Saturday, 18 May 2013 21:59

Krush held the first two installments in of their Krush-EX series in 2012 this past weekend, a series which often features lesser-known fighters. The focus of the day portion was Nobuchika Terado’s return to the ring after being KO’d by 55kg champ Shota Takiya in just 70 seconds in January while the night portion featured the first two rounds of an 8-man tournament to decide 60kg champ Hirotaka Urabe’s next opponent.

In the day portion’s main event, ISKA World Super Bantamweight champ Nobuchika Terado successfully returned to the ring, cruising past Team Dragon’s Namito Izawa by unanimous decision on scores of 30-25 and 30-26(x2). Terado (28-8-1, 12 KO) scored downs in the first and second rounds and controlled the pace and range of the fight, showing he still has it despite his quick loss to Takiya. Terado has faded out of the division’s elite with his most recent losses being to Ryuya Kusakabe and Shota Takiya, but he can still serve as a high-level gatekeeper as he possesses some difficult matchups for rising fighters with his power and experience. A good matchup would be a rematch with RISE Super Bantamweight champ KENJI, though that will be difficult to put together as RISE has him fighting as often as possible. Izawa (7-1-2, 2 KO) did well to not get finished, but he really shouldn’t have been in there with Terado. Understandably, it’s a bounce-back fight for Terado, but it was a win-win for Izawa if he made it out of the first round, so kudos to him.

In other day-portion action, 70kg Krush regulars Takuro Moriya and Hareruya squared off with Moriya taking a unanimous decision. Former female pro wrestler Akari took her second fight in Krush, improving to 2-0 in the organization, defeating Yuzukari Sakamoto.

Now on to the night portion, where Yuzo Suzuki, Junpei Aotsu, Katsuya Goto, Fumiya Osawa, Yuta Dynamite, Takashi Nakajima and Makoto Morishige fought to make it to the finals of the 60kg tournament.

In the first quarterfinal, Takashi Nakajima squeaked by Kyokushin karate champion Yuzo Suzuki by majority decision on scores of 29-29 and 30-29(x2). In the second quarterfinal, Katsuya Goto took a hard fought decision over Yuta Dynamite (Yuta Takahashi) on scores of 29-28 and 29-27(x2), scoring a down with a right hook in the 2^nd round of what seems to have been a pretty good fight. In the third quarterfinal, Fumiya Osawa scored the tournament’s first stoppage with a 1^st round KO via right cross of Makoto Morishige at 2:06 into the round. In the final quarterfinal, Yuya (Yuya Fujii) edged out Junpei Aotsu, earning a unanimous decision on scores of 29-27 and 29-28(x2).

The first semifinal had a bit of a strange ending it seems, as Katsuya Goto dropped Takashi Nakajima with a right hook in the 3^rd round, but after Nakajima went down, he apparently closed his eyes, leading to the referee stopping his count and calling the bout, to Nakajima’s protest. Similar situations have happened in boxing before, and the bottom line is that if you appear unconscious or immobile to the referee, he has the right to stop the fight. In the other semifinal, Fumiya Osawa rose to the occasion and shut down Yuya, winning a unanimous decision on scores of 30-28 and 30-27(x2).

Of the two finalists, I’d say Katsuya Goto is the favorite and would stand the best chance against Hirotaka Urabe. Goto did well against Kizaemon Saiga and showed good defense, including the use of head movement, something few Japanese kickboxers tend to utilize consistently, and powerful hooks. He displayed those hooks again in the tournament, scoring a knockdown and knockout with his right, so training with Kazuhisa Watanabe appears to have given him a good boxing base. Goto is just good enough in the right places to capitalize on someone like Hirotaka Urabe’s flaws, but not good enough to be considered a favorite by any means. Fumiya Osawa was my pick of least likely to win the tournament, as he was 0-3-1 in his last 4 fights heading into the tournament, but I guess that shows how much I know. This final is a rematch of a fight from Krush.14 in December which went to a majority draw. The rematch will take place at Krush.19 on June 8^th while the title fight with Urabe is still set for Krush.20 on July 21^st barring injury or something of the nature.

