Canberra based Josh ‘Timebomb’ Tonna was beaten in the first round of the K1 World GP: Japan Featherweight (60kg) tournament yesterday via a spectacular flying knee to the body in the first round.
His opponent, Japan’s Kaito Ozawa, used his sharp boxing skills and effective push kicks to keep Tonna at range until he delivered a textbook flying knee 44 seconds into round one. With Tonna unable to continue the referee called a stop to the fight.
Not perturbed by the loss, Tonna said “one thing is for sure being inside the K-1 ring is where I want to be. You start at a level and work your way up. That’s what I’m going to do now.”
While perhaps not as prominent and prestigious as they once were, the eight-man K1 World GP tournaments still represent an amazing opportunity for a fighter such as Tonna to gain further exposure on the world stage and continue to make his mark on the featherweight division. A division in which he has held both the WKA Australian, ISKA South Pacific and ISKA World K1 titles.
Ozawa went on to win his semi-final bout before being beaten by fellow Japanese fighter Takeru who won the tournament final via unanimous decision.
Results:
- K1 World GP Featherweight Final: Takeru def Kaito Ozawa via Decision (Unanimous)
- Sanny Dahlbeck def Yashuhiro Kido via KO, Rd 2
- Yuta Kubo def Keