Friday, 24 May 2013 08:08

A couple weeks ago, WBC Muay Thai Japan announced an October 2nd card headlined by Tetsuya Yamato taking on WBC Muay Thai World Champion Jomthong Chuwattana, as well as Erika Kamimura vs Denise Mellor and a WBC Japan Lightweight Title fight between Rashata and Hiromasa Masuda. It seems as though WBC Japan is looking to set up a big event with as many title fights as possible in the near future, as this event has been subtitled "Path to the Championship" and will now feature 2 more WBC Japan Title fights and 3 "playoff" matches that could possibly be #1 contender bouts, all of which contain promising, young talent.

First, WBC Japan Flyweight champion Naoki Otsuki will defend his title against WPMF Japan Flyweight champion Ryuji Kato. Otsuki was recently on a 4 fight winning streak before being upset by J-NETWORK #6 flyweight Hiroyuki Yamamo by split decision in July.

The other title fight announced is a match between current Super Lightweight champion Seiji Takahashi and J-Network Super Lightweight champion Yusuke Sugawara.

The first of the playoff bouts is a Super Bantamweight fight between Shootboxing 55kg champion Ryuya Kusakabe and #1 ranked NJKF Super Bantamweight Rookie. Kusakabe was on a tear since leaving the K-1 Koshien system, racking up 7 straight wins before losing in the finals of the Krush 55kg Tournament to Shota Takiya. Rookie put himself in a match for the vacant NJKF Super Bantamweight title by defeating Shinya Haga and will face Hiroshi Senchaigym for that title. The winner will probably face current champion Genji Umeno who is set to take on Thai Utideto Rukupurabato at It's Showtime Japan 3 this Sunday.

The next playoff bout is a Bantamweight contest between WPMF Japan Super Flyweight champion TO-MA and NJKF #2 ranked Bantamweight Kojiro. TO-MA was riding a 5 fight win streak which included him picking up the M-1, J-NETWORK and WPMF Japan Super Flyweight titles until he lost to Arashi Fujiwara at It's Showtime Japan 1. Afterwards, he vacated his J-NETWORK title. Kojiro is currently on a 4-fight losing streak. If TO-MA wins, he will likely face current champion Arashi Fujiwara for the title. However, if Kojiro scores the upset another playoff bout would seem to be a good idea, possibly a rematch against Noboru Yamamoto who is ranked #1, Takuma Ito who is ranked #2 or Hiroyuki Yamano, all of which would be interesting rematches.

The final bout announced will feature one of Japan's most promising prospects and recently crowned NJKF Lightweight champion Keijiro Miyakoshi taking on J-NETWORK Lightweight champion Akihiro Kuroda. Miyakoshi beat former NJKF champion Ikki in a rematch in July, winning by a wide decision. Kuroda was riding a 2-fight losing streak with losses to HIROYA and WBC Japan Super Lightweight champion Seiji Takahashi but just defended his title against Fire Harada in Harada's retirement match. The winner will likely face the winner of the Lightweight title match between Rashata and Hiromasa Masuda.

Friday, 24 May 2013 08:08

The IGF is a pro wrestling promotion ran out of Japan by former New Japan Pro Wrestling head and MMA pioneer Antonio Inoki. It features his "brand" of pro wrestling, which is a hybrid of real fighting and the theatrics and "booking" (read: scripted nature) of pro wrestling. In the end what it yields is the high drama of pro wrestling with the grit, violence and impact of a real fight. That style goes far back to catch-as-catch-can wrestling and Japan was king of the "shoot-style" with the early UWF, early Pancrase, RINGS, UWF-i and U-Style. Inoki's last show was an eclectic mix, featuring Jerome Le Banner against Kazuyoshi Fujita, Yuichiro "Jienotsu" Nagashima against pro wrestling legend Masahiro Chono and Peter Aerts against fallen sumo Shinichi Suzukawa.

