Archive for the ‘Other’ Category

The All Japan Judo Federation has begun an investigation into the actions of a former director and a female judoka.  Both parties were left unnamed.  Allegations made by involved parties indicate that the director made an attempt to “kiss” and to “hug” the female judoka while in a Tokyo subway elevator.

Speaking on behalf of the All Japan Judo Federation, Noriko Mizoguchi revealed the allegations at a symposium on eradicating abuse in sports.

According to Mizoguchi, he met with the athlete on May 13th and her attorney.  The judoka is considering whether or not she wants to request the director to step down from his position within the Federation.

Sadly, according to her attorney, Masaki Sakaida, the woman went to superiors within the Federation to state what had happened when it happened, but nothing was done.  It was then that Sakaida reached out to Mizoguchi.

This is the 16th such case levied against the All Japan Judo Federation, which has been plagued with instances similar to this.  The All Japan Judo Federation has come under much heat as of late due to not only abuse allegations, but financial mismanagement by their chairman, Haruki Uemura.  Uemura declined to resign over the abuse scandals that have occurred on his watch, but finally agreed to step down, when the timing is right.  At writing, Uemura was still chairman.

Here’s the full press release:

On May 25, the LEGEND Fighting Show – the major event of the year in the world of combat sports, will be held at the Small Sports Arena “Luzhniki”.

LEGEND is a new format fighting show featuring recognized and future K-1 and MMA legends. The fighting contest will be presented as an integrated entertainment show with advanced visual technologies, and top level fighters as lead characters.

9 hard-line K-1 and MMA bouts will be held in the course of the Contest. For the first time ever Russian combat sports fans will be able to watch a challenging battle among the four world K-1 lightweight (71 kg) stars. The fighters will contend for the main cash prize of the night and the title of the First LEGEND Contest Champion.

The first semifinal will bring together Enriko Gogokhia, representing Ukraine and well known to the Muay Thai and K-1 fans, and the charismatic champion of Russia Dzhabar Askerov. Artur Kyshenko (Ukraine), the only K-1 Top-5 list fighter from the former Soviet Union republics, finalist of the K-1 most prestigious World Max tournaments, will meet a flamboyant fighter from Belarus Yuri Bessmertny, Fight Code winner. The winners of the two bouts will meet in the final on the same night.

The big hit of the night will be the comeback of MMA fighter Alexander Emelianenko, who intends to delight the fans with his dazzling performance.

Alexander’s opponent will be Bob “The Beast” Sapp, a U.S. fighter whose career included American football, mixed martial arts, kickboxing, and who at the outset of his career earned fame through his kickboxing duels with the repeat winner of the K-1 World Grand Prix Championships Ernesto “Mr Perfect” Hoost and his MMA bout with Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira, defending PRIDE heavyweight champion.

The audience will also see the super fight of the night between the legendary Badr Hari and Zabit Samedov. This coming bout will become Zabit’s rematch after his loss at K-1 Grand Prix last March in Croatia. Badr “The Golden Boy” Hari, a Maroccan-Dutch fighting out of the well-known “Mike’s Gym”, has to his credit victories over such big-name fighters as Alistair Overeem, Semmt Schilt, Peter Aerts, Ray Sefo, and the Korean giant Hong-man Choi who is known in Russia for his fight with Fedor Emelianenko. Hari is the WPKL Dutch Muay Thai champion, a two-time finalist of the K-1 World GP (2008, 2009), and a two-time It’s Showtime World Heavyweight champion (2009, 2010).

Along with the strong fight card, the audience will watch an unprecedented show: each fighter’s majestic appearance at 6 m above stage (a specially designed lift will take them down); impressive video installations, 3D mapping and replays of highlights on the largest projection screen in the history of fighting shows. Apart from music, Dolby Surround will make all the sounds on the ring (fighters’ blows, referee instructions) heard as if the audience is fully enwrapped in sounds.

LEGEND Fighting Show Fight Card,
May 25:

Reserve fight. K-1, 71 kg
Vyacheslav Borschev vs Alim Nabiev
Super Fight, MMA, 77 kg
Sergey Khandozhko vs Eduard Vartanyan
The Big 4 Semifinal. 71 kg
Dzhabar Askerov vs Enrico Gogokhia
The Big 4 Semifinal, 71 kg
Artur Kyshenko vs Yury Bessmertny
Super Fight, MMA, 77 kg
Alexei Nazarov vs Mindaugas Verbickas
Super Fight, K-1, +93 kg
Badr Hari vs Zabit Samedov
The Big 4 Final. K-1, 71 kg
Super Fight, MMA, +93 kg
Alexander Emelianenko vs Bob Sapp

THIS EVENT WILL BE BROADCAST LIVE ON USTREAM AND THE PPV ONLY COSTS $14,95!

