Krush Triple Final Postponed, Moved to April 30th

Japanese kickboxing promotion Krush has announced the postponement of the Krush First Generation Kings Tournament Triple Final event originally scheduled for this Saturday, March 19th. While having tried to move forward with the event as planned, it seems the promotion has finally opted to move the date in light of the broader situation in Japan and, more directly, the resulting damage to the event's venue, Korakuen Hall. The event is now scheduled to take place on April 30th.

The Krush Triple Final event is set to host the semifinal and final bouts in the promotion's three ongoing tournaments, in the 55 kg., 60 kg., and 63 kg. weight classes. The three tournaments will feature a lot of Japanese domestic talents, with Shootboxing champion Ryuya Kusakabe scheduled to face Hiroaki Mizuhara and Kenji facing Shota Takiya in the 55 kg. tournament. 2009 K-1 Koshien champion Masaaki Noiri will face Yuji Takeuchi in one 60 kg. semifinal, while Hirotaka Urabe will meet Dynamite Yuta in the other. The 63 kg. semifinals will feature the brash Kizaemon Saiga taking on Ryuji Kajiwara while divisional favorite Koya Urabe will meet Takuya Shirahama.

It will certainly be interesting to see how a few of the details surrounding this event end up being hashed out.

First and foremost, 55 kg. semifinalist Ryuya Kusakabe was among the participants announced for the April 23rd Shootboxing event at the promotion's first major event in February. Announced alongside Andy Souwer and RENA as participants for the event, Kusakabe's importance in Shootboxing should be evident.

What's more, Krush already had plans to initiate a 70 kg. tournament at an event on April 30th. No word on whether that will be postponed or if we will just see one huge event. If the latter, I would expect the bout between Yuya Yamamoto and Akihiro Gono, originally scheduled as one of the super fights for this Saturday, to become a tournament quarterfinal.