Really, ercan? Many Kyokushin and Japanese Kickboxing sources state that the "Devil" Kurosaki was a very strict and dedicated coach. I haven't heard of this. I've heard of two main "styles" for Japanese Kickboxing: one that uses the same rules in Muay Thai (except for scoring) and the other style utilizes Muay Thai and Karate with wrestling, judo, and headbutts. No one's saying that Kobayashi is the best, but in the 90's, he was formidable. I just hope retires in style. Hiroki Ishii looks like he has potential, but he should be fighting in Thailand, not entering K-1 MAX.
Shingo, I've heard that the Japan Boxing Commission has recently banned boxers from competing in other fight sports (i.e. Kickboxing/Muay Thai, MMA). Is this true?
Nobuo Nashiro convincingly beat Martin Castillo for the WBA super-flyweight belt (no one really gave Nashiro that much of a chance to win) and Hasegawa twice beat Veeraphol (a great champ), but Koki Kameda gets 40% ratings?! I thought Joichiro Tatsuyoshi bothered me, but the Kameda brothers are something different.
How was Takeshi's Shootboxing back in the 1980's and early 1990's? I've only been watching in the past few years, and the earliest Shootboxing fight I saw was when Hiroshi Yoshitaka won S-Cup in 1995. I know that the "Standing Vale Tudo" rules were not in effect back then. They did use throws and takedowns, but no standing submissions, right? That brings up another point, Ramon Dekkers commented that he felt Japanese fighters were overrated, and stated that he fought and knocked five of them out. However, it was actually only three (Hiroshi Yoshitaka, Minato Taro, and Kenichi Ogata) since Akeomi Nitta fought to a draw (Ramon said that he considered Nitta to be a strong kickboxer), and we really can't consider the fight with Kohiruimaki to be that much of a loss for Ramon. Ouch, usually the Dutch have respected the Japanese, at least back then. Though Ramon has only fought 5 Japanese, it kinda shows how far Japan has slipped up when a fighting legend like Dekkers remarks that way. Let's hope it doesn't stay like this...
I was wondering about the Tagami-Urquidez fight, this makes sense now. Good point about Ishii testing the waters in Nevada. The NSAC referees they have nowadays are not making good calls. Challid using a headbutt against Hikaru Hori and receiving an 8-count?!
BTW, I've tried to ask this before, but no one was able to answer yet. It's a little off topic. Why did Jan Plas leave Mejiro Gym, and give it to Andre Manaart? Does Jan Plas still teach? He was a great coach, I mean look at what he did for Rob Kaman. I mean he learned from Kurosaki, and then formed the Netherlands' branch of Mejiro. Mejiro for quite some time was considered to be one of the best gyms, and was regularly beating other competitors like Harinck's Chakuriki Dojo. (If this is too complicated and/or private for forum discussion, then ignore this question.)