START EVENT:

MOSCOW 19.00

CEST/ GMT 17.00

UK 16.00

NYC 11.00

LOS ANGELOS 08.00

DENVER 09.00

DALLAS 10.00

TOKYO 00.00 (SUNDAY)

MELBOURNE 01.00 (SUNDAY)

Nearly three years removed from ASTRA and over 10 years removed from retiring from competitive judo, Barcelona gold medalist, Hidehiko Yoshida, will make his return to competitive judo.

Yoshida informed the All Japan Judo Federation recently that he intends to compete in an event that is to be held in Okayama, Japan in June.  Okayama is a city located near Kumamoto City, the home of Masahiko Kimura.

The 43 year old Yoshida has spent 11 years away from the competitive judo scene, strictly competing in MMA.  He fought a retirement bout against fellow student Kazuhiro Nakamura to wrap up a very exciting, decorated MMA career.

Click the break to watch Yoshida compete at the Barcelona games

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Former K-1 World Grand Prix great Musashi has opened a new facility in Japan.

As one of Japan’s best kickboxers, Musashi enjoyed a stay at the top of the ranks for many years before succumbing to age and a new breed of kickboxer.  As a four time winner of the K-1 GP Japan, he certainly has the name power to go through with such, whether or not he has a customer base is a different question.

The gym will be located in Atsugi, Kanagawa prefecture.  It advertises “Fight, Fitness, and REFRESH” as it’s key goals, thus we are not quite sure if it will have a dedicated MMA program or not.

The gym will open on June 1st.

Kyoji Horiguchi will return to Vale Tudo Japan, only this time as a Shooto champion when he faces Shintaro Ishiwatari, the bantamweight King of Pancrase.

In an interesting booking, Horiguchi will come into the fight as a favorite over Ishiwatari.  Horiguchi is much more agressive, as well as a much more powerful puncher than his counterpart.  Both fighters, however, are two of the best in Japan and both have been a bright spot of sports amongst true talent to be coming up in the country.

This fight stands to be the biggest in country battle since Aoki fought Kawajiri for the DREAM lightweight title.  Both Horiguchi and Ishiwatari are two of the best fighters in all of Japan and their booking was thought to be near impossible seeing that they fight for different promotions.  But, with the formulation of Vale Tudo Japan, the powers that be made it happen.

Horiguchi stands on on loss in his career to Shooto legend Masakatsu Ueda.  He won the title handily over Ogikubo earlier this year.  Ishiwatari is 15-4 and has been a one man wrecking machine in Pancrase.  A winner of six fights in a row, he recently defeated Caol Uno which stands as likely the biggest win of his career.

Vale Tudo Japan takes place June 22nd in Tokyo at Tokyo Dome City Hall.  VTJ is becoming one of the go to brands in Japan since reforming and is putting together some of the best fights.

A report by The Manila Times indicated that pound for pound great boxer Manny Pacquaio was arrested late Saturday evening after he and his bodyguard severely injured a barangay who had caught the boxer in the act of passing out food and distributing cash and other goods in exchange for what is assumed to be their votes.  According to the report:

During the melee, Pacquiao and his bodyguards were arrested by police authorities and brought to the General Santos City police command based at Camp Fermin Lira Jr. for investigation. However, Pacquiao’s lawyer, Geng Gacal, arrived at the police station and managed to squirrel him out of the camp before he could issue any statement. Gacal is running for councilor in General Santos City under the Peoples Champ Movement (PCM)-United Nationalist Alliance (UNA).

Today, several reports are coming out that suggest an arrest never occurred.  Philboxing.com spoke with Pacman’s chief of staff, who state

“There is no truth to the allegation that Manny Pacquiao was detained. It was the barangay captain who was detained at the police precinct,” Gacal said.

As is typical, the truth will likely never come out.  Pacquaio has always had his naysayers, however many have confirmed with AsianMMA.com in the past that Pacquiao’s ways of doing business in the country are very questionable, if not downright corrupt.

“The news was purely a black propaganda because of the elections,” stated Gacal.

Floyd Mayweather will bank $90 million for 2013, this according to a Sports Illustrated study that compared the top fifty highest earning athletes in sports.

Mayweather, who is boxing’s biggest draw who charges nearly $80 a pop to watch on PPV, takes the honors yet again solely based on the way he promotes his fights.  Mayweather handles his own business affairs, which by and large allows him to collect the maximum amount of money.  Most boxers run through multiple middlemen that suck them dry of money, leaving far less to be earned.

Mayweather, who last defeated Robert Guerrero soundly in twelve rounds, went into the fight with over a years worth of ring rust having spent a portion of 2012 behind bars.  Following his release, Mayweather has come off as much more laid back and less verbal than in fights preceding.

The more humble Mayweather has been rumored to be working on a deal to fight Mexican pound for pound up and comer Canelo Alvarez.