Sweet 16
March 31, 2008 by nopstar
Screw college basketball apparently K-1 Season is in full swing. We’re just over a week away from the K-1 Max Final 16 Tournament. The Tournament is on the 9th, in Hiroshima. I’ll post what ever I can get a hold of. I can’t seem to keep up with their schedule. It seems like every time I turn around there’s another tournament.
Don’t get me wrong I still prefer K-1 Max to a lot of the other schwag that’s out there. I ganked this directly from the official K-1 site. I didn’t line any of the pics up, simple cut and paste. Looks like they have all the favorites lined up along the side? I’m sure it was intentional…
Anyway to me I’m going with all the fellas on the left. Sorry Albert, I’m actually pretty interested in the Kyshenko Tai matchup. Tai’s been around the block, but I still think he’s going to get smashed.
Predictions?
World Championship Tournament FINAL 16 : K-1 Rules / 3Min. 3R Ext.1R
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Masato Japan / Silver Wolf |
VS | Virgil Kalakoda South Africa / Warrior’s MMA |
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Buakaw Por. Pramuk Thailand / Por.Pramuk Gym |
VS | Albert Kraus Holland / Team Super Pro |
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Andy Souwer Holland / Shooto Boxing Holland |
VS | Mike Zambidis Greece / Zambidis Club |
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Yoshihiro Sato Japan / Nagoya JK Factory |
VS | Murat Direkci Turky / Universal Gym |
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Drago Armenia / SHOW TIME |
VS | GORI Rota / PUREBRED OSAKA |
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Artur Kyshenko Ukraine / Captain Odessa |
VS | Jordan Tai New Zealand / Ray Sefo Fight Acad. |
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Saro “The Sicilian Don” Presti Italy / Team Aerts |
VS | Warren Stevelmans South Africa / Vos Gym |
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Chi Bin Lim Republic of Korea / KHAN GYM |
VS | Yasuhiro Kido Japan / Taniyama Gym |
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Masato via Tko
Por Pramuk via SD (a bullshit one , it should be UD.)
Sower via UD
Sato via Tko
Drago via KO
Kyshenko via Tko
Stavelmens UD
Chi Bin Lim UD
Nop, I was hoping you would post K-1 Max in Holland. Well this was couple weeks ago, but all I can find on the net were the results. Can’t find any fights. This guy Stevelmans must be one hell of a fighter. He beat Lima and Pique.
Sweet 16… usually always guys on the left win. But check this out, why is Buakaw fighting Kraus? They were both in the final 8 last year. I mean wth?! Ooou, I get it, K-1 organization has new kid on the block… Kido. Give me a break.
My predicition is pretty the same as Rockintako said. I just don’t believe that Masato and Sato ara capable of TKO, probably just UD. Not sure about Lim vs Kido.
Anybody know if this is still aired in the states. I remember years ago catching some K-1 stuff on ESPN2 at odd hours of the day. Does this still go on?
I have seen this a month ago, And I really hope Direcksi wins over Sato, he beat Kraus on KO so it should be possible. Cool to see The Boxer Kalakoda vs Lightning Hands Masato, He dropped Souwer but couldnt finish it, Gave Buakaw some good shots, but lost to Kraus. Ohh now i get it Gusnark, they want Either Kraus or Buakaw out so Kiddo can Enter. I agree. But Hope Sombat will win on KO for the first time against Kraus. Cant forget the last match in Korea where Buakaw was Incredible. Hope he doesnt get caught by a hook.
I should say Buakaws Last Fight in Korea against the Korean Guy.
Can’t really say the outcome of Buakaw and Kraus. I mean, Kraus beat Buakaw once and he’s in pretty good shape. The last time I saw him against Kalakoda, was on fire. I still vote for Buakaw though.
I guess I was wrong about “final 8 fighters last year” rule. Here’s the map for clarification, if someone doesn’t know the elimination rule: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:K-1system.jpg
Puting Buakaw vs Kraus together and Souwer vs Zambidis means we should expecting new faces.
I believe that Stevelmans could be a surprise this year.
