Ichihara Hayato to play the role of Fighting Harada in FujiTV drama SP "Ougon no Bantam wo yabutta otoko ~ Fighting Harada Monogatari"

Ichihara Hayato will play the role of legendary boxer Fighting Harada who was the first Japanese to win in two boxing classes in the upcoming FujiTV drama SP "Ougon no Bantam wo yabutta otoko ~ Fighting Harada Monogatari" (The Man who broke the golden bantam ~ the story of Fighting Harada) which is due to be shown on 22 February. The drama SP is based on a non-fiction book by Hyakuta Naoki which talks about how Harada became a double champion in the fly and bantam classes during the 1960s.

This is the second time that Ichihara is playing a boxer and he was personally coached by Harada when preparing for the filming. He commented that after seeing Harada's life story, many people should be inspired to do more for themselves.

In addition, Murata Ryota, the gold medalist for the boxing middle class during the London Olympics, will be making his acting debut as a practice student at the gym which Harada went to. Murata jokingly said that this should be his first and last appearance as an actor and hopes to work on his acting skills if there are such opportunities in future.

Source: Sanspo