Tape Delay Kickboxing 13: Krush.146 - 2023-02-25
A very good Krush show for February, including a Fight of the Year-candidate semi-final. No spoilers, free on Youtube!
This series shall, where possible, allow you to watch the shows in order as if you were watching live, without spoilers.
Beyond Kickboxing event calendar: https://beyondkick.com/schedule
Krush.146 - 2023-02-25
Korakuen Hall, Bunkyo, Tokyo, Japan
Krush’s February show features Krush Bantamweight champion “Rebellious Spider” Koji Ikeda on top attempting to make the second defense of his title. Ikeda is the 8th champion in the division and no previous champion has made more than a single defense of the title before losing or vacating it. Koji won the title in March over Kazuki Miburo then defended it in July by knocking out Noda Aoi with a right straight. In December, he entered the grand prix for the inaugural K-1 bantamweight championship, but after defeating Ambi Nsue Avomo in round one, Ikeda lost a decision to runner-up Issei Ishii. The Rebellious Spider has declared that he will knock challenger Kiri Matsutani out with body punches. “I’ll knock you out in agony.” If he can defend his title, Ikeda looks to get a revenge match with Ishii as well as one with the tournament winner, K-1 world bantamweight champion Tomo Kuroda, who also beat Ikeda in a tournament two years ago.
Challenging for the title this time is 21-year-old “Young Southpaw Artist” Kiri Matsutani. Unlike Ikeda, who has spent his entire career in the K-1 organization, Matsutani fought in DUEL, NJKF, RISE, and even once in Shoot Boxing before arriving at Krush with a 14-2 record. Kiri is 3-1 in Krush, and though he earned this title shot by beating Taiyo Shirahata back in October, his loss last March was to Noda Aoi, the unsuccessful previous challenger to Ikeda’s title. Matsutani is known to cry after his fights, and he has asked that if he wins, if they would please give him a handkerchief.
K-1 Basics: Most fights are 3 3-minute rounds with a single 3-minute extra round if it’s a draw. 3 knockdowns in a round is a TKO, or 2 if it’s a one-night tournament fight. Judges are fairly liberal with 10-10 round scoring, so you will often see fights scored 30-30 or 30-29. Official rules state that the judges must pick a winner at the end of the extra round, including looking back on the earlier rounds of the fight if necessary. Kickboxing rules: knees are legal, elbows are not. Clinch must be broken with an immediate strike or the ref will separate, and fighters are not allowed to pull the neck of the opponent down to deliver a strike.
Fights highlighted in bold were ones that I found particularly entertaining.
Preliminary Fights
Kakeru Nagano (2-0, 0 KO) vs. Ryuki Yasuo (2-0, 1 KO) (114)
Seiya Nakazawa (2-1-1, 1 KO) vs. Takuya Kojima (3-7, 1 KO) (117)
Main Card
Kento Ito (11-12-4, 3 KO) vs. Tsubasa Horii (8-6-3, 6 KO) (138)
Yashazaru (4-3, 1 KO) vs. Jinku Oda (3-0, 2 KO) (154)
Sho Uchida (3-7-1, 2 KO) vs. Eiki Kurata (6-4-1, 4 KO) (121)
Sora Suizu (4-4-2, 0 KO) vs. Kensuke (6-1, 5 KO) (127)
Keito Okajima (6-3, 1 KO) vs. Ryuto (7-13-4, 0 KO, Bigbang 126 lb champion) (127)
Shoya (16-9-2, 7 KO) vs. Kenshin Kodama (4-1, 1 KO) (138)
Begin Yoshioka (12-4-2, 1 KO, former Krush 117 lb champion) vs. Yusei Shirahata (12-4-1, 1 KO, former KNOCK OUT-RED 114 lb champion) (117)
Kona Kato (6-4, 3 KO, former Krush 149 lb champion) vs. Koki (10-6, 4 KO) (149)
Semi-Final: Tomoya Yokoyama (13-4, 7 KO) vs. Phetsamui Shimura (186-42-6, 43 KO) (132)
Main Event: Krush Bantam Title Match: (C) Koji Ikeda (9-4, 5 KO) vs. Kiri Matsutani (17-3, 7 KO) (117 Title)