K-1 WORLD GP 2023 JAPAN ～ K’FESTA.6 ～ [12-03] Results

[K1power]

[K1power]

[K1power]

Something that just occurred to me; is it possible that we've reached the end of geo-blocked Abema streams?

[K1power]

This is starting in a few hours.

Pretty sure I'll miss a big chunk early on as I need some sleep lol.

[vampiro]

A lot of Japanese having their eyes opened to Latescu now after that performance lol. They assumed he was unbeatable because of the Sattari fight. I think Tanigawa had the right approach, but is too weak and susceptible to punishment. I also think Sattari is just not big enough and too much of a boxer. I think his style plays into Latescu's.

Mahmoud posted a tweet of him with the openweight grand prix trophy, so he may still be in K-1. I'd rather he move on. There is nothing for him other than Latescu, even now that they seem to be scouring Europe for talent. I wasn't to impressed with Hoshi either.

[K1power]

Anyone googling Latescu would have seen he couldn't put away ~45 year old Poturak not too long ago.

Latescu is still young and not a bad fighter by any stretch, but he isn't the next Aerts either.

I wonder who they'll have him fight next. K-Jee redemption arc?

[K1power]

Results
65kg Title Fight
Yamato Tetsuya defeats Hayashi Kenta by Unanimous Decision

62.5kg Title Fight
Yoza Yuki defeats Asahisa Taio by Unanimous Decision

70kg Title Fight
Wajima Hiromi defeats Jomthong Strikergym by Extra Round TKO

69kg Catchweight Fight
Noiri Masaaki defeats Dzhabar Askerov by KO R1

70kg Super Fight
Jordann Pikeur defeats Abiral Himalayan Cheetah by KO R3

Super Heavyweight Super Fight
Kyotaro defeats Ishii Satoshi by Unanimous Decision

57.5kg Title Fight
Gunji Taito defeats View Petchkoson by Majority Decision

55kg Title Fight
Kaneko Akihiro defeats Komphet Sitsarawatser by Majority Decision

55kg Super Fight
Masashi Kumura defeats Masahiko Suzuki by Unanimous Decision

57.5kg Super Fight
Yasumoto Haruto defeats Toma by Unanimous Decision

67.5kg Super Fight
Ayinta Ali defeats Takumi Sanekata by Unanimous Decision

90kg Super Fight
Stefan Latescu defeats Tanigawa Seiya by KO R2

90kg Super Fight
Hoshi Ryunosuke defeats Akira Junior by KO R3

Women's 52kg Title Fight
Kana defeats Funda Alkayis by KO R2

Women's 45kg Title Fight
Sugawara Miyuu defeats Phayahong Ayothaya Fight Gym by Majority Decision

54kg Super Fight
Yossila Chor. Hapayak defeats Ishii Issei by Unanimous Decision

60kg Super Fight
Egawa Yuuki defeats Kang Yoon Sung by KO R2

60kg Super Fight
Oiwa Tatsuya defeats Ozawa Kaito by KO R2

65kg Super Fight
Pakorn P.K. Saenchai defeats Suzuki Hayato by Majority Decision

75kg Super Fight
Matsukura Shintaro defeats Igor Silva by KO R2

75kg Super Fight
Vinicius Dionizio defeats Jinbo Katsuya by Unanimous Decision

Prelims
55kg Fight
Eruto defeats Kosuke by KO R2

57.5kg Fight
Hashimoto Raita and Yamamoto Riku fight to a draw

64.5kg Catchweight Fight
Ueno Kuto defeats Ryugi by Unanimous Decision

www.k-1.co.jp/schedule/16595/

[K1power]

Quick thoughts:

Only got a VPN working on the tail-end of Hoshi/Akira Jr. so I have like 11 fights to catch up to.

The good
+ I ended up thoroughly enjoying the event, but it was really the 5 main fights that elevated it for me. I was a bit mixed on the portion before it. To be fair I missed a lot of the early fights and KO's.
+ Yamato vs. Hayashi was a great back and forth brawl.
+ This event once again hammered home how much better Japan/K-1 is at promotion, production and event coverage. Especially with Glory 83 coming right before it.
+ Asahisa vs. Yoza was a good technical brawl, even if it turned a bit sloppy in the third.
+ Great lowkick TKO by Wajima, over Jomthong - a Thai - at that!
+ Noiri's destruction of Askerov. Not sure I ever saw Askerov go down like that.
+ Pikeur vs. Abiral was great, especially considering how a lot of people had kinda written Pikeur off. Abiral really is too tough for his own good.
+ Peter Aerts in the crowd/ring! Very fitting considering K-1's 30th anniversary.
+ K-1 edging out the Rise rival fights 2-1 without any BS was good to see. I hope there'll be more of these collaborations.
+ Taro-kun! Finally caught him live again.
+ Kumura vs. Suzuki was great.
+ Yasumoto vs. Toma was fun.
+ Ayinta did well to beat Takumi. Sneaked in some really nice high knees. Thought the scoring was reasonable.

The bad
- Despite missing like the first 10 or so fights, the event still felt long to me. I'll keep saying it; cut down your events, K-1!
- While it was cool to see Kyotaro win, it was another painful reminder of how old and out of shape he's gotten. Ishii didn't look any better, though.
- Gunji getting the nod over View was a bad decision and the look on his face said it all. Hate this shit still happens on a regular basis. It's not like Japanese fans are on board with this.
- Kaneko vs. Komphet was a bit disappointing. People were debating the result on Discord, but I could see Kaneko taking it based on the third round.
- So frustrating to see Tanigawa giving it away when he was well on his way to beat Latescu who was hanging on for dear life.

Some additional notes
* Guess we still have to use VPN connections for the time being. Such a pain.
* Didn't notice in the lead-up to this that Adam Bouarourou was replaced by Kang Yoon Sung
* At first I thought the viewership number had gone down, but I misread; 161万 (161 man) is not 161k, but 1,61 million. That's great, considering Takeru and a bunch of other names are gone.

I'll have some extra comments after catching up on the early portion of the card.

[vampiro]

I don't think there is a world where K-Jee makes a comeback tbh. I think he is far too weathered at this point. Questions about his dedication (he's a drinker) were there before he lost the title to Karimian.

I am happy with those numbers. I can't remember if it was the August or September shows from last year, but one of them had over two million live viewers at one point. The appetite for kickboxing is still there, thank goodness.

Are Yuki Egawa's opponents any good? Everytime I have seen him fight, his opponents is either beating him or he is thrashing them. What is his level and when does he step back up to where he once was? He was being primed for the future ace spot a few years ago. His sister is a bigger star than he is now lol.

[K1power]

Too bad about K-Jee. He's one of the Japanese cruisers I actually like and he had a great 2020. Sure, he lost the title in the rematch with Sina, but bounced back with that nice lowkick finish over Aitaka. His 2022 really wasn't good and while I hope he can bounce back once again, your background info on him doesn't fill me with optimism.

As for Egawa's recent opponents, Shimano was good at least (he holds a win over Oiwa who Egawa lost to, for example). Kang Yoon Sung was a (late?) replacement for Adam Bouarourou, so you could at least wonder about his preparation and I'm not sure about Chatchai Maki. That said, Egawa is on a three win fight streak including some finishes, which is a big improvement over his three fight losing streak that spanned from 2020 to 2022. Also, to be fair, two of those losses were close fights with Tsubakihara who isn't exactly a can, just unliked for whatever reason. So all in all I'm not sure what's next for Egawa, but his confidence for something bigger should be back.

[K1power]

Crazy.

[K1power]

All the fights are on K-1's YouTube channel now.