Naoki Ishikawa vs Kan Itabashi Added to Krush.19

Krush has begun building Krush.19, set for June 8th, with a 60kg matchup between former AJKF Super Featherweight champ Naoki Ishikawa and former RISE Super Featherweight champ Kan Itabashi. Ishikawa (34-18-5, 18 KO) has bounced back from a rough year that started in July 2010 that saw him go 1-4 by defeating Yuji Takeuchi at Krush.12 and drawing 60kg champ Hirotaka Urabe in a title fight at Krush.15 in January. Itabashi (19-5-2, 3 KO) had a rough 2011 which saw him lose his RISE title to Kosuke Komiyama, defeat Genki Yamamoto to earn an It’s Showtime #1 contender’s bout, but lose that #1 contender’s bout to Masahiro Yamamoto. Itabashi hasn’t fought since that fight back in October. Although Hirotaka Urabe is set to face the winner of the 60kg tournament, which concludes at Krush.19 as well, the winner of this fight has a strong case to be next in line, especially Ishikawa.

This fight joins the finals of the 60kg tournament between Katsuya Goto and Fumiya Osawa as well as a 63kg WILDRUSH League 3rd leg fight between TaCa and Yukimitsu Takahashi. Yuta Kubo and Keiji Ozaki are expected to participate, too.

Also on a side-note to the 63kg WILDRUSH League, the 3rd leg fight between current leader Hideaki Yamazaki and NOMAN has been scrapped due to an injury to NOMAN. Krush decided that due to the rigorous WILDRUSH League schedule that calls for 5 fights in one year, the fight would not be rescheduled and Yamazaki would receive a bye and the two points that would normally be awarded for a decision win. This secures Yamazaki’s spot at the top for the end of the 3rd leg with 6 points, but TaCa and Hitoshi Tsukagoshi could capture a share of the lead should either score a knockout.

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