Japan’s Urabe Koya won the 2015 K-1 Japan 60kgs Grand Prix in the early hours of Sunday morning after he scored a unanimous decision victory over fellow countryman Urabe Hirotaka.
The 24-year old was clearly the fresher man after two 1st round stoppages wins against Denis Puric and Yamamoto Masahiro on route to the showdown with Hirotaka and it showed as he was able to do enough in the eyes of the judges to take the Grand Prix title.
The super fight section of the card also featured Kimura Minoru who did just enough to edge out Kaew Fairtex to score a majority decision win. In other action kickboxing superstar Sanny Dahlbeck needed an extra round to knock out Sato Yoshihiro. In 55kg action, both Takiya Shota and Horio Ryuji won their respective bouts via unanimous decision.
K-1 Japan 60kgs Grand Prix Results
Superfights
65kg: Kimura Minoru def. Kaew Fairtex Majority Decision
70kg: Sanny Dahlbeck def. Sato Yoshihiro by KO Extra Rd (left high kick/punches)
55kg: Takiya Shota Def. Shou Rong Unanimous Decision
55kg: Horio Ryuji Def. Tobe Ryuma Unanimous Decision
60kg GP Tournament
Final – Urabe Koya def. Urabe Hirotaka by Unanimous Decision
Semi-final: Urabe Koya def. Yamamoto Masahiro by KO Rd 1 (leg kicks)
Semi-final: Urabe Hirotaka def. Javier Hernandez Unanimous Decision (Extra Rd)
60kg GP: Urabe Koya def. Denis Puric by KO Rd 1 (knee)
60kg GP: Yamamoto Masahiro def. Gagny Baradji Majority Decision
60kg GP: Urabe Hirotaka def. Karim Bennoui TKO Rd 1 (cut due to flying knee)
60kg GP: Javier Hernandez def. Shimano Kotaro by Unanimous Decision
60kg GP Reserve Fight: Toshi def. Kim Hun Jae by Unanimous Decision
Prelims
65kg: Hiramoto Ren def. Ishikawa Yuki by KO Rd 1
HW: Fujita Tomoya def. Manabu by Unanimous Decision
60kg: Kanbe Shota def. Yuma by Unanimous Decision
65kg: Goto Masanobu def. Saito Yuta by KO (left hook)
Photo credit: K-1
