Watanabe Ready to Knock Out the "Guy Who KO'd KID"

by Dave Walsh on Oct 22, 2009 4:19 PM EDT in K-1 MAX Comment 5 comments

Watanabe at a public workout.

Kazuhisa Watanabe, the Japanese boxer turned kickboxer is ready to knock the block off of Korean fighter Jae He Cheon. Cheon is best known as the man that derailed KID Yamamoto's return to winning to the world of fighting with a devastating left hook. Cheon was a hand selected opponent for KID Yamamoto, with the purpose to be dissected by Yamamoto and be a glorious return wo the winner's circle. The problem was that nobody sent that memo to Cheon, who went in looking to score the quick knockout and did just that.

Watanabe held a public workout, another in a long line of public workouts to hype up the K-1 World MAX 2009 Finals and talks about how he never goes "easy" in training, specifically that he has destroyed a punching bag or two in preparation for meeting Cheon's face with his fists. He also mentioned working on his kicks more to help round out his skillset a bit better. Watanabe himself is coming off a win over KID protege Atsushi Yamamoto.

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Don't Overlook Cheon

Watanabe is the more outsized personality, and it’s easy to think of Cheon as “that guy who showed how far Kid has fallen” but this is a really close fight. For Watanabe to win here he has to focus up and not rely on his goofball persona. People continue to underrate and overlook Cheon, but I think he has this one.

by Fraser Coffeen on Oct 22, 2009 4:36 PM EDT reply actions

I'm with you

Cheon was overlooked in his fight with KID and will be overlooked here, too.

Head Kick Legend
Twitter @HeadKickLegend

by Dave Walsh on Oct 22, 2009 4:47 PM EDT up reply actions

It bothers me when someone says…. I’m working on my kicks more to round out my game. It’s kickboxing. Granted, boxing is a huge part of it, but the kicks should always be a staple of your skill-set in K-1.

And Cheon wickedly snapped off that combo on Yamamoto’s face. He might do the same here.

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by Leland Roling on Oct 23, 2009 9:17 AM EDT up reply actions

Oh totally

Watanabe is a rather one dimensional fighter and by all means should be considered the underdog going into this. I’m not sure K-1 is promoting it that way, as they are pissed at Cheon for taking out KID, still.

Head Kick Legend
Twitter @HeadKickLegend

by Dave Walsh on Oct 23, 2009 4:56 PM EDT reply actions

FEG really screwed up the KID comeback. First a Team Quest wrestler then some unknown Korean that it turns out has skills.

K1 is huge in Korea right? Even with all the racial tensions you’d think FEG would want to build up a credible Korean fighter, not feed him to every Japanese prospect. I hope it bites them in the ass again.

by omigawda on Oct 23, 2009 7:57 PM EDT up reply actions