2004 Headlines

Kyokushin Headlines - 2004

Spectacular victory for Kyokushin
The Tokyo Budokan arena witnessed a ground breaking event in a spectacular K-1 vs Kyokushin match up that pitted seven Kyokushin fighters against seven K-1 fighters competing under both K-1 and Kyokushin rules. The top billing on the card was Francisco Filho vs reigning K-1 World Champion, Remi Bonjasky of Holland. In a close fight Filho downed Bonjasky with a punch in the third round that made him take an eight count and this was enough for Filho to gain a famous win by decision.
	Another Brazilian Kyokushin superstar Glaube Feitosa KO'ed Aristar Ofreim with a punch in the first round to win his bout and Russia's Alexander Pichkunov, who is looking more of a complete K-1 fighter every time he steps into the ring, knocked out Seth Petruzelli in the second round to win his match. Also Makoto Akaishi defeated Maverick by 2nd TKO to complete a clean sweep for Kyokushin under K-1 rules. In addition to this there were three fights under Kyokushin rules, Kentaro Tanaka was victorious over Hanse Nijman via a disqualification and Ewerton Teixeira defeated Peter Mystrovich via decision. Russia's Lechi Kurbanov took on the 150kg Big Fam of the USA and won by ippon with one of his famous ushiro mawashi geris that sealed a spectacular 7-0 victory for the Kyokushin fighters. There were also a number of Kyokushin fighters fighting each other under K-1 rules. Igor Peplov beat Hajime Moriguti by TKO in the second round whilst fellow Russian Maxim Dedik beat Joji Hibino by unanimous decision. Armenia's Artur Oganasian defeated Masayuki Fujita in a tough fight by decision and Fabiano da Silva won against Sveto Dekovic by first round TKO. Spain's Alejandro Navarro looked in superb form as he knocked out Taichi Furuta.

Tanaka hold s of Russian challenge to win all Japan	Tsukakoshi triumphs
Kentaro Tanaka (below right) won the 36th All Japan Tournament (IKO 1) in an exciting event that saw Russian fighters once again show their quality but the title ultimately staying in Japan..	Takayuki Tsukakoshi claimed victory in the 36th All Japan Tournament (IKO 2) after defeating Naohiro Nomoto in the final.
Tanaka triumphed after defeating Tadakuni Tokuda in an uneventful final, Tokuda was very lucky to see him self in this position after a very dubious victory over the very strong Mikhail Kozlov who had looked in unstoppable in the previous rounds. Tanaka's semi final victory was over the superb Maxim Dedik who had looked awesome in reaching the last four but lost to Tanaka in just one round by another questionable decision. The remaining fighters in the top eight were middleweights Makoto Ikemoto and Hiroyuki Kidachi, plus Kenshin Morimura, and Russia's Darmen Sadvokasov who had caused a shock by knocking out out one of the pre event favourites Atsushi Kadoi.	Reigning middleweight champion Kazuhito Yamada claimed third after a fortunate and very dubious victory over one of the pre evnt favourites and two time champion Norichika Tsukamoto and Sotoshi Niiho once again reached the last four. Also reaching the last eight were middleweights Yoshitaka Sato and Tsuyoshi Takezawa.	Photo Coming Soon
Other big names included Russia' Andrey Stepin, who lost out via a Genten Ichi, Armenia's Artur Oganasian who lost to Osamu Shiojima after an illegal face punch and Spain's Alejandro Navarro who lost to the 120 kg Hideki Tokumoto.	The return of one of the best lightweight fighters of all time in Kou Tanigawa after an absence of 5 years from competition saw him reach the last eight also.
Iran dominate in Isesaki City	Habraszka completes Euro Double
Despite nearly 30 nations competing it was who fighters from Iran dominated the 8th World Tournament (IKO 3) held in Isesaki City, Japan as they took the top 3 positions in what was undoubted the largest podium positions with both all three fighters well over one hundred kilo's. The eventual champion was Hadi Azikhani who took the top prize with Hassan Nazemi second and 1999 European Open Champion (IKO 3) Arash Sharifi third. Another surprise saw Haidar Mohammed of Iraq make up the last four. Apart from the Iranian team the other strongest nation was predictably Russia as three of their fighters; Andrey Noskov, Alexander Ibragiumov, and Anatoly Boronnikov all finished in the last eight. The remaining fighter to reach the last eight was another Iranian Eissa Oghani.	Poland's Krysztof Habraszka completed a unique double as he won the European Openweight Championships (IKO 1) in Warsaw, Poland, to add to his European Heavyweight title that he won earlier in the year. He defeated Romiania's Nicolae Stoian in the final after defeating former champion Sylwester Sypien in the semi finals. Spain's Alejandro Navarro reached the last eight in this competition for the second time in the last 2 years and was joined there by Ukraine's Semen Garan, Karol Cielsuk of Poland and reigning champion Alexandre Rodrigues of France.

