KEIJIRO MAEDA WINS K-1 HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE

It’s been a tumultuous year for the K-1 heavyweight championship, and that trend shows no sign of abating following the shocking ascension of Keijiro Maeda to the throne.  Maeda stunned the live crowd at the Yokohama Arena by violently dispatching Melvin Manhoef in the semifinals and then outlasting Gokhan Saki to win a one night tournament to fill the vacant K-1 heavyweight title.  Maeda became the first Japanese fighter to hold the K-1 heavyweight crown, but that’s the least improbable thing about his victory.

Maeda wasn’t really even supposed to be involved in the tournament, but took the opportunity to participate on short notice when scheduled semi finalist Chalid De Faust was unable to make the trip to Japan.  At only 22 years of age, and with less than two years of professional experience most expected Maeda to be in over his head despite a solid 14-1 record and victories over top names like Mighty Mo and ‘Musashi’.  Maeda didn’t do much to change this line of thinking heading into the tournament, as he told the press on several occasions that he was ‘scared’ of semifinal opponent Manhoef. 

Once the bell rung, however, there was nothing vaguely timid about Maeda’s performance.  If he had any fear of his opponent as he’d suggested to the press he quickly sublimated it in the ring as he stood toe to toe with the compact, powerfully built Manhoef and traded power shots.  Maeda clearly had the height and reach advantage, but found himself backed up by Manhoef’s solid work to the body and a bruising left hook.  Manhoef then wobbled the Japanese fighter with a big right hand, but as he went ‘for the kill’ and started to pursue Maeda he was caught off balance and leaning in to a perfectly place short uppercut.  Manhoef crashed to the canvas facefirst, and while he barely managed to beat the count the referee saw that he was in no shape to continue and quickly waved off the fight.

While Maeda returned to the dressing room after just over two minutes of work, the second semifinal match was contested between Gokhan Saki and Tyrone Spong.  After three highly tactical, evenly contested rounds Saki broke through in the K-1 mandated ‘extra round’ to earn a TKO victory and a spot in the final against the wild haired Japanese upstart. 

Although Maeda was clearly the ‘fresher’ fighter heading into the final, few in the arena thought he had a chance against the tough Dutchman by way of Turkey he was to face for the heavyweight crown.  There was something of a conventional wisdom that Maeda had a weak chin (despite having never been stopped in his K-1 career) and that Saki would ‘expose’ him.  After an evenly contested first round, Maeda began to take over as he stood toe to toe trading with Saki—and getting the best of his foe with a busier workrate and stinging combinations.  This pattern would continue in the third round, with Maeda trading punches with Saki and getting the better of these exchanges.  Although Maeda won both the 2^nd and 3^rd rounds on the SAVSCI scorecards, the always inexplicable K-1 judges had the fight scored a 30-30 draw across the board after three rounds.   The ‘extra round’ saw more of the same, with Maeda peppering Saki with more multipunch combinations.  Although his workrate had slowed from earlier in the fight, his ‘extra round’ performance was sufficient to convince two of the three judges to award him the round and the majority decision victory.

On hand to watch the event was the former K-1 heavyweight champion, Badr Hari.  Hari was stripped of his title following an unsportsmanlike display in the 2009 World Cup Final, though he appears to have made amends with the promotion.  Hari is scheduled to fight monstrous Semmy Schilt in May, with a title shot at the new champion very likely for later in the year.