Urabe vs Ishikawa III Headlines Krush.25: Team Dragon 10th Anniversary

Wednesday, 24 October 2012 21:30

Written by Sam Sattler

Krush has announced the first bout for Krush.25 on December 14^th at Korakuen Hall and it is a 60kg Title fight between current champ Hirotaka Urabe and Naoki Ishikawa. Krush.25 is also commemorating the 10^th anniversary of the gym Krush has the closest ties to, Team Dragon, which is the home of the Urabe brothers, former Krush 63kg champ Ryuji Kajiwara, WILDRUSH League winner Hideaki Yamazaki and 55kg title challenger Takumi.

The main event is the third fight between Krush 60kg champion Hirotaka Urabe and Naoki Ishikawa. Urabe currently leads the series 1-0-1, with a win in their first fight in the quarterfinals of the Krush 60kg tournament, then fighting to a draw in Urabe’s first title defense. Urabe (20-6-2, 10 KO) has gone unbeaten in his last 12 fights, with Ishikawa being the only blemish in those 12 fights, most recently scoring a TKO via cut of French fighter Xavier Bastard in the extension round of their fight at Krush.23. Since his draw against Urabe, Ishikawa (35-18-5, 18 KO) has won two in a row, with a pair of decisions over Kan Itabashi and Shota Senchaigym. Ishikawa came close to beating Urabe last time and the two seem to be just about even in terms of skill, with Urabe having the advantage of speed and youth. When they fight, it really is a tossup, but if I had to put money on it I’d favor Urabe to keep the series in his favor and win for a second time.

Also expected to compete on the card from Team Dragon are Ryuji Kajiwara, Koya Urabe, Hideaki Yamazaki, Takumi, Namito Izawa, Takeru, Daizo Sasaki, Hideaki Yoshikawa, Tsutomu Tsakahagi, Keisuke Ishida and Hiroshi Hiratsuka. Former Krush 63kg champion Ryuji Kajiwara hasn’t fought since losing his title by KO to Thomas Adamandopoulos at Krush.21. Koya Urabe is currently set to fight in the Youth GP finals against Hisaki Higashimoto at Krush.24 on November 11^th and will fight on this card if he doesn’t get injured. Yamazaki won the 63kg Krush WILDRUSH League at Krush.23, going 5-0 (1 KO) and earned the right to face Thomas Adamandopoulos next year for the Krush 63kg title. Takumi’s last fight was at Krush.22 where he fought Krush 55kg champ Shota Takiya for his title, but lost a decision in what was one of Takiya’s closest fights in a long time. Izawa and Takeru both picked up stoppage wins at Krush-EX 2012 vol.5 last weekend, with Takeru positioning himself well in the 55kg division with two straight wins, the most recent of which was over Yuya Suzuki, who was fresh off of a win over Izawa.

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