All Japan Triumph for Czech Sokup		Business as Normal for Teixeira
Jan Sokup of the Czech Republic, who currently trains with World Chammpion Hitoshi Kiyama in Japan, caused a major upset by winning the Super Heavyweight Category of the All Japan Weight Tournament (IKO 1) after beating the very strong Russian fighter Andrey Stepin in the final.		Brazils Ewerton Teixeira retained his Americas Cuptitle for in what was his fourth successive victory in this competition. He defeated fellow countryman and ever improving Eduardo Tanaka in the final.
	Another Russian fighter Oleg Lukyanenko finishing third and Yoshitaki Uchida fourth. Yuuki Fukui won the lightweight title for the second time in four years after beating Tomohiko Matsuoka in the final with Makoto Ozaki third and Yoshinori Nagano fourth. Former All Japan Champion (IKO 3) Takamitsu Sakurai took the middleweight title the title ahead of Makoto Ikemoto with Russia's Anzor Abastov third and Yoshikazu Satoyama fourth. In the heavyweight section Kenshin Morimura triumphed with Yuji Kogure second, Masataka Ino and Yoshitatsu Beppu third and fourth respectively.
Tsukamoto back on top		Diogo Silva completed a Brazilian top three in an event so often dominated by the South American nation and former European champion, Marek Kosowski of Poland, took the fourth place prize. The top eight was made up of many strong fighters with the excellent middleweight Andrews Nakahara and former finalist Marcos Furlan of Brazil, Canada's Johnny LeBlanc and former All Japan Heavyweight Champion Naoji Mikoshiba. The very strong fighter Fabiano Da Silva of Brazil won the best spirit award but exited the event following a very dubious decision.
Norichika Tsukamoto won his first tournament since returning from his lengthy ban by clinching the heavyweight title at the 21st All Japan Weight Championships (IKO 2) after defeating Hideaki Koizumi in the final. Last years champion Takayuki Tsukakoshi finished in third with the 2002 champion Naohiro Nomoto fourth. The lightweight section saw a repeat of last years final with Kensaku Yamamoto taking on Daisuke Komiyama. This time Yamamoto took the honours to win a staggering sixth title, with former Champion Kenji Hirano finished third with Norikazu Tokuda fourth. The middleweight section surprisingly saw Kenta Mori defeated in the semi finals which left Kazuhito Yamada and Manabu Yasumoto to battle it out for the title with Yamada eventually coming out on top.

Shimajiri wins inaugural event

Uzunyan, Noskov & Peplov win in Yamburg

Japan's Masaake Shimajiri has won the inaugural Kyokushin Rengokai World Championship (hosted by World Kyokushin Union) held in Shizouka, Japan, after defeating former IFK Russian Heavyweight Champion Anzor Shikhabakhov in the final with compatriot and former British Open Heavyweight Champion Alexander Ibragiumov claimed third place with Jiri Onoue of Japan in fourth.
The top eight was made up entirely of fighters from the Japan and Russia with the remaining fighters being Hiroshi Sugiyama, Yasumichi Kikuyama, reigning IKO 3 European middleweight Champion Takeshi Miyagi and reigning British Open Heavyweight Champion Timofei Tsyganov of Russia.

The IFK Russian Open was held in Yamburg, Russia and attracted many of Russia's and the former Soviet Republic's top fighters as well as some high class fighters from across Europe in what was a great spectacle for the crowd in the far reaches of Northern Russia.

The heavyweight section was won by reigning IFK World Heavyweight Champion Igor Peplov (below) who knocked out Alexander Ibragiumov, who was third early this year in the Kyokushin Rengokai World Championships, with a jodan hiza geri for ippon in the final. Third place was shared by Great Britain's Chris Seal and Tahir Nasypiev. Home fighter Andrey Noskov won the middleweight title with Armen Hachatryan second and former Russian middlweight Champion Akbolat Appaev third along with Ivan Zhepin. Finally the lightweight section was won by the superb young fighter Roman Uzunyan from St. Petersburg with Anzur Emuzov second, and reigning British Open Champion Vladimir Kostenko and Roman Lugovoy third.

