The rematch you have been waiting.....3 days for

[( o Y o )]

Seems once for Akebono vs. Choi wasn`t enough for some as Chad was injured by the low kick that Kakuda landed.

The Korean site is reporting (and they`ve been very accurate in the past) that Akebono vs Choi has been chalked in for the June Hiroshima event as a superfight.

http://japanese.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2005/03/22/20050322000037.html

[Dado]

Oh yeah awesome!!

The last fight was close and this rematch has to happen.

Akebono is obviously an up and comer and a victory against the Korean GP champ will be his real initiation into the K1 talent.

[Jofeljoh!]

This could be the turning point for all the disappointment of the last few years in K-1. Hope Akebono can pull it off and make it to the final eliminations.

[Kamatari]

You have to give it to him. He's only been training for a couple of months and did okay. While I don't think he will turn heads or anything... For a guy with no striking base he did well. Remember last year? The winner of the Asia GP is bound to be ridiculed as was the case with Kaoklai. I hope K-1 uses him in bouts not under kickboxing rules because he does have some potential.

And NO, Choi vs. Akebono under sumo rules is not what I had in mind.

[Anjew]

What a great matchup again! Thank you K-1 management! I'm so excited, I can't wait to see them both in K-1 ring again! Maybe for K-1 tournament in Paris they can give us something as great as Montanha vs Butterbean 2 or at least O'Haire vs Gamlin?

Jesus Christ what's wrong with those people!!??

[bbbmarc]

funniest thing - they call it "super-fight", i know that is just an expression, but...

and K-1 is giving a great message to young fans; to become K-1 fighter - forget about skill, strength, training, sportsmanship...
just look like a monster freak and you we'll be our future "super-star"

[Paul T]

Well, at least it is not Choi versus Kaoklai.
I do not even want to see the first one again.

So many other cool match ups they could make, and
this is the stuff that they come up with. Good grief.

[Titan]

I read "O'Haire vs Gamlin" by Anjew and thought that's a pretty decent matchup by today's standards ... I guess we can conclude I've been desensitized.

[Kamatari]

and K-1 is giving a great message to young fans; to become K-1 fighter - forget about skill, strength, training, sportsmanship...
And irony rears its ugly head.

Choi's got all of those in my opinion.

[Eric Persson]

I stopped following K-1 (+90) after the last GP. Worthless judging, enourmous bias and a spectacle all around.

K-1 Max still has my attention though.

[K++s]

Hmmmm....

June...

That gives Akebono enough time to recover from any injuries he might sustain in his sumo match at wrestlemania with the big show....

[Eric Persson]

Posting news about Akebono is herecy.

[krs]

What a great matchup again! Thank you K-1 management! I'm so excited, I can't wait to see them both in K-1 ring again! Maybe for K-1 tournament in Paris they can give us something as great as Montanha vs Butterbean 2 or at least O'Haire vs Gamlin?

Jesus Christ what's wrong with those people!!??


shhht, K1 Paris is looking great so far, please don't bring bad luck!! lol

[( o Y o )]

To be fair to both Choi and Chad, they are both accomplished athletes in their own feild.

Choi really hasn't been given a shot yet, but with a bit of training, "could" possible be able to compete at least at a higher level than Akebono and Sapp. Watching him fight two sumo dudes and a 78kg mouse on speed doesn't really give him much of a chance to show what, if anything, he can offer to the sport.

[MexicanFighter39]

Sweet, This Is The Most Anticipated Rematch In K-1 History.... Just Gives Me More Reason To Dislike K-1 More.

[Lord Gaul]

K-1 has such a large talent pool to choose from. They literally have guys all over the world including myself that can't wait for the oppertunity just to be in a preliminary match. Yet some how they feel the need to give top billings to these bumb freek shows. I still love K-1 because talent wins out in the end, but if they focused on new talent insted of new gimic they would be in good shape.

Giving that Mark Selby guy a shot is a good move. Carter Williams made a name for himself by getting the same spot two years ago. This is the type of marketing move they need to be doing.

[krs]

Just "talent" don't sell enough.

I really think 80% of people looking at K-1 are just waiting for entertainement.
The largest is the audience, the less you'll have specialists waiting for technical fights.
And it's clear K-1 wants the largest audience possible.

That's why I think the most interseting fights will now be in smaller events around the world, where people fight hard to make themselves a place for Japan.

[( o Y o )]

^^^ good post.

The Korean GP`s top rating fight was Akebono vs Choi, and it alone pulled a 21.8% figure.

Thats about 30 million homes!!

[bbbmarc]

money makes world go around... but somehow i'd like to separate sport from pure entertainment... specially if someone who is here to entertain us could be seriously hurt
sometimes K-1 rings looks like that Celebrity Death Match show which was aired on MTV...

is there anyone who cares about combat sports, and who would rather see akebono-choi, than (f.e.) badr hari-paul graham?

[Kamatari]

That's why I think the most interseting fights will now be in smaller events around the world, where people fight hard to make themselves a place for Japan.
Bad choice of words or? Because Japan has those events as well. K-1 is the leader of the market and while I think kick (Muay Thai) overall is somewhat stable right now, the popularity really dropped and events are mostly relegated to Korakuen (not that that's a bad thing).

It's a bit of a sensitive subject, because most of the fighters from the gym I'm affiliated with all have second jobs and even though some of them are stars in the promotion they fight in, all of them compete because they love the sport and not for money or fame.

Unless you were talking strictly K-1, because then I understand. ^^

You're right about the whole larger than life thing and how it's entertainment foremost with the fighting as an added bonus. I hope to see the popularity of kick rise again, but I think the uninitiated fan will expect other things by watching K-1 and once their success formula runs out things won't be looking good. Though those smaller promotions all have their own (hardcore) fans so they will be fine. All those guys are talented, I'm almost thinking it's the fact that they're too talented or normal. One example is Yoshihiro Sato, the other guys are too small so K-1's got a semi-excuse there.

[krs]

a little off-topic sorry:

I was only talking about K-1 events, I imagine there's other things on Japan but I don't know them enough.

But K-1 isn't a sport, it's only the name of a show that sets people from different fighting sports.

I think if we want a sport with better judging and no freaks we'll have to look at regular Thai Boxing Championship, KickBoxing etc... They have federations, skilled competitors, tounaments. But they're simply not popular enough to pass regularly on TV or PPV.
So it also means less money, and fighers who can't live only from their fights.

The best stuff would be to have a new fighting federation (or a new management in K1 but I wouldn't count on it) that focus on more serious fighters, more serious judging, and would try to sell "talent" to the wide audience to make enough money to pay the fighters well.

After all the recent bad judging I wouldn't be surprised if some of the "recently stolen k-1 fighters" accepted to join such organization if they can be regularly well paid.

to come back to the thread: I think Choi and Akebono (who I respect as a yokozuna) have their place in K1 as "marketing products", and if they can fight each other as much as possible and don't biase/screw the other fighters during the tournaments I'll be glad.

[Kamatari]

Thanks for clarifying, krs.

But K-1 isn't a sport
That's why I highlighted each category separately. I rank PRIDE and K-1 events as combat sports entertainment with the emphasis on entertainment. There's no other way I can stomach it.

I think if we want a sport with better judging and no freaks we'll have to look at regular Thai Boxing Championship, KickBoxing etc... They have federations, skilled competitors, tounaments. But they're simply not popular enough to pass regularly on TV or PPV.
So it also means less money, and fighers who can't live only from their fights.
Our kickboxing/MT leagues all have their own rankings and such and if you're a Japanese kick (with an unfortunate slice of puroresu on each) fan then picking up Gaora, J-Sports and Samurai-TV isn't a bad thing. But they're not as big as K-1 and also have to live with a smaller budget, but I won't hesitate to say that their fighters are comparable (MAX) or superior to (heavyweight) those in K-1.

But (and back on topic) as shown by the ratings Choi is a proven tool of stepping into a new market and in their standard one, however instead of reverting to normal cards they'll probably be continueing to focus on high levels of absurdity.

[krs]

I wish I could have these Japanese channels then. Here we're stuck with either avi files or very late Eurosport shows : )

I predict for Choi a career "a la Sapp".
Without the Hollywood part maybe.