Chris John

Yohannes Christian "Chris" John (born 14 September 1979) is an Indonesian former professional boxer who competed from 1998 to 2013.

Chris John was born as Yohannes Christian John in Banjarnegara, on 14 September 1979.

He is the second son of four siblings of Johan Tjahjadi (real name: Tjia Foek Sem) who is of Chinese descent and Maria Warsini.

Boxing has been a part of John's life since his childhood.

John's father was a former amateur boxer in Indonesia.

He introduced boxing to his sons, John and his younger brother Adrian, at an early age of 5.

John's Father inspired him by regaling with stories of hard fought battles and triumphant victories.

Given the choice to fight or pursue other sports, John chose boxing and became an amateur champion in Banjarnegara.

In 1997, Chris caught the attention of renowned boxing trainer, Sutan Rambing.

Sutan recruited John into his gym and relocated John to Semarang, a city in Central Java.

John turned professional in 1997 and was known as "Thin Man" before he proclaimed his new nickname "The Dragon" that he now uses.

In his first professional fight, John won by knockout, beating a local fighter Word Kanda.

John was given the opportunity to fight hard-hitting Oscar León of Colombia for the WBA featherweight title on 26 September 2003 in Bali.

John was The Ring's #8-ranked featherweight in the world (and #10 pound-for-pound), while Oscar was the #5-ranked featherweight in the world and #5 pound-for-pound.

This was Oscar's second title fight in his career.

His first, losing to then WBA featherweight champion Derrick Gainer in a twelve-round split-decision.

While both fighters were in their mid 20s, Oscar had several physical advantages over John: an inch in height and 5 inches in reach.

John won by split decision in a 12-round match to win the WBA Featherweight title.

After defeating Osamu Sato in Tokyo, Japan, John was given the opportunity to fight Jose Rojas of Venezuela in Tenggarong, East Kalimantan.

The fight result was concluded as a technical draw because accidental head clash in round 4.

John was deeply cut, and Rojas was slightly cut.

Rojas entered as the challenger after Derrick Gainer refused to sign contract with the promoter.

He held the WBA (Super) featherweight title from 2004 to 2013, with his near decade-long reign being the second longest in the division's history (after Johnny Kilbane).

During his reign, John defended the title against 16 boxers, the second most in featherweight history (after Eusebio Pedroza).

Chris "The Dragon" John is the fourth Indonesian boxer to win a world title, following Ellyas Pical, Nico Thomas and Muhammad Rachman.

Sutan served as John's trainer till 2004 and soon after parted ways when John won his first major world title.

In 2005, John split with trainer Sutan Rambing prior to Derrick Gainer Fight.

Preparing for this bout Chris joined Harry's Gym in Perth, Australia, where he is currently trained and managed by Craig Christian.

Five months after the fight with Oscar, Chris went on to defend his WBA title to former champion Derrick Gainer.

Heading to the bout, Derrick was favourite to take the title he lost 2 years ago to Lineal Champion Juan Manuel Marquez.

It was considered to be an important fight for both men.

Despite scoring a first round knockdown, Derrick Gainer's attempt to once again win a world featherweight title failed at the Britama Arena Sport Hall in Jakarta, Indonesia.

John won the match decisively by 12 round unanimous decision(118-109, 118-111, and 118-110).

In the year of 2006, quadruple champion Juan Manuel Márquez challenged Chris for his WBA featherweight championship.

Coming into the bout, Marquez fought to a draw against Manny Pacquiao.

In his 6th bout, the reputation of Chris John Rose when he knocked out the national featherweight Champion in a 12 rounds bout, Muhammad Afaridzi.

John was knocked down twice in round one, but he managed to reverse the situation by knocking Alfaridzi in round 12.

According to Chris John, his nose was bleeding profusely resulting from a broken nose that occurred in the 1st round.

Following the win over Dae-Kyun Park, Chris captured the PABA Featherweight title from the.

In 2013, John announced his retirement from boxing, following his only career defeat to Simpiwe Vetyeka.