[The 1963 Fight That Started Kickboxing - When Karate Lost to Muay Thai]

Thanks again. Never heard the visa thing but maybe that is why Okada couldn't go. But that might just be an excuse too. Also it was mean to be in October 1963 then it was changed to December then changed again to January 1964. At least Oyama could still fight in December but when it was changed again to another month after he couldn’t go and that is when Kurosaki was asked to fight instead. 

I am more a fan now. I did train until 2002 in kickboxing and had so many friend in Kyokushin because here in Netherlands the connection between kyokushin and kickboxing is old and strong. Where do you coach Muay Thai?

[The 1963 Fight That Started Kickboxing - When Karate Lost to Muay Thai]

46 minutes ago, AndyMaBobs said:

Hope this is helpful to you JoopSnoop!

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Thank you, yes, Helpful.

Sorry I don't know how to do the quote thing right. Maybe I am using a bad browser

I mostly agree but still have good reason to say Kurosaki was not meant to fight. I was In Japan in 2006 and was able to visit Fujihira San, one of the three fighters. He has a small restaurant so we went for dinner. To cut the story shorter he said that Kurosaki was not meant to fight and was not ready to fight but had to because his sensei, Oyama, almost ordered him to. There were four fighters at first so they would have one fighter extra in case of injury. Two of them Okada and Oyama (not that Oyama) couldn't make it because of the date changes. Oyama was doing his legal studies at college and had examinations and Okada could no longer get time off his job. Fujihira said they were training together for more than a month and the date changed. Kurosaki was training them and making the plans and making the training ideas to help them get ready for the Thais because none of them had ever fought with gloves or in a ring at all. So he was about the same fitness as any trainer but they were all super fit not him. 

If you say that he was as fit as a karate guy training hard is then okay, he was ready enough but definately not ready for a fight against the thai. He did get in the ring so he wasn't unfit. But Fujihira laughed when he was talking about how Kurosaki reacted after the fight. He was angry he lost and hated they took him off in a tanker but he said next time he had better train with them! He was not ready at all to fight in the ring. Anyway, that is my story of meeting Fujihira at his small ramen restaurant.  

Also there are a few photos in Japanese magazines of him training with them. When they did the karate stuff in karate suits he trained with them, but when they did the kickboxing and glove training he was watching and teaching them. So he didn't do any of the hard training.

[The 1963 Fight That Started Kickboxing - When Karate Lost to Muay Thai]

On 6/25/2019 at 6:20 PM, Kevin von Duuglas-Ittu said:

”Not really worth mentioning - I mean you can mention it, but you would also have to mention that they "Muay Thai fighters" that they beat were not Thais” What are you saying? The Thais challenged the Japanese, the Japanese beat them 2-1 and now all you can say is, 'Oh they weren't actually Thai.' What were they? Why would the Thais put non-Thais in against a team from Japan in Thailand to accept their challenge? That's just really dumb. It doesn't even make sense! That is like saying Ernesto Hoost and Ivan Hippolyte aren't Dutch because they are ethnic so if they lost a fight it was the enthicity's fault. That's very naive.

And it was Thai rules in Thailand with gloves. When the Thais accepted invites to fight in Japan with Kyokushin rules in the 1975 world tournament they lost. Soundly.

Four Kyokushin fighters were chosen. Oyama chose Kurosaki as the coach and asked him to prepare the fighters. He was the only coach of the team. The Thais kept changing the date. Three changes I believe. The changes may have been legitimate. It doesn't matter. In the end two of the fighters couldn't come. So Kurosaki HAD to step in. He was 35 years old, and Dechachai was at his peak. Kurosaki was training the team, not training as part of the tea. How many fight coaches have you ever known to step in and accept a fight when their fighter was out? Never happens. He was completely unready but stepped up anyway. Like most coaches he had fight experience of course, but definitely not at a point where he puts on gloves and gets in a ring for the first time.

Kurosaki didn't co-create Kyokushin. In 1953 when you suggest he help co-create Kyokushin he was a 23 year old student. He was about 20 when he started training with Oyama. He was just one of a group of students.

"You have a Karate Master, a man who helped create and disseminate Kyokushin", no, not accurate at all. He helped disseminate kyokushin AFTER the fight in Thailand at the request of his teacher Oyama.