Hideaki Yamazaki
Hideaki Yamazaki ( 山崎 秀晃, born February 5, 1987) is a Japanese Shotokan kickboxer, currently competing in the super lightweight division of K-1. A professional competitor since 2009, Yamazaki is the former Krush Lightweight and Krush Super Lightweight champion, as well as the former K-1 Super Lightweight champion. He also won the Krush -63 kg WILDRUSH League in 2012.[1] As of February 2021, he is the #3 ranked featherweight according to Combat Press.[2] He's been ranked as a top ten featherweight since October 2020.[3] He was previously ranked in the featherweight top ten by Combat Press between April 2016[4] and May 2018.[5] He was ranked in the featherweight top ten by LiverKick.com.[6] Kickboxing careerLightweightEarly careerYamazaki made his professional debut against Yuichiro Kono at J-NETWORK J-FIGHT 27. He won the fight by unanimous decision. He went on to win six of his next seven fights, drawing once against Shuhei Morikawa. He suffered his first professional loss to TaCa at Krush-EX 2011 vol.2, losing by TKO in the third round.[7] Yamazaki rebounded by winning his next eight fights, including a trilogy with Taca.[8] The winning streak ended when he was scheduled to fight Gagny Baradji at Krush 25, with Baradji knocking Yamazaki out with a right hook in the second round.[9] Krush Lightweight title reignHis stellar streak earned him the chance to fight Thomas Adamandopoulos for the Krush Lightweight title at Krush 27 on March 20, 2013. He won the fight by unanimous decision.[10] After defeating Ikki and Luke Turner, he was scheduled to fight Minoru Kimura in his first title defense. Yamazaki knocked Kimura out after just 47 seconds, with an overhand right.[11] After winning another non-title bout against Mohamed Galaoui by technical knockout, he was scheduled to defend his title for the second time against Mohamed Boulef at Krush 42 on June 12, 2014. Yamazaki won the fight by a second-round technical knockout.[12] In November 2014, Hideaki Yamazaki made his highly anticipated debut with K-1, fighting in the quarter finals of the K-1 World GP 2014 -65kg Championship Tournament. He lost a unanimous decision against the future champion Kaew Fairtex.[13] Returning to Krush, he was booked to face Joan Manuel Lique Cañaveral, in his third title defense, at Krush 55 on June 12, 2015. He defeated Cañaveral by unanimous decision.[14] He was then scheduled to fight Masaaki Noiri at Krush 57 in a non-title fight. The fight went into an extra round, after which Noiri won a decision. It was Yamazaki's first loss in Krush in nearly three years.[15] Super lightweightKrush Super Lightweight title reignAbandoning his Lightweight title,[16] Yamazaki went up in weight to fight NOMAN for the Krush Super Lightweight title. The title bout took place at Krush 60 on November 14, 2015.[17] He won the fight by technical knockout in the second round, after the referee was forced to wave the fight off following an undefended flurry of punches from Yamazaki.[18] Yamazaki was then booked to take part in the 2016 K-1 Japan Super Lightweight Grand Prix. In the quarterfinal, Yamazaki beat Yasuomi Soda by an uppercut knockout in the second round. Advancing to the semifinals, he defeated Yuta Kubo by a third-round technical knockout, after he had dropped him twice in the round. This resulted in a stoppage victory for Yamazaki, under the K-1 tournament rules. In the tournament final, he fought a rematch with Masaaki Noiri, whom he defeated by majority decision.[19] Yamazaki took part in the 2016 K-1 World Super Lightweight Grand Prix as well. Despite a successful start to the one-day tournament, which saw him win a unanimous decision against Stanislav Reniţă, he lost a split decision to Ilias Bulaid in the penultimate bout of the Grand Prix.[20] Yamazaki next faced Gonnapar Weerasakreck at K-1 World GP 2016 -60kg World Tournament on September 19, 2016. He lost the fight by unanimous decision. Despite suffering back-to-back losses, Yamazaki was given a chance to fight Kaew Fairtex for the K-1 Super Lightweight title at K-1 World GP 2017 Super Bantamweight Championship Tournament on April 22, 2017. Kaew won the fight by unanimous decision.[21] After his failed title shot, Yamazaki fought and beat Jun Nakazawa in June 2018, winning by unanimous decision.[22] He lost his next fight against Rukiya Anpo, after the fight went into an extra round, during which Anpo knocked Yamazaki out with a head kick.[23] After this loss, he went on a four fight winning streak, defeating Jin Hirayama[24] by decision and knocking out Ruku, Tsubasa Horii and Hikaru Terashima.[25][26][27] K-1 Super Lightweight championDuring the 2020 K-1 World GP in Osaka, held on September 22, 2020, Yamazaki fought Rukiya Anpo for the K-1 Super Lightweight title.[28] He won the fight by a first-round left hook knockout.[29] Yamazaki was booked to fight Fukashi Mizutani in a non-title bout at K-1: K’Festa 4 on March 21, 2021.[30] He beat Fukashi by knockout, 70 seconds into the fight.[31] Yamazaki made his first K-1 super lightweight title defense against Tetsuya Yamato at K-1: K'Festa 5 on April 3, 2022.[32] Yamazaki lost his title by first round knockout when Yamato landed a left hook only 50 seconds into the bout.[33] Later super lightweight careerYamazaki faced the 2019 RISE Lightweight champion Kento Haraguchi at The Match 2022 on June 19, 2022.[34] He lost the fight by a second-round technical knockout, after suffering two knockdowns in the opening round.[35][36] Titles and accomplishmentsKickboxing
Awards
Karate
Kickboxing record
See alsoReferences
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