September 24, 1881 - Kenji Kanō
His place on this site rests less on the combat sports he helped build than on his roots in organized crime, which shaped how early professional fighting in Japan was structured and controlled. As both a yakuza figure and a promoter, Kanō occupied a space where underworld influence and athletic spectacle reinforced each other, a pattern that would mark combat sports promotion in various countries well into the twentieth century.
From Wikipedia
Kenji "Pisuken" Kano (嘉納 健治, Kanō Kenji, September 24, 1881 – October 30, 1947) was a Japanese yakuza and boxing and mixed martial arts promoter, the founder of the International Jūkken Club (国際柔拳倶楽部) which promoted Jūkken matches between judo practitioners and boxers. He was also the founder of the Dai Nippon Boxing Association (aka Dai Nippon Kentōkai; 大日本拳闘会). His promotional activities was instrumental to the popularization of boxing in Japan. He was the cousin of Jigorō Kanō, the founder of judo.
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