Gorokhov makes History

Habraszka retains European title

At the 14th Russian Championships (FKR-IFK) Alexei Gorokhov (below centre) of Nizhny Novograd retained his middleweight title and joined former IFK World Chmapions Oleg Florin, Maxim Dedik and Jakov Zobnin as fighters who have won the title on three times occassions. Gorokhov defeated team mate Roman Mukhutdinov in the final with Nalchik fighters Artur Tilov third and former champion Akbolat Appaev fourth.

The European Championships (IKO 1) held in Riesa, Germany, saw Poland's Krzysztof Habraszka retain his heavyweight title after beating Russia's Igor Titkov in the final. Two hugely experienced fighters, Pablo Estensoro of Spain whos was second in last years event and Poland's Piotr Banasik shared third place.

Romania's Lucian Gogonel defeated Ukraine's Volodymyr Mashov in the middleweight final to add this title to his two lightweight crowns. Spaniard Javier Lezcano was third once more along home fighter Otto Megrelishvili in third.

Poland's Piotr Moczydlowski won the lightweight title after beating Vusal Ismailov of Ukraine in the final

St. Petersburg's Roman Uzunyan who was fresh from his victory in Yamburg won the lightweight category after defeating another former champion Vyacheslav Lukjanov of Ekaterinburg in the final. Again strong showings from fighters from Nalchik saw Eldar Argashokov take third and Samat Zhangurazov fourth. Sergey Mihaylin went one better than his runners up position from last year as he won the heavyweight title after beating the giant Ekateinburg's Vladimir Danileyko in the final. Dmitriy Savelyev and Konstantin Konyaev both of St. Petersburg claimed third and fourth place respectively.

Radovan Bosko of Czech Republic and the very strong Artur Babaev of Russia , who had to withdrew with injury, shared third. There was a shock in the semi final of the super heavyweight section as Russia's Sokrat Suleymanov dropped France's reigning European openweight champion Alexandre Rodrigues in the semi final with a punch. Suleymanov then defeated European openweight vice champion Valentin Krastev of Bulgaria in the final whilst Germany's Eduard Wallmen took the other third place.

Kozlov edges Peplov on wood

he 10th Edition of the Oyama Cup held in Khabarovsk, Russia, attracted it strongest ever field as 126 fighters battled for the title. Former All Japan Heavyweight champion Atsushi Kadoi reached the last 32 before going out after an extension to the irrepressible Maxim Dedik. Dedik then took another major scalp as he defeated Brazils' Sergio Da Costa in the last 16.
	Spanish heavyweight champion Alejandro Navarro again looked in good form but had the arduous task of facing Igor Peplov in the last 32 and found himself on the end of Peplov's now trademark hiza geri jodan that earned the Russian an ippon. Peplov then looked in control as he dispatched two time Russian heavyweight Champion Darmen Sadvokosav by a unanimous decision to reach the last eight. The quarter finals saw four time Russian Super Heavyweight Champion Mikhail Kozlov continue his impressive progression as he beat the 110kg Japanese fighter Takumi Sato and Maxim Dedik throw everything he had at reigning Russian Middleweight Champion Nurmamed Mamedov but was unable to get the decision and lost on weight. Peplov looked comfortable and used his size advantage well as he defeated the hugely experienced Vsevelod Mokhriev and Andrey Stepin also used his 25kg weight advantage to beat fromer champion Sergey Semenov by a unanimous decision.In the first of the semi finals Peplov was too strong for Mamedov and got the decision after one round.
The other semi final was a classic encounter as Stepin faced Kozlov, the fight was even until suddenly in the second extension out of nowhere Kozlov landed and axe kick on the head of Stepin that knocked him out and a stretcher was required to carry him off. The final was an tight affair and the fighters could not be split, however after two extensions Peplov knew the inevitable was on the cards as Kozlov was awarded the title having broken more boards.

Champions retain Euro Titles

Home wins in Britain for Stringer & Seal

At the European Championships (IKO 2) held in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, three
of the four the four categories were won by the defending champion.
Bulgaria's Dimitar Popov defeated Lasha Khachaporidze to retain his lightweight title and win the vent for the third time in a row. Azerbajian's Elnur Salomov and Lithuania's Vytautas Viscius third. Darius Gudauskas retained his heavyweight crown by defeating Ukraine's Vladyslav Zhyr with fellow Ukrainian Sergiy Slynko third along with another Bulgarian in Dimitar Trampov. The Super Heavyweight section finished with the exact same podium positions as the previous year with Lithuania's Donatas Imbras defeating Hungary's Daniel Torok in the final with Dane Benno Rassmussen and Arturas Mazeliauskas third once more. The newly crowned European Champion was in the middleweight section as the excellent Jacoeb Groenhof of Holland won the title by defeating Denmark's Christian Christiansen in the final. Andzei Milevskij of Lithuania and Florin Barbanta of Romania shared third place.

