K-1 North American Elimination

[Curly Howard]

On May 2nd in Las Vegas, Nevada, K-1 will hold their 2003 North American Elimination Tournament at the Mirage Hotel and Casino. Among those returning to the ring will be former UFC Heavyweight Champion Maurice Smith. The card as it stands:


Tournament

Michael McDonald vs. Carter Williams

Dewey The Black Kobra Cooper vs. Yusuke Fujimoto

Rick The Jet Roufus vs. Eduardo Maiorino de Morais

Maurice Smith vs. Giuseppe "The Godfather" DeNatale


Superfights

Gary Goodridge vs. Mark Hunt

Nobuaki Kakuda vs. Musashi

[Curly Howard]

At last. It’s a done deal. Some of the hopefuls were originally placed in the draw weeks ago and later taken out while others were simply hinted at as possible selections for the greatest single-elimination martial arts tournament in North America. But yesterday, the final eight K-1 USA combatants were inked into their respective places in May 2nd’s tournament draw.

2002 champion Michael McDonald will begin defending his crown at Las Vegas, Nevada’s Mirage Hotel and Casino when he meets K-1 newcomer Carter Williams. With a nearly perfect record of 8-1 compiled over the last two years, McDonald has performed better than any of his tournament competition and will most likely enter the ring as the favorite to take the crown once again. At 22 years of age, Williams is the youngest of the eight tournament competitors and has earned his way into the event with a handful of key kickboxing wins over the last year including those over world champions Jeff Ford and Dan Lucas. His versatility shown through his performances in the world of professional boxing and mixed martial arts make him a credible threat to the defending champ.

The bottom half of the first tournament bracket pits American Dewey “The Black Kobra” Cooper against Japan’s Yusuke Fujimoto. An agile and flashy kickboxer who also holds a Black Belt in Chinese Kenpo, Cooper has become increasingly dangerous in tournament competition. Last May, he outpointed six-time kickboxing champion Jean Claude Leuyer in the quarterfinal round of competition, despite giving up 33 pounds go his opponent. Cooper, a native of Las Vegas, was absent from last August’s K-1 World Grand Prix Semifinals card only because he had to attend to business across the street at Sin City’s Aladdin Hotel where he picked up his fifth professional boxing win. To date, his boxing record remains perfect at 7-0 with 5 of those wins having come by way of knockout. Fujimoto, an unknown to American fight fans, has begun to make a name for himself in his country where he was victorious in his first four K-1 bouts. With a picture-perfect physique and western boxing skills uncommonly polished for a Japanese fighter, it will be interesting to see what this new face can do during his United States K-1 debut.

On the opposite end of the draw, 2002 K-1 USA runner-up Rick “The Jet” Roufus will take on another new face in Eduardo Maiorino de Morais of Brazil. Roufus, a six-time world kickboxing champion and the 1998 K-1 USA champion, was hit with hard luck last year when he sustained a tear in his knee during his semifinal round bout with Cooper. Roufus managed to finish the bout and earn a judges decision. He also managed to endure three rounds of warfare with McDonald in the championship round before being forced to retire before a fourth, overtime round due to the inflammation in his knee. He has maintained that his knee is 100% healed. Morais, who will make his first-ever appearance in Las Vegas, boasts an impressive 18-1 overall kickboxing record with 10 knockouts. His only defeat came at the hands of Jefferson Manoel da Silva in the championship round of the premiere K-1 Brazil qualifying tournament earlier this year.

Rounding out the draw will be none other than former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Heavyweight champion and world kickboxing champion, Maurice Smith, who will square off with Canada’s Giuseppe “The Godfather” DeNatale. After winning the 2001 K-1 USA tournament by edging out a close overtime decision in the championship round against McDonald, Smith went on to reach the semifinal round of the World Grand Prix Semifinals where he lost an overtime decision to three-time K-1 champion, Peter Aerts. At the close of the year, he declared his retirement from tournament fighting. May 2nd will mark his first North American K-1 tournament appearance since then. DeNatale came of age last February when he won the first K-1 USA qualifying tournament in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. After being stopped by McDonald in the last 10 seconds of their quarterfinal round bout last May, he picked up where he left off in Milwaukee and won his next three K-1 rules fights during Ad Cetera Sports’ Heavyweight Gladiators cards.

[Leather]

and where's Leko?...

[Curly Howard]

They said that some of the rumored fights didn't make the card.
I'm guessing they are talking about Guy Mezger v.s. Stephan Leko

[Bzob]

That sucks, I like seeing Guy Mezger getting Knocked out...

[Leather]

and what about Big Daddy vs Hunt?!
After he was knocked out by Bernardo and LeBanner, now he wants a delicious KO by Hunt....he's crazy...

[Curly Howard]

K-1 Fighting--LIVE May 02 10:00 pm ET

Direct TV
Enter the Beast! Top martial arts heavyweights bring knockout power into the K-1 ring LIVE from Las Vegas. Card subject to change. FREE immediate replay with purchase of live event. $29.95 (price non-refundable)



Duration: 3:30
Rating: NR-Content
Category: Sports