Yasuhiro Kido in Exhibition Bout at MA-KICK BREAK.9

Monday, 17 January 2011 12:17

Written by Dave Walsh

Yasuhiro Kido has had a really strange run of bad luck. Most of the Japanese 70kgs fighters that K-1 has brought up in hopes of becoming the next Masato have had this bad luck. Think about it; Yuya Yamamoto imploded against hard competition, Yoshihiro Sato has had mild success, but can never piece things together, Taishin Kohiruimaki is now retired due to injury and the list could probably go on. The truth is, living up to the high standards set by Masato is impossible. I know lots of people have only seen Masato's fights and don't get what there is to live up to outside of being a champion kickboxer. Masato had the talent, charisma and good looks that every fight promoter dreams of. His television appearances popped gigantic ratings, film directors wanted Masato to cameo in their films so they could put him on the promotional materials.

Enter Yasuhiro Kido. Kido tore up the scene from 2003 until 2007 when K-1 decided to call him up from RISE and MAJKF/MA-Kick (whatever you feel like calling it today). His first year of 2008 showed promise, where he won the World MAX Japan tournament and made it to the Final 8. Then came the 4-loss streak, followed by two wins in 2009 and another loss streak, 3, in K-1. Kido was returning to his roots this weekend, participating in MA-Kick's BREAK-9 event at Shinjuku-FACE (think tiny bingo hall). Kido was taking place in a Super Middleweight tournament when his opponent dropped out due to injury, so Kido took on Tiger Hiroshi in an exhibition bout.

So Kido will have to fight another day, at least he got to show off and promote his blog.

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