo, when he hit a heavy duty eleven ton parked truck on the shoulder of the opposite lane. His Corvette had jumped the road divider when he was unable to negotiate a turn and he was unable to regain control. He was driving around 60, in a 36-mile per hour zone and was an inexperienced driver, having only obtained his driver's license three months before the crash. He was only 23 years old, and still in possession of the WBA title. As a dutiful son, he had just bought his parents a new home. On February 5, 1973, a funeral service was held by the World Boxing Association at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, where he had once boxed. A separate service had been held at his home in Kasuwbe, twenty miles north of Tokyo. Ohba was dubbed "The Eternal Champion," because he was undefeated in world title bouts and died while still reigning champion. He had been planning on relinquishing his flyweight title to challenge for the bantamweight title before his death. His professional record was 35-2-1 (16KOs). Achievements and honors