Check out Yoshiki Takei’s incredible Grand Prix run and all the other action from K-1’s latest event.
K-1 returned for the June 30th weekend, for the first time since K.Festa’2 in March, with a card anchored around a great super bantamweight Grand Prix. The highlight performer of the event was undoubtedly K-1 champion Yoshiki Takei. Takei had established himself as the rightful king of the division over the last couple of years, but hasn’t received the attention given to the other two Japanese stars of the lower weight classes, Takeru and Tenshin Nasukawa. With Takeru injured, the GP was Takei’s first opportunity to shine as the main attraction of a card. And shine he did!
In the quarter finals, he ran through very promising 18-year-old Spanish kickboxer Alex Rivas—who was coming off a win over 57.5kg champion Yuta Murakoshi. Takei sent him down with body shots as soon as he started pushing the pace late in the first. Rivas beat the count, and smartly spit his mouthpiece hoping to buy some time. Unfortunately for him, however, he did it just as the referee restarted the fight, and Takei promptly sat him back down for a second count— a TKO loss in K-1’s tournament system.
The same fate awaited Shuhei Kumura, who struggled a bit more than he should have against Sadegh Hashemi in his own quarterfinal. Kumura went down from a spinning backfist under two minutes into the fight, and was finished by a beautifully accurate Takei right hook shortly after.
On the other side of the bracket, Shuhei’s brother – and Krush 55kg champion (Krush cards are sort of the equivalent of Fight Night cards for K-1, and winning the Krush title is generally a pass to make it on K-1 cards proper) – Masashi Kumura faced a very interesting test in Phetpangan Mor Rattanabandit. Phetpangan is ranked in the top 10 of the Rajadamnern Stadium, and was making his kickboxing debut.
Kumura put in a great performance, overwhelming the Thai with his boxing—eventually catching him with a right hand counter towards the end of the first, and finishing the job with another combo ending on a left hook. A disappointing result for Phetpangan – who I think has the style to have a good career in kickboxing, if he gets more opportunities – and unfortunately he likely won’t get a call back now.
In his semi final, Masashi took on Samvel Babayan, who earned his spot in the semis by winning a very fun brawl with 53kg Krush champion Koki. Once Masashi identified the left hook as the starter of every Babayan combo, he controlled his opponent behind his excellent jab—calmly feinting and building combos off of it. 3 rounds later, he’d clearly earned his spot to face Takei in the final, and get a chance to avenge his brother.
Masashi managed to keep Takei more honest with his boxing than his brother or Rivas did, but while he proved that he belongs to the elite at 55kg, Takei proved that he is among the best kickboxers in the world regardless of weight class.
Takei caught him with a left hand in the first that led to a count, but seemed more like an off-balance knockdown. However, in the second Masashi made a fatal mistake. He missed on a right kick, and followed through on a full rotation to recover his balance. Takei launched a right hook counter as soon as he saw the kick miss and, with Masashi giving his back, the hook hit him right in the back of the head. To make matters worse for Masashi, Takei brilliantly adjusted his follow up low kick, turning it into a high kick on the falling Kumura. All of which made the KO that much more devastating.
The finish led to some criticism, as the right hook clearly landed to the back of the head. But, in my opinion, Takei started to throw before Kumura turned his back, essentially giving him no choice. No matter the arguable legality, that was one of the most impressive tournament runs I’ve ever seen in my years of watching kickboxing. I don’t know if that will give Takei the stardom Takeru and Tenshin enjoy, but he rose to the occasion and there’s nothing more he can do in the ring to earn it.
Takei has an interesting challenge waiting for him in undefeated Akihiro Kaneko, who was injured and couldn’t take part in the GP, and the division is full of up and coming Japanese talent. However, after the last couple of years, it’s tough to imagine anyone currently kickboxing at 55kg beating Takei. I’d be very interested in seeing him against the very best in Thailand, like Kongthoranee Sor Sommai—but, while not completely impossible, that fight is unlikely to materialize anytime soon.
Non-GP action
In the night’s co-main event, 65kg champion Kaew Weerasakreck put his title on the line against the often spectacular Rukiya. Unfortunately for him, the Muay Thai kickboxer was (once again) the victim of what I call the ‘Japanese officiating special.’ Kaew should have been declared the victor after 3 rounds, but was sent to an extra round (which he probably won too, but he got a point deducted for clinching—and didn’t get the round on the cards anyway). The decision win for Rukiya was something of a robbery, but Kaew did himself no favors fighting the way he did and not immediately refraining from even seeming close to the clinch once he got (sort of unfairly) warned for it. Kaew has been fighting in Japan for almost a decade, and this is the third time he’s lost a decision in the exact same way. It doesn’t make it fair, but Kaew should know better by now than to turn the other cheek.
In the other title fight of the card, 57.5kg champion Yuta Murakoshi was lucky to escape with his belt against Huo Xiaolong—who deserved an extra round at the very least in my opinion. Murakoshi has been clamoring for a superfight with Takeru, but with lackluster performances like this one – and his non-title fight loss to Rivas – he doesn’t seem likely to get it anytime soon.
In other notable results, promising youngster Haruma Saikyo rebounded from 2 straight losses—dominating the very good Jorge Varela. Saikyo took the Spaniard to school, knocking him out with a beautiful knee in the third.
Also earlier in the night, Leona Pettas beat Kosuke Komiyama by second round KO. The result probably makes him a top 10 fighter at 60kg, though Komiyama doesn’t look quite the same since coming back from an injury. For Komiyama, the loss was one of the worst performances of his career.
Overall a decent card, the supporting fights were maybe not up to the very high standard K-1 has gotten its fans used to, but the Superbantamweight Grand Prix definitely kept its promises
Full results and links:
Yoshiki Take def. Masashi Kumura via KO, Round 2 – Super BW Tournament Final
Rukiya Anpo def. Kaew Weerasakreck via Dec. – 65kg Title Bout
Yuta Murakoshi def. Huo Xiaolong via Dec. – 57.5kg Title Bout
Minoru Kimura def. Cruz Briggs via KO, Round 1
Daizo Sasaki def. Fukashi via TKO, Round 3
Haruma Saikyo def. Jorge Varela via KO, Round 3
Yoshiki Takei def. Shuhei Kumura via KO, Round 1 – Super BW Semifinal
Masashi Kumura def. Samvel Babayan via Dec. – Super BW Semifinal
Tatsuya Oiwa def. Ryusei Ashizawa via Dec.
Leona Pettas def. Kosuke Komiyama via KO, Round 2
Fumiya Osawa def. Yuzuki Satomi via Dec.
Kaito Ozawa def. Takahiro via Dec.
Shuhei Kumura def. Sadegh Hashemi via TKO, Round 3 – Super BW Quarterfinal
Yoshiki Takei def. Alex Rivas via KO, Round 1 – Super BW Quarterfinal
Samvel Babayan def. Koki via Dec. – Super BW Quarterfinal
Masashi Kumura def. Phetphangan via KO, Round 1 – Super BW Quarterfinal
Yuta Hayashi def. Takaya Ogura via KO, Round 1 – Super BW Reserve Bout
Hikaru Terashima def. Jinya via KO, Round 1
Kazuma Takuda def. Kazuki Fujita via Dec.