Nice line up except for Buakaw and Kraus yet again!! Kalakoda is a very dangerous puncher- so we could see some fireworks there. If Souwer tries to trade with Zambo, it could get very interesting for the 2x Max Champ. Everyone else on the left is good to go!
Anyone know where Zambidis trains?? I am going to be in Greece in June and would like to find his camp for training/gear/whatevs.
And by where I mean location, not just the name of the camp…but that’d be good too.
Kraus lost to Faldir Chahbari in his last fight, but Chahbari is tough and Kraus’ “throw punches regardless if they land or not” gameplan actually works in K-1 MAX. In their first fight, Buakaw threw a million kicks and I never bought the whole kicks don’t score if they land on the guard thing. What if they damage the guy’s arms? Yeah. That said, if Buakaw counters properly and keeps his hands up I don’t see Kraus being that much of a danger to him.
I hope Direkci doesn’t fight Sato like he did in his rematch against Chahbari. I would have liked to have seen Ali Gunyar get another chance instead so I don’t really care one way or another.
Kido and Lim should be good. Lim actually looks like he’s a super-welterweight now so he has a definite chance. If Kido doesn’t get too eager, sits back and just throws lowkicks all day then he’s in trouble though. Noppadet2 (Shin Noppadetsorn) works at Taniyama and it’s no surprise Kido improved so much.
Warren Stevelmans looked TINY against behemoths like Lima and Pique. He beat Lima to the punch and frustrated him. Pique didn’t seem to slow down until the third round where Warren made sure he would win the decision. He’s a very active fighter.
Kamatari, tnx for the info about Stevelmans fights.
Where did you see those fights?
“Kraus lost to Faldir Chahbari”
But only by judges decision. Watched the fight and was disappointed by decision. Kraus was better, always pushed forward and threw more punches, where Chahbari didn’t show no threat, did some exchanges and was fighting in front of his hometown. Looks like that made the difference.
SBS6 (they aired the event, albeit clipped) has a stream available on their site. Someone ripped the event and you should be able to find it if you look in the right places.
I thought Chahbari won, Kraus rarely broke through. Chahbari on the other hand nearly scored with everything he threw. Whether it was tapping lows, middle kicks (double up!), jabs and knees. That was Chahbari at his best. I don’t like aggressiveness when it doesn’t lead to anything.
The problem with Chahbari’s style is that judges tend to focus on him alone – “hey, he’ll block everything anyway” and I’m not kidding either. In my opinion he lost to Ali Gunyar twice, but the results say a victory and a draw.
I hope Buakaw wins… well anyone besides Masato and Souwer really lol… especially Masato… the only reason he is in this is because the Japanese adore him!
Even if he is adored by fans, Masato is still one of the best in Max and is always a fan favorite. He did the impossible and gave Buakaw good fight last year. He KO’d Kraus as well as numerous Max opponents, so it is not true that, “the only reason he is in this is because the Japanese adore him!”
Masato vs Kalakoda will be a great boxing match, IMO.
Anonymous guy above: Masato is a previous winner. Last year he beat Buakaw convincingly enough. He’s beaten Kraus and Kyshenko, etc. He’s showed he’s one of the, if not the, fastest puncher in Max. No doubt the guy sells a big percentage of tickets, but he’s in there because he’s one of the best fighters in his division under K1 rules. Try putting Brad Pitt in there. Just because girls like him doesn’t mean he’s gonna be a star in K1.
All I got’a say to Buakaw is the K1 Max 2008 Champ ! ! ! Thats it, just wait and see whats going to happend !!!
Yes, even though there are lots of other tournaments out there, i still love K1 middle weight Max the most(even if its run by corrupt officials). Lots of exciting matchups! i see, cant wait!. Buakaw ftw lol.
MASATOOOOOO WINS THISSSSSSS YEAR BUAKAW BECAME TO SLOWW
Thank you Kamatari!
Through http://sbs6.sbs.nl/ I found all three fights of Warren Stevelmans vs Alviar Lima, Chris Ngimby and Marco Pique:
http://www.dailymotion.com/relevance/search/stevelmans
He is small and funny looking fella with a missing front tooth, but an animal in the ring, can’t wait to see him in action again!