Chono vs. Jienotsu

Peter Aerts vs. Shinichi Suzukawa

Jerome Le Banner vs. Kazuyoshi Fujita

Friday, 24 May 2013 08:08

It's Showtime owner Simon Rutz took to Facebook today to announce a plethora of big names for It's Showtime's January 28 mega event. Among the fighters confirmed for the event are Badr Hari, Gokhan Saki, Daniel Ghita, Hesdy Gerges, Tyrone Spong, Rico Verhoeven and Ben Edwards. Quite the lineup right there. More fighters and match-ups will be confirmed soon.

So far, it's already evident that It's Showtime is stacking the card big time with all their stars. It's Showtime hasn't had any meaningful heavyweight fights this year in terms of rankings besides when Daniel Ghita fought Hesdy Gerges back in March.  Rutz has said that the card will feature all super fights. With all these big names on deck, I'd hope that they would be fighting each other. Based on rumblings within the kickboxing community, it sounds like it may just happen, which would really make these "super" fights.

With tickets going on sale starting October 15th, a safe assumption could be made that actual match-ups could be announced in the coming weeks. Be on the lookout for more news here at LiverKick.com.

Friday, 24 May 2013 08:08

Elite Boxing are quietly establishing themselves as quite a name in the Muay Thai world. With their first event in Russia only two days away and another in Germany on the 17th, things are looking good for the promotion.

Elite Boxing established their Russian subsidiary, Elite Boxing Russia recently and are already kicking things off with an "Elite Fight Night" series event on the 8th. Stanislav Bukhlov, the company director quickly made big moves, acquiring the Russian promotion Ice Storm. Ice Storm is set to be rebranded as Elite Fight Night Russia. The format will stay the same as when it was under Ice Storm, in the same venue and same city at the Tyumen Circus Arena in the Russian city of Tyumen.

Also, in another good move for the company, all events held under the Elite Boxing Russia banner will be filmed in high definition and "distributed to 180 countries around the world through Elite Boxing’s network of broadcast partners, including ESPN/Star Sports and Eurosport." Anytime Muay Thai can get on television is good for the sport, as it definitely lacks exposure to more eyes.

Here's the fight card for Elite Boxing's Russian debut on September 8th:

And here's the full press release:

So far from the outside looking in, Elite Boxing is building a strong brand. With their Thailand vs. Challengers and Elite Fight Night series being held regularly, more hopefully start to take notice. I wouldn't be surprised to see Elite Boxing start picking up bigger name fighters for their events if they can garner success from their expansion into new territory. They've already picked up names for their events such as It's Showtime 95MAX champ Danyo Ilunga, who fights on their Thailand vs. Europe event on September 17th.

Friday, 24 May 2013 08:08

Today at Lumpinee Stadium the Super featherweight champ and current fighter of the year Kongsak Sitboonmee lost his crown to F16 Rajanont. Just last month the two met with Kongsak taking home a razor thin points win. The fight was so close that promotors booked an immediate rematch, and this time around things went F16's way as he took home a five round decision. 

The other title that changed hands was at 115 pounds. Knockout artist Chokprecha Kor. Sakooncher was bested by Wanchalong Sitzornong. This was also a rematch of a fight that took place in the past few months, Wanchalong won that fight too. This time however it was at 115 pounds where the previous bout was over the weight limit. 

Sagetdao Petpaiyathai however did not let his title go over to Singdam Kiatmuu9. The two have fought several times previously with both picking up wins. This time the current 135 pound champ got the best of the hard kicking veteran. 

In other results, Featherweight has its first champion since Kongsak Sitboonmee vacated. Penaik Sitnumnoi beat Mongkolchai Petsupapaan over five rounds. Nong-O Kaiyanghadaogym appears to be back as a top fighter. After winning a 1 day, 8 man marathon tournament last month he followed it up with a fourth round knockout of top 5 contender Sitisak Siangsimaewgym.