Darren Stinger and Chris Seal became the first home based winners of
the British Open for four years by winning the Lightweight and Heavyweight sections respectively. Stringer defeated Poland's Sebastien Stachon the a classic final that went four hard rounds. Stachon previously defeated Kenny Mortin in the semi final and squeezed through on boards against the very strong Mark Goodwin the quarter final. Darren Chanagasubay took the other third place position but was unable to fight after injuring himself in his fight against Holland's Rene Stigter. Former Middleweight champion Chris Seal defeated the irrepressible Paul Travers in another final that went four rounds to win the heavyweight section. Saied Hussien and Belgium's Sven Vermeulen shared third place in this section. The middleweight final saw Kenny Jarvis bidding for his third title against reigning European Champion (IKO 2) Jacoeb Groenhof. This was another close final that went all four rounds with both fighters trading heavy blows throughout the fight. Groenhof, however edged the last round and took the title. Wai Cheung and Chris Odunukan both overcame tough fighters from at home an abroad to share third place.

Four the score for Kozlov

Liberation success Shared

Mikhail Kozlov won the Russian Championships (IKO 1 - Isakov Group) for the fourth time in a row after he triumphed by tameshiwari against Alexander Pichkunov in Super Heavyweight section. Darmen Sadvokasov retained the Heavyweight title after defeating Sergey Uvitsky in the final and the lightweight section was dominated by fighters from Perm who took all four places as three time former Russian Champion Marcel Murakaev was triumphant, Yuri Chuchkov second, Alexander Afanasyev third and Dmitry Startsev fourth. Khabarovsk's Nurmamed Mamedov improved on last years second place to win the middleweight section after beating Maxim Bukalov of Novokuznetsk in the final.

The third edition of the Liberation International Tournament in Kuwait saw fighters from four separate continents win their four respective categories. Japan's Yuzo Suzuki defeated home fighter Abdullah Al-Banwan for the lightweight title. The excellent Spaniard Javier Lezcano continued his success from last year by taking the middleweight crown. The experienced South African fighter Juhann Herbst defeated another impressive Spaniard in Pablo Estensoro to take the heavyweight title and Michael Martinez of the USA took top spot in the super heavyweight section.

Chris Seals Diamond Trophy & another Goodwin for Mark

The IFK Belgian Open held in conjunction with Ashihara Belgium in Antwerp was a spectacular event with fighters from 19 different countries taking part with a 5,000 Euro Diamond first prize. Welsh lightweight Mark Goodwin was again outstanding as he won the lightweight section after dropping Belgium's Roberto Proost in the final. This category heralded further success for British fighters as the excellent Darren Stringer and Darren Chanagasubay shared third place. The powerful Nicolae Dascalu of Romania won the middleweight section after Holland's Jacoeb Groenhof had to stop in the final due to an injury and England's Miguel Fernandez returned to the venue of his European Championships (IKO 3) win from 2003 to win the Heavyweight section after a hard final against Belgium's Carlo La Torre. Chris Seal, also of England, knocked out Holland's Anthony Klein after only 15 seconds with a superb axe kick in the final of the super heavyweight section to take the title. The winners of the various categories were then drawn to fight each other to determine who would win the diamond. Due to injuries both Goodwin and Fernandez could not take part and second placed fighters from the categories were present instead. At nearly midnight and an eight minute battle Seal finally defeated La Torre to deservedly win the Diamond prize.

