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K-1 Recap
Friday May 2, 2003 Las Vegas, Nevada
If you didn’t get to see the K1 tournament, Enter the Beast, then here’s what you missed.
The first quarterfinal match started with Michael McDonald, a heavily favorite, against the underdog and new comer Carter Williams. Williams pushed the fight while McDonald countered. McDonald seemed to be pacing himself but Williams was letting the arsenal fly, catching McDonald on a few occasions. McDonald had his moments too - when he did throw punches and kicks. It just wasn’t enough. The underdog took the decision and moved on to the semifinals.
The second quarterfinal match saw Dewey Cooper go against Yasuke Fujimoto. Cooper, the quicker and slicker fighter, wasn’t quick enough to avoid the very powerful roundhouse kicks from Fujimoto in the second and third rounds. Although, the first round was exiting for Cooper. He was able to score a knock down. But unfortunately for Cooper, Fujimoto turned it on from there and didn’t look back delivering what appeared to be 10 unanswered hard kicks. To Coopers credit though, he was able to block most of them but I’m sure his forearms were in pain. So Fujimoto pulled out the decision
in spite of being put on the floor in the first round The third quarterfinal match pitted Rick “The Jet” Roufus against Eduardo Maiorino. Roufus showed in this fight why he is one of the best in K1. Roufus took charge from the beginning, scoring a knock down with a left to the face of Maiorino - putting him on his back. This is one of those matches where you can say that Maiorino bit off more than he could chew. Roufus did not let up after scoring the first knock down - he kept on pushing and scored a second knock down with a tremendous punch that sent Maiorino flat on his back again. But to his credit, he did get up. Then there was a bit of confusion as the ref let the fight continue. There was a two knock down rule in effect for this fight which meant that if you were knock down twice in the same round, you are out. The judges on the side caught the mistake and had the bell rung to stop the fight. The ref realized what happened and announced the winner – Roufus.
The fourth quarterfinal match had one of my favorite fighters, Maurice Smith, against Giuseppe DeNatale. This fight went the distance. It was a classic Smith fight, being cautious but yet able to pick apart DeNatale. DeNatale was outclassed and really had no strategy against Smith. Smith was able to pick and chose his shots and won by decision. threw caution to the wind and let the leather fly. Williams landed the harder shots throughout the first round but Fujimoto has a heart of a warrior and was there to fight. In the second round, both men took it up a notch, exchanging blows after blows with Carter catching Fujimoto with a round house to the face as Williams came out of a 360 spin and Fujimoto was almost kneeling. OUCH! This put Fujimoto down for an eight count. But he was able to continue. About a minute later, Fujimoto was caught again and went down hard. And that was the end of the fight. Once again, the underdog proves
that he is a force to reckoned with. Unbelievably, this was the first time the two had ever met in the ring. Both men came out pacing themselves and a little cautious. But when they started to deliver blows, Smith got the worse end of the stick as he went down from a left from Roufus - but Smith was able to get up and recover. After that, Roufus was able to keep Smith at bay as he tried to score with punches toward the end of the fight. Smith tried to go all out in the last round but it was too little to late and the decision
went to Rick Roufus. Carter Williams. Right off the bat, Williams came out with a great and powerful combination - a right, left to the face and a left high kick that found its mark and sent Roufus to the mat for a eight count. Roufus was dazed and hurt. Williams decided to let it all hang out and went for the knock out. Roufus fought back bravely but ate a devastating right that put him back on the floor and out. Williams took the upset victory. I can’t wait to see him in action again.
Al
(5/5/03) Al |
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