Quick Results after the jump

Reports thanks to gbring and boutreview

Add a comment

Saturday, 18 May 2013 21:59

Thai Fight Pattaya went off without a hitch. To say that feels good, as there were a lot of questions going into the event about what would become of Buakaw Banchamek. Although there were reports that Buakaw might not be able to fight, Buakaw came out swinging both during and after the fight. He handily dispatched Rustem Zaripov in the second round before he gave an emotional speech to the crowd, talking about his troubles with Por. Pramuk and losing his mother recently, inviting his father into the ring to show support.

In other action Kem Sitsongpeenong made incredibly short work of Mickael Cornubet with his elbows opening up a cut that stopped the fight in the first round. Singamanee Kaewsamrit took a hard-fought decision victory over Sudsakorn Sor. Klimee whose mediocre streak continues. Sudsakorn never seemed to really throw himself into the fight at all, which cost him dearly against a hungry Singamanee.

Buakaw (TKO - R2) Rustem Zaripov

Singmanee Kaewsamrit (Dec.) Sudsakorn Sor. Klinmee

Kem Sitsongpeenong (TKO (Cut) - R1) Mickael Cornubet

Bernueng TopKing Boxing (Dec.) Chaz Mulkey

Chanaeak PK Muaythaigym (Dec.) Bibi Team Nikiema

Kemarat Sitjapae (Dec.) Mathias Sitsongpeenong

Roongroj Petchrungruang (Dec.) Danny Jittigym

Armin Matli (TKO - R1) Ibrham Chiahou

Saturday, 18 May 2013 21:59

Fight Code returned yesterday, this time in Minsk, Belarus and a bunch of hometown talent was on hand in both the Dragons 72.5kg tournament and prestige fights.

The Dragons 72.5kg tournament continued with four fights, most notably featuring Fight Code Dragons 2011 winner Yury Bessmertny, who defeated Edvin Erik Kibus by decision. Tatneft 80kg competitor Vitaly Nikiforov made the drop to 72.5kg and defeated Evgeni Telitsa by decision. In two other Dragons tournament fights, Dmitry Baranov defeated Maxim Smirnov by decision and Farhat Ahmedjanov defeated Tadas Jonkus by decision. All four winners move on to the Final 16 round that already includes Mustapha Haida and Enriko Gogokhia.

In prestige fights, Chingiz Allazov and Dmitry Shakuta both fought. Allazov is a rising star and Shakuta has been around for a long time at 77-81kg. Allazov is slowly moving up in weight and this fight against Dmitry Rudenko was at 69kg and Allazov ended up winning by decision. Shakuta's fight was at 81kg against Igor Ljapin and he scored a rare knockout, with a high kick in the third round.

Full results below:

Dragons 72.5kg tournament:

Yury Bessmertny def. Edvin Erik Kibus by decision.

Vitaly Nikiforov def. Evgeni Telitsa by decision.

Dmitry Baranov def. Maxim Smirnov by decision.

Farhat Ahmedjanov def. Tadas Jonkus by decision.

Prestige fights:

69kg: Chingiz Allazov def. Dmitry Rudenko by decision.

81kg: Dmitry Shakuta def. Igor Ljapin KO (High Kick) in Round 3.

Michal Krcmar def. Mansur Azerbiev by decision.

Valentin Slavikovsky def. Oleg Primachev by KO (High Kick) in Round 1.

Saturday, 18 May 2013 21:59

Yesterday in Torrelavega, Spain, two fighters from opposing tournament faced off in a 70kg contest. Abraham Roqueñi will be in the K-1 MAX Final 16 on May 27 and Albert Kraus will be in the Glory World Series Final 16 on May 26.

Roqueñi's hometown advantage was crucial in him getting the decision, as it was pretty controversial. I had Roqueni winning the first round but in the second round, a questionable knockdown was called on Roqueñi. If it wasn't for the knockdown, I probably would've scored the second for Roqueñi. Kraus took the third as he caught up to Roqueñi with his pressure. So yes, Kraus probably should've won with a 10-8 second round and a 10-9 third because of that knockdown that was scored. Of course, it was on Roqueñi's home turf and the event was organized by people with affiliations to him so he got the decision.

Also on the card, It's Showtime veteran Loren Javier Jorge defeated Vando Cabral of Portugal by decision. Loren will be fighting Amir Zeyada on July 21 for It's Showtime in Tenerife. Another It's Showtime veteran, Zeben Diaz, defeated Hichem Menaouine by decision. Like Loren, Zeben will be fighting on the same It's Showtime card, against Andy Souwer.

Full results below:

Abraham Roqueñi def. Albert Kraus by decision.

