One of them wasn't even rough. In fact, in his first official K-1 tournament in Japan, he blitzed the field and set an all-new record for the least amount of time needed to defeat 3 fighters in 1 night. No small feat on it's own, but when you consider the record has been held by Peter Aerts for the past 11 years, it sheds some light on just how meaningful it could well be.
Rumanian fighter, Daniel Ghita, sliced through his 3 opponents in a combined time of just 5 minutes and 15 seconds. This not only breaks Aerts' record, but it shaves almost 1 minute and 30 seconds off it. What makes it even more interesting is that all three fighters fell to the same technique. The low kick.
Both his first opponent, John Love, and his second opponent, YUKI, were stopped at 1:28 of round 1. The sickly crack that was heard when he kicked Love's thigh for the first time made the entire audience sit up and grimace with pain. It took just half a dozen more to end the Welshman's night. The reserve fight winner YUKI fought back with everything he had, but he could do nothing to stop the inevitable.
In the other bracket Sergii Laschenko defeated "Son of Dracula" by unanimous decision in a hard-fought battle that managed to highlight just how tough both fighters are, and then knocked out Jerome LeBanner's training partner, Brice Guidon with a beautiful straight right that seemed to stretch the Frenchman's neck by several inches.
So we were left with the calm Rumanian low kicker vs. the all-round tough guy from the Ukraine. As tough as Sergii is famous for being, he was just no match for Ghita tonight. Sergii gave it everything he had and then some, and despite being knocked down 4 times (two of which were ruled slips) from low kicks, he got back to his feet and continued to attack until then end. And, then end came with another low kick.
With this win Daniel Ghita has earned himself one of the coveted positions in the Elimination to be held in Seoul in September. Only then will we really be able to see how he will do against a former best 8 fighter.
The other two tournament fights of the night were between "Mini Mike Tyson" Melvin Manhoef and decorated Mauy Thai fighter Ramazan Ramazanov. Despite the achievements Ramazan brought to the ring with him, he was simply no match for Melvin's speed and power. Within the opening few seconds, after a blur of flying fists, he was introduced to the canvas for the first time. After the restart Manhoef wasted no time, and even less energy when he doubled up a left hook and laid Ramazan out for the last time of the night.
Melvin barely broke a sweat in this fight, so he was in a great position to give Ghita a run for his money in the next round. Unfortunately, he cut open his shin to the point where the doctor stopped him from continuing. Under K-1 International Rules, the first option to continue is given to the opponent he defeated, however in this case as Ramazan had lost by knock out, the winner of the reserve fight had to step in and replace him. That was YUKI. He beat Prince Ali in a scrappy battle finally stopping the huge Iranian in the 3rd round.
The remaining fight was Meijiro Gym fighter Brice Guidon facing the 20-year-old "Next Peter Aerts" Rico Verhoeven. This was quite a technical battle in which both fighters gave their all, however considering the hype surrounding the Dutch newcomer, many fans were left feeling slightly under whelmed as he succumbed to the more experienced Frenchman by comfortable decision. It was invaluable experience though, and I am sure it will help the young fighter in future fights.
In other fights of the night we had a Super Fight between Peter Aerts and the former WBF Cruiserweight Champion, Yusuke Nishijima. In the press conference the day before, Aerts said that although he respects Nishijima, he will have no problems knocking the Japanese boxer out. I have a feeling he wasn't expecting the display of heart that Nishijima shared with the crowd tonight though.
Any shortcomings Nishijima has as a kickboxer he more than makes up for with shear guts and determination. If there were more Japanese kickboxers out there with his heart, K-1 may look very different today.
From the opening bell Yusuke took incredible punishment from the most experienced K-1 ring fighter. Low kicks, mid kicks, punches and of course high kicks. He got hit with everything. He fired back with his own too, and actually looked threatening a number of times. And, despite most punters out there feeling the fight would end within a few seconds, Nishijima took Aerts into the 3rd round. He eventually lost by the 3-knock down rule in K-1, but this is surely a fight any budding K-1 fighter should watch to get a true understand of what the spirit of this fighting sport is all about.
The other Super Fight was between the newly named Heavyweight champion KYOTARO, and another newcomer to K-1, Kyokushin fighter Jan Soukup. A lot of people considered this an easy fight for KYOTARO just to give him some more credibility for his recent wins to earn his strap. No one told Jan that though. Despite KYOTARO's constant clinching, Jan managed to eek out a slight edge in round 1 on the cards, and was doing well in the second with his hands before succumbing to one of those elusive punches KYOTARO has become famous for. After taking his 8 count he went into round 3 knowing it was make or break. KYOTARO also knew this was Jan's situation, and he took advantage of his opponent's eagerness to engage with a very short right punch to Jan's temple, knocking the young Czech out.
Yesterday, Events Producer Mr. Tanikawa urged the press to treat this event as they would have looked at a K-1 event back in 1993. A card full of barely known fighters, all determined to show anyone willing to watch that they truly are the best. The 4137 people in attendance today were actually fortunate enough to have witnessed such an event tonight.
If you weren't able to attend the event, check local listings to find out when it will be shown in your area. For those of you in U.S.A. don't forget to watch HDNet this Friday, August 14 at 9:30 PM E.T.
By Stuart Tonkin (click to see the article on the K1 Site)
