Krush 2011 Title Tournaments Kick Off This Weekend

As we look to wrap up the 2010 kickboxing season this weekend with the K-1 Grand Prix, Japan's newest hot promotion takes this weekend to look ahead towards 2011.  Krush has had a very good year, with a number of their fighters being featured in K-1, particularly in the new 63kg division.  The introduction of that weight class to K-1 has shined a light on many of the Krush fighters, giving the excellent talent in these smaller division a boost.  To capitalize on that exposure, Krush announced earlier this year that 2011 would be marked be 4 tournaments to determine Krush champions in the 55, 60, 63, and 70kg divisions.

After the October preliminaries, the tournaments begin in earnest this weekend, with the 55 and 60kg quarterfinals set for Sunday night.  The 60kg division in particular is stacked and includes 2009 Koshien champion Masaaki Noiri, 63kg GP final 8 fighters Naoki Ishikawa and Daisuke Uematsu, knock-out expert Yuji Takeuchi, and Hirotaka Urabe.  Round 1 matches taking place Sunday are:

Naoki Ishikawa v. Hirotaka Urabe
Daisuke Uematsu v. Dynamite Yuta
Masaaki Noiri v. Junpei Aotsu
Yuji Takeuchi v. Yosuke Mizuochi

Favorites have to be Ishikawa, Uematsu, Noiri, and Takeuchi, which would make for an amazing final 4.  From there, I would like to think Ishikawa is the overall favorite, but I suspect it's actually Noiri.

In the 55kg division, you have the popular Shootboxing champion Ryuya Kusakabe and RISE champ Nobuchika Terado leading the pack.  These two will meet in a big quarterfinal showdown this weekend.  Rounding out the 55kg tournament on Sunday are:

Kenji v. Kazuki Tanaka
Takumi v. Shota Takiya
Hiroaki Mizuhara v. Syuhei Morikawa

Sunday's show also includes a superfight between Keiji Ozaki and Toshiki Taniyama.

After this weekend, the tournaments will resume on January 9 with the 63kg quarterfinals. Again, a great line-up for this division that includes Ryuji Kajiwara, fresh off his win over Naoki Ishikawa; Koya Urabe, who recently defeated K-1 champ Yamada; and the always entertaining Kizaemon Saiga in Korea.  Quarterfinal matches for January are:

Ryuji Kajiwara v. TaCa
Koya Urabe v. Son Hyun Lee
Kizaemon Saiga v. Naoki Terasaki
Yuki Yamamoto v. Takuya Shirahama

Semifinals and finals for 55, 60, and 63 will all be held on March 19, in what is almost guaranteed to be one of the year's best cards.

Finally, the 70kg tournament will take place a bit later in the year, with quarterfinals on April 30, and the final two rounds on July 16.