Yuta Kubo vs Abdellah Ezbiri Added to Krush.19

Last Updated on Monday, 14 May 2012 15:24 Monday, 14 May 2012 15:15

Written by Sam Sattler

Krush has announced that top 63kg fighter Yuta Kubo will be taking on French-Moroccan and WKN European Welterweight champ Abdallah Ezbiri in a 65kg fight at Krush.19 on June 8th. Kubo (32-4-1, 15 KO) has been in limbo the past year despite staking his claim at the top of the 63kg in Japan due to K-1’s absence. After winning last year’s K-1 -63kg Japan Tournament, Kubo has fought four straight foreigners with none of them providing much of a test, most recently stopping Charles Francois for the ISKA Light Welterweight title. He has won 9 straight, but until he faces a top competitor or is entered into a high-level tournament, it’s hard to get excited for Kubo’s fights. However, Ezbiri (27-4-0, 11 KO) may be Kubo’s toughest foreign test as he is on a hot streak at the moment, winning the WKN European title and the F-1 World MAX 65kg tournament last year, beating Tristan Benard, a former Kubo opponent, Vang Moua and Loris Audoui in the F-1 tournament.

Also added to the card are a 70kg fight between Team Dragon’s Masakazu Watanabe and Silver Wolf’s Yoichi Yamazaki, and a pair of 60kg fights. First, Junpei Aotsu, who lost in the first round of the recent Krush 60kg tournament, will be taking on Yuta Otaki, who won the reserve fight for that tournament. Lastly, another 60kg tournament 1^st round drop-out, Yuzo Suzuki, will be taking on Shota Kobe.

These fights join the previously announced Naoki Ishikawa vs Kan Itabashi, the 60kg Tournament final between Katsuya Goto and Fumiya Osawa and an exciting 3^rd leg WILDRUSH League fight between TaCa and Yukimitsu Takahashi. Despite the lack of name recognition on the card, it looks like it will produce some very entertaining fights.

EDIT: Team Dragon's Keiji Ozaki vs China's Ding Ning at 64kg was just added to this card

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