Masato is ——— well its been said, he is GOOOOD. And not just cause he is Jap. Oh and Pitt vs Buakaw I would love to see that Slaughter! LoL
Does anyone know Saro Presti?
Check his fight against Colin Farricker:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3x89LdIOLU
I think he doesn’t have a chance against Stevelmans, too slow and unequipped for him. I don’t know why K-1 pulled him, it would be much better to see Petrosyan in action.
And who is this guy Gori? Can’t find a thing about him.
gori is from rota. trains muay thai with enson inoque. has fought k-1 before and is a real bad ass in the pacific islands. fights out of guam.
He was also training under Sangtiennoi, or well all over the place – Gori that is. Say what you want about Drago, but if he uses all his weapons then this should be easy on paper. However, Drago’s years of fighting like a tank are over. In his last fight he nearly crumbled and Souwer showed you can in fact KO him.
Gusnark, Presti was brought up as a Team Aerts guy so you can see the connection there. And to be fair he was already supposed to fight last year, but had to drop out.
Glad you found the vids though and yeah Warren should walk over Presti. Stevelmans is from a province called Limburg so it was pretty funny to hear his accent.
All I was able to found about Gori is from various sites such as K-1 site. Couldn’t find any his fights though. Tnx for the info.
Maybe Drago just had a bad luck like Buakaw , we’ll just have to wait and see.
Kamatari, yeah I found video of Stevelmans. What a great fighter, training in Vos gym. Really technical, fast and explosive. This guy could be an upset.
Yeah, I found on K-1 site that Presti is from Aerts team, there’s always a guy with connections, huh. :)
I’m interested how will Masato deal with Virgil, they’re both great boxers. I believe Masato will have to use his legs.
Can’t wait to see the show, cheers!
Masato by JD (most likely he will use lots of low kicks by Kalakoda won’t stop)
Buakaw by JD
Souwer by JD (Zambidis never really learned how to block low kicks, which souwer is great at, look at the fight between Sato and Zambidis, Sato outscored him even though Zambo dominated)
Murat by JD with at least one knock down
Drago by tko (Possibly another surprise spinning back kick)
Artur by KO round one (There is no way Jordan can hold this kid off for one than one – two rounds)
Stevelmans by tko 2-3 round
Kido by tko
Dude, does anyone play fantasy sports? All of us should start a fantasy k-1 world max. Everyone puts in like 20 bucks, and the one who comes up with the
closest prediction (bracket) wins the whole pot. Let Nop hold our cash for us, lol!
On a side note, I get the feeling that Masato really wants to win the most – I mean, he wants to retire on top. This will be an interesting year, new faces, old foes, and most of all, the Masato-Buakaw-Souwer trinity…if Masato wins, he would probably cry on stage and give his retire speech, if Buakaw wins, he would be the first 3-time champion, if Souwer wins, he would be the first back-to-back champion and the first 3-time champion. Can’t wait to see the outcome!
Nice observation Buakaws. By JD you probably meant UD as unanimous decision.
You’re probably right about fight between Souwer and Zambidis. Zambo has fast and great hands but Souwer has better everything else.
I have to disagree about Direkci vs Sato. Direkci has good hands, but Sato will keep the distance and use his superior knees.
Yeah, the great trinity, hehe.
Let’s keep an eye also for Arthur and Stevelmans.
I totally agree about Masato, LOL! If he wins this tournament, he will definitely announce (all in tears) that he is retiring. But I don’t think so, if he faces Buakaw again, which I pray for, Buakaw will have his revenge like against Kraus and Souwer.
But on the other hand, if he retires we would see new faces. Imagine Yod filling in… ok, enough of dreaming, back to reality. :)
I’m a big Buakaw Fan…but Anoymous, dun underestimate Masato juz becoz he has gt a pretty face.. in fights, it’s always fighting against the opponent’s weaknesses…i hope buakaw will be back with beta and faster hands…at least, nt dropping hands…I reli dun think fancy the way he fought with Sato last tm round..rather risky…