However, due to a costal cartilage fracture[2] Niida sustained from sparring, the fight would be delayed to April 7, 2007 ending in a split decision loss.
However, he visited the JBC (Japan Boxing Commission) two days later and apologized for his rant saying that he had just wanted to pat his boxer on the back.
[6] That is because the West Japan Boxing Association to which Takayama and Ken'ichi Yamaguchi belonged strongly urged reform of the system after they issued retirement notices.
[9] He won an IBF minimumweight title eliminator via a sixth round technical knockout at the Carnival City in Brakpan, Gauteng, South Africa in September 2010.
[10] He challenged Nkosinathi Joyi for that title at the Carnival City on January 29, 2011 after being postponed twice,[11] but the fight ended in a no-contest due to a cut on Takayama's head after an accidental head-butt in the third round.
[5] Takayama rematched Joyi at the Orient Theatre in East London, Eastern Cape after postponed four times[5] on March 30, 2012.
[17] A boxing writer for South Africa's SuperSport wrote that "Many ringsiders were of the opinion that the decision could have gone in favour of the challenger" on Fightnews.com[18] which was presented the WBA’s Website of the Year in 2010.
[24] Takayama defeated Mario Rodríguez via a unanimous decision with the scores of 119–109, 117–111 and 115–113 to be crowned the IBF mini flyweight world champion at the Estadio Francisco Carranza Limón in Guasave, Sinaloa, Mexico on March 30, 2013.
He registered with Nakazato Boxing Gym[28] to defend his title against Vergilio Silvano via a unanimous decision at the Bodymaker Colosseum in Osaka on December 3, 2013.