Famous five for Mihailin	Home wins for Lopez and Navarro
Sergey Mihailin of Moscow triumphed for the fifth time in the heavyweight category of the Moscow Open by defeating Alexei Kiushkin in a repeat of last years final with Dmitriy Savelyev of St. Petersburg taking third place. Another of IFK World Heavyweight Champion Igor Peplov's students from St. Petersburg; Alexander Erokhin, retained his middleweight title after beating Andrey Bakushin in the final with Mikhail Kazuto of Novoginsk third. Moscow's Konstantin Balandin claimed his fourth straight title in the lightweight category in another repeat of last years final that saw him defeat St. Petersburg's Roman Uzunyan.	The Spanish Open (IKO 1) saw home fighters Sergio Lopez defeat Holland's Haitze Idzenga to win the middleweight section and Alejandro Navarro win the heavyweight section by defeating compatriot Alberto Dillana. Hungarian fighter Andras Grof took the lightweight crown after beating Jorger Aruasi in the final.
	Monasso regains Dutch Open weight crown
	Holland's Dominic Monasso won the Dutch Openweight Championships for the second time by defeating Dirk Jonxis van Weel in the final with Cas Gerritsen third.

Gejadze and Dericke retain titles	More Success for Imbras
The French Open (IKO 2) saw Georgia's David Gejadze retain his middleweight title after beating France's Johnny Desmedt in the final. Home fighter David Dericke won the lightweight title once more as he defeated Holland's Edwin Van Zetten, and Anthony Klein, also of Holland won the Heavyweight title.	Reigning European Super Heavy Heavyweight champion (IKO 2) Donatas Imbras was again in Good form as he won the Lithuanian Open. Compatriots Darius Glodenis and Linas Jonika won the heavyweight and lightweight titles respectively with the impressive Julius Klaskausas taking the middleweight crown.

Khudiakov & Collin reign in Denmark

Maiden titles for Marki and Otte

Russia's Vasily Khudiakov and Sweden's Jimmie Collin retained their lightweight and middleweight titles respectively at the Danish Open (IKO 2). Khudiakov beat Denamrks' Kim Holm in a repeat of last years final and Jimmie Collin beat compatriot Anreas Almen in the middleweight final. The heavyweight final was an all Russian affair as Ivan Berdnikov beat Maxim Shevchenko.

Holland's Gyorki Marki; lightweight and Rennie Otte; middlweight, won their first Dutch Open titles (IKO 1). Berry Stal won the super heavyweight section that was his fourth Dutch Open victory with three coming in different weight categories. The remaining title was won by Hungary's Larant Paksi as he won they heavyweight section in a good event for Hungarian fighters who picked up 3 podium places overall.

Salva & Sanchez win in Valencia	Travers wins after epic
The IFK Spanish Open held in Valencia was a great event marred by some poor judging. Juanjo Salva won the lightweight final after getting an ippon against Britain's Kenny Mortin, but was lucky to be there after a bad decision in the semi final removed Welshman Mark Goodwin who had always looked the stronger fighter and looked like he was on his way to another title. Spain's Daniel Sanchez was a deserved winner of the middleweight section after knocking out Swiss fighter Stefan Hofer in the early rounds and taking out another Swiss fighter; Mario Pavlovic, in the final with a ushiro mawashi geri gedan.	The British Regional Tournament that was held in just two weight categories & the saw the crowd witness some great matches. Paul Travers won the heavyweight title after beating Kenny Jarvis in an epic final that went four rounds and was Jarvis's first defeat to a British opponent since 1998. Saied Hussein, who had a real scrap with Jarvis, finished third along with Richard Cassella. In the middleweight section a repeat of last years semi final saw Lee O'Neill edge out Michael Dvorak in another fight that went the distance and was a split decision. Chris Odunakan won the other semi final against Giovanni Sacci and then beat Lee O'Neill in the final to win the title.
Donov takes plaudits in Tyumen	Galipeau and Zimmerman strike Gold
At the 8th Oyama Cup (IKO 3) that also a selection for the World Tournament in November, Andrey Donov; last years British Open middleweight runner up, won the event with Alimbek Konakbiev of Tyumen second and former Perm fighter Sergey Pavlov third.	The seventh edition of Mas Oyama's Gold Cup (IKO 2) IFK Canada fighter Mikhail Zimmerman win his second lightweight title in three years and third overall with fellow IFK Canada fighter Yannick Galipeau retain his middleweight crown. Canada's Robert Poirier won the heavyweight title.

Vedapodagom second French title	Success for Abe in Spain
Jean-Luc Vedapodagom won his second French Championship (IKO 1) middleweight title as was on the podium for the sixth successive year. A surprise in the heavyweight section saw Yannick Gazeuse triumph with Stéphane Berfeuil winning the lightweight trophy.	Japan's Tetsuya Abe triumphed in the lightweight section at the Spanish Open (IKO 2) in an event that saw former lightweight champion Alberto Morras win the middleweight title, Miguel Garcia the super lightweight title and Pedro Juan Reig the heavyweight title.