Loren Javier Jorge def. Vando Cabral by decision.

Zeben Diaz def. Hicham Menaouine by decision.

Fran Palenzuela def. Borja Pacheco.

Jonay Risco def. Jairo Diaz by decision.

Adrian Tabuenca def. Mourat Quatirou.

Saturday, 18 May 2013 21:59

Andy Souwer returned to the ring today in Japan at the shootboxing event "Road to S.Cup" act.2. It was Souwer's first "real" fight of the year, as he was supposed to fight at the Fighterzone show on February 25 that got completely messed up at the last minute. Souwer ended up just fighting in an exhibition match.

His opponent, Satoru Suzuki, was fresh off a win over Bovy Sor Udomson back in February. Souwer ended up winning in the second round after knocking Suzuki down three times. Souwer said that there was one "moment of weakness" in the fight where he was met with a right hand from Suzuki but after he stepped on the gas at the end of the first round. In the second round, Souwer said that his only goal was to make Suzuki leave the ring early. He used different techniques to force the knockdowns but said that his most effective techniques "once again" were his low kicks.

Souwer will be making some quick turn-arounds after this fight, as he already has two scheduled. On May 27 he'll be fighting at the K-1 MAX Final 16 in Madrid, Spain. On June 30 he'll be fighting Chris Ngimbi for the It's Showtime 70MAX World Title in Brussels, Belgium.

Saturday, 18 May 2013 21:59

The first "Total Carnage" event took place a few hours ago in Australia and results are starting to come in. Of course, Nathan Corbett, who ws partly behind the card, fought in the main event against Stephane Susperregui of France, with Corbett's WKN World Title on the line. Another WKN World Title was on the line as Frank Giorgi fought Tobias Alexandersson of Sweden at -69.9kg.

Nathan Corbett won a decision over Stephane Susperregui but from the sounds of it, it was a very tough fight for the man known as "Carnage." One account of the fight says that Susperregui was very tough and threw everything at Corbett, slipping all of Carnage's big shots. He even managed to cut Corbett, apparently. I didn't give him much of a chance, so props to Stephane Susperregui for putting up a good fight against one of the best in the world.

Frank Giorgi won a decision over Tobias Alexandersson. It's a good win for Giorgi, who bounces back form his loss to Buakaw at the Thai Fight finals in December. He'll make a quick turn around, as he's scheduled to face Steve Moxon on April 28. Moxon and Giorgo are the top 70kg fighters in Australia, Giorgi at Muay Thai and Moxon at K-1 rules so it should be a great fight.

Another good fighter out of Australia, Kym Johnson won the WKN Australian middleweight title in his fight against Brett Witton.

Saturday, 18 May 2013 21:59

The Tatneft Cup's final event of the 1/8 qualification stage took place in Kazan, Russia today. The participants were vying for the final spots left in the next round of the Tatneft Cup, the quarter finals. Some good fighters have advanced so far and that continued at today's event.

Most notably, at 70kg, Dzhabar Askerov knocked out Antoine Mandela in the second round to advance to the next stage. This was Askerov's third win in less than a month's time, an extremely tough task. He defeated Jeremy Sportouch on March 8, Maxim Vorovsky on the 23rd and now today's victory. Askerov has won the Tatneft Cup at 70kg for the past two years and is the favorite to three-peat.

Liverkick.com's #3 ranked light heavyweight, Hicham El Gaoui returned to the ring and took on Konstantin Gorokhov, a replacement for Dario Kadic. El Gaoui scored a rare stoppage win for himself, as Gorokhov did not come out for the third round. Also at 80kg, Amir El Mansouri defeated Parinya from Thailand by decision in an extra round.

At heavyweight, Martynas Knyzelis defeated late replacement Alexander Volobuev. In the second heavyweight fight, Saulo Cavalari, who qualified by winning the Tatneft Cup South America, knocked out Andrey Shmakov.

In another 70kg fight, Maxim Smirnov defeated Ravy Brunow in an extra round. Brunow also qualified by winning the Tatneft Cup South America. 

Full results:

70kg: Maxim Smirnov def. Ravy Brunow by extra round decision.

70kg: Dzhabar Askerov def. Antoine Mandela by KO in Round 2.

80kg: Samir El Mansouri def. Parinya by extra round decision.

80kg: Hicham El Gaoui def. Konstantin Gorokhov by TKO (Corner Stoppage) at the end of Round 2.

80kg+: Martynas Knyzelis def. Alexander Volobuev by extra round decision.

80kg+: Saulo Cavalari def. Andrey Shmakov by KO.

Saturday, 18 May 2013 21:59

RISE 87 took place at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo yesterday in an event that featured many of the promotion’s top fighters, and seems to have delivered in entertainment value. The card featured 63kg champ Yuki’s first title defense against Yuto Watanabe, as well as 55kg champ KENJI in a superfight against Shooto 52kg champ Mikhito Yamagami and 3 RISE vs China fights featuring 60kg champ Kosuke Komiyama, Erika Kamimura and Heavyweight champ Makoto Uehara.

In the night’s main event, defending Lightweight champion Yuki scored two downs in the 5^th round to storm past challenger Yuto Watanabe and win a close majority decision on scores of 45-45 and 46-45(x2). As he has been known to do, Yuki (31-13-1, 23 KO) started slow and was dropped in the 1^st roud by Watanabe (11-6-0, 3 KO), who dominated the first half of the fight and earned himself a sizable lead on the scorecards. However, Yuki began to turn the tide in the 3^rd and came storming back, punishing Watanabe in the 4^th round before getting two standing 8 counts in the 5^th that ultimately sealed the win for the champ and gave him his first title defense. This was Yuki’s first fight since last June’s K-1 -63kg Japan Tournament where he lost in the first round to Koya Urabe, but not before putting a beating on his lead leg which ultimately cost him the tourney. After the fight, I believe Yuki stated that he tore a ligament in his left foot, so there may be a bit of a layoff before his next fight which is unfortunate as Yuki is one of the sport’s most entertaining fighters. This is a tough loss for Watanabe, who earned a huge lead early only to squander it. This fight was his chance to fight his way out of mediocrity in the 63kg division after two straight wins, most recently against Shohei Asahara to earn the title shot and although he lost, this fight may boost his stock a bit.

In the co-main event, promotional Bantamweight champ KENJI struggled a bit, but bested Shooto Flyweight champ Mikihito Yamagami, earning a unanimous decision on scores of 29-25, 28-25 and 28-26. KENJI (20-4-0, 13 KO) scored a pair of knockdowns in the 2^nd round that gave him a substantial lead, but judging from the scores it seems like a rather pedestrian performance from him otherwise. Since losing to Shota Takiya in the semifinals of the Krush 55kg tournament, KENJI has strung together 6 straight wins, most recently trumping Thai Pajonsuk Por Pramuk at RISE 86 in January. If KENJI wants to take a step up in the division, his 3 targets should be Nobuchika Terado, Ryuya Kusakabe and Shota Takiya as he is 0-2 against Takiya and 0-1 against Terado. Kusakabe has a fight next weekend, while Terado’s next fight is on April 22^nd and Takiya’s in early May. Unless RISE orders a title defense against Ryuma Tobe, KENJI could be free to chase one of those 3 fighters in the near future. There is no shame in losing for Yamagami (1-2-1 KB; 7-2-0 MMA) who was fresh off of his knockout of Junji Ikoma in November to win the Shooto Flyweight title.

In a rather uneventful promotion, 60kg champ Kosuke Komiyama, Heavyweight champ Makoto Uehara and Erika Kamimura all took on Chinese competition, but the three took little over 2 minutes combined to finish their opponents, with Komiyama scoring a knockout at 1:21, Kamimura at 33 seconds and Uehara at just 22 seconds, all in the first round. While RISE has had as much success as Krush with foreign competition in the past, this attempt to replicate Krush’s efforts flopped pretty hard. This was all of these fighters’ first fights since the RISE 85 super-card last year and while they were likely set up to be winnable showcase fights anyway, none of them lasted long enough to showcase the fighters.

Nevertheless, let’s focus on the fighters. Komiyama (17-2-0, 10 KO) is riding a 6-fight winstreak and his most recent loss was a debatable decision to Keiji Ozaki in K-1. In those 6-fights, Komiyama took the RISE title from Kan Itabashi and most recently looked impressive against Sergio Wielzen in a fight that he won by stoppage due to a cut. Komiyama has been clamoring for a fight with Krush 60kg champ Hirotaka Urabe, but unless that fight is set up for Krush.18, Komiyama will have to wait for a while as Urabe is scheduled to fight the winner of an 8-man tournament in July.

Uehara (12-4-0, 8 KO) surprised a lot of people at RISE 85 by making it to the finals of the RISE HWGP, winning decisions over Stefan Leko and Jan Soukup. The most impressive thing was that Uehara, who had shown deplorable cardio throughout his career, managed to go 7 full rounds that night, winning in an extension round against Jan Soukup in the semifinals. He cut down to 90kg for this fight, which is probably where he should be as he is just under 6 ft and could see himself defending his title in a rematch against Kengo Shimizu, who he defeated in their first encounter by KO.

Kamimura (24-2-0, 13 KO) seemed unstoppable over the last 2 years, winning 13 straight, 9 by KO, and showed no signs of slowing down. Last summer she was set to face Shootboxing champ Ai Takahashi before Takahashi suffered an injury in training and was forced to pull out. Instead, she entered the 2011 Girls S-Cup Preliminary Tournament and stormed through the first two rounds before meeting Seo Hee Ham in the finals, where the two put on an extremely entertaining fight that Kamimura emerged victorious from. At RISE 85, she faced RENA in what was perhaps the most anticipated women’s kickboxing bout in recent memory and, despite being upset by MMA fighter Jessica Penne leading up to the bout, RENA won a razor-thin decision and derailed Kamimura. This quick KO puts Kamimura back on the winning track and she should be hungrier than ever, as Mizuki Inoue’s upset of Ai Takahashi has left the door open for a kingpin(queenpin?) to emerge. With Shootboxing planning to hold a Girls’ S-Cup this August, expect Kamimura, RENA, Takahashi, Inoue and Ham to all be involved and vying for the title of #1.

More results, quick results and pictures after the break

Photos and results thanks to boutreview and gbring

Add a comment

Saturday, 18 May 2013 21:59

The first Fight Code event of the year just ended, and Giorgio Petrosyan beat Artur Kyshenko by unanimous decision.

They met in the main event of the event, Petrosyan being the number one fighter in all of kickboxing and Kyshenko a top five fighter in the 70kg division. Many thought this might be Giorgio's toughest test yet, as Kyshenko is a huge fighter for the 70kg weight class, often taking fights far above the weight limit. Kyshenko has been top 5 for some time now. He was one of the few top fighters that Giorgio had never faced.

Petrosyan simply outclassed Kyshenko, putting on a masterful performance. It was vintage Giorgio Petrosyan, living up to his moniker of "The Doctor." Giorgio's counter punches threw Kyshenko off for the whole fight, leaving the Ukrainian fighter based out of Mike's Gym clearly rattled at points. Even when the fight turned into clinch grappling, Giorgio still got the better of Kyshenko, who was much bigger and stronger and can bully opponents.

Easily the best part of Giorgio's performance was his movement. He had Kyshenko looking clueless at times, taking angles, moving in and out. Giorgio would out-manuevre Kyshenko to such a great extent a few times that he basically had Artur's back. He would move in, throw the straight left and move right back out before Kyshenko could even get a punch off, missing by miles at times.

I've seen a lot of people say that they're "not impressed" by Giorgio's performance or thought he "didn't look good." I think that's crazy. Giorgio Petrosyan just completely shut down a top 5 fighter in the world and made him look lost for a large portion of the fight. It was truly a masterful display of technical skills to completely stifle Artur Kyshenko.

Saturday, 18 May 2013 21:59

The live broadcast of the Fight Code/Oktagon event featuring Giorgio Petrosyan vs. Artur Kyshenko has just started from Italy. Part of the card will be broadcast and we'll be providing all the live results. Full fight card here.

The event is being shown on Dolce Sport in Italy.

Results:

Chingiz Allazov def. Bovy Sor Udomson by KO in Round 1.

67kg: Iulian Imeri def. Filip Hryeniewicki by unanimous decision.

85kg: Yoann Kongolo def. Davide Mosca by TKO (Ref Stoppage) in Round 3.

72.5kg: Yury Bessmertny def. Cristian Milea by TKO (Corner Stoppage) in Round 3.

72.5k: Mustapha Haida def. Hunkar Kilic by unanimous decision.

70kg: Enriko Gogokhia def. Bruno Franchi by KO (Body Punches) in Round 1.

70kg: Giorgio Petrosyan def. Artur Kyshenko by unanimous decision.