Koya Urabe vs Keijiro Miyakoshi Added to NJKF Kick to the Future 2 on April 29th

New Japan Kickboxing Federation has added a huge name to its Kick to the Future 2 card on April 29th at Korakuen Hall, pitting 63kg superstar Koya Urabe against rising prospect Keijiro Miyakoshi. Urabe (17-3-0, 2 KO) picked up a close win last weekend against Kizaemon Saiga in his first fight back since being brutally KO’d by Masaaki Noiri in December. Miyakoshi (10-3-1, 4 KO) most recently fought to a draw with MA Kick Super Featherweight champ Hikaru Machida, but before that was on a 3-fight win-streak which saw him take out Hayato Hatekayama, Kazuki and Akihiro Kuroda, winning the NJKF Lightweight title against Kazuki. I had expected Miyakoshi’s first foray against the division’s elite to be a WBC Japan title match against Rashata, but this fight against Urabe is a pleasant surprise. Although Miyakoshi has promise, Urabe should be the big favorite here as he’s proven himself against the upper echelon of the division while Miyakoshi is untested. Although this fight is taking place under the NJKF banner, there will be no elbows, however there was no mention of clinching so I assume the clinch and clinch knees will still be allowed.

Another inter-promotional fight that was announced for this card is recently crowned NJKF Super Bantamweight champ Rookie taking on MA Kick Super Bantamweight champ Keisuke Miyamoto. Rookie (10-3-0, 4 KO) trains at ESG with former Krush champ Kenta and most recently won the vacant NJKF Super Bantamweight title against Hiroshi Senchaigym and before that was knocked out by Ryuya Kusakabe in a fight for the vacant WBC Japan Super Bantamweight title. Miyamoto (12-1-0, 5 KO) started competing in Kyokushin karate as a teenager and in 2009, made it to the quarterfinals of the K-1 Koshien Tournament where he lost to Masaaki Noiri. He started his pro career a perfect 9-0, winning the MA Kick Bantamweight Rookie Tournament in 2010, but suffered his first career loss last September to Takayuki Umehara. Since, he is on a 3-fight winning streak which saw him claim the vacant MA Kick Super Bantamweight title in a 4-man multi-night tournament, and most recently he KO’d MA Kick Featherweight champion Minoru Junibayashi at Featherweight.

Already announced for this card is a fight for the vacant WBC Japan Featherweight title between WPMF Japan champ Yosuke Morii and NJKF champ Heihachi Nakajima. Morii is riding a 2-fight losing streak with a loss to Genji Umeno and a loss in Thailand. Nakajima is coming off of a win over Chao “Shimura” Logate in HEAT. Also, there will be a NJKF Bonita Boxeo Featherweight title match between defending champ AZUMA and Team Dragon’s Satoko Sasaki.

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