K-1 Max
A recently hitched Masato looks to regain his national hero status

Masato on his way to victory over Ole Laursey

©FEG Inc.

The key to success for most sports in Japan
is developing heroes—and keeping them. Having heroes who are Japanese is even more important, but in certain sports that isn’t so easy. Foreigners sometimes outnumber or outrank their local counterparts. In soccer, hockey or baseball, it’s not such a big issue, as there are official or unofficial limits placed on the number of non-Japanese athletes. While foreigners often grab the headlines in these team sports, there are still plenty of “suitable” heroes to go around.

In individual sports, it’s not so easy. Domestic competitions such as the local golf tours are usually dominated by Japanese, but that’s because most of the sport’s names look elsewhere when they really want to test themselves. Japan’s big tennis tournaments are dominated by foreign players, many of whom are paid vast sums of money just to show up. Genuine international Japanese stars like Kimiko Date are few and far between.

K-1 finds itself in an interesting position. Its heavyweight division is dominated by foreign fighters for the simple reason that few Japanese can match the physical power and stature of guys like Bob Sapp, Ernesto Hoost or Semmy Schilt. Although Musashi has made his mark, reaching the final twice, the top division is still ruled by the big boys—champion Semmy Schilt is 211cm and 129kg, compared to Musashi’s 185cm and 100kg.

The Max division is a different story, as the weight limit is 70kg. Of course, there are plenty of foreigners under 70kg, but this at least gives the Japanese boys a genuine shot at stardom.
And stardom is what Masato is all about. At 175cm and exactly 70kg, the fighter is not the type to overwhelm you with girth. In fact, he’s not the overwhelming type at all. His fighting style is largely defensive rather than all-out attack, and his personality is curiously self-effacing. This modesty and good humor has helped Masato transform himself from a very decent fighter into a full-fledged media personality; it seems like he’s all over the TV at times. Of course, it helps that he’s the best-looking guy out there—girls literally go nuts over him. Masato, still only 28, has now transcended his role as a fighter, and he’ll be on TV long after he’s run his course in the ring.

Which, of course, he hasn’t done yet (though, for a while, some felt he had). Masato’s list of achievements on K-1’s website ends abruptly in 2004 with “K-1 World Max 2004 Finalist,” which suggests three years of disappointment. The reality is that he was on quite a roll from 2002 to 2004, becoming the Japan champion in 2002 and 2003 and world champion in 2003. He lost in the 2004 final to Thailand’s Buakaw Por Pramuk. Two years of little success had the critics writing him off and suggesting that he was, perhaps, spending too much time on TV wearing an apron. But after getting married in February, Masato was able to hand his apron to his wife, Japanese actress Shin Yazawa, and get back to fighting.

Ahead of his April bout against Ole Laursen, he reportedly told the media: “If I lose, people will say it’s because I got married, so I have to win.” And he did, with an impressive points decision. Rather than taming Masato, it appears that marriage has renewed his determination to win—he appeared far more aggressive than usual in his fight against Laursen. His next challenge is against tough Brazilian JZ Calvan at the K-1 Max World Tournament Open on June 28 at Nippon Budokan in Tokyo, probably the best venue to watch this kind of action.

Let’s hope he leaves his apron at home.

Nippon Budokan, June 28. See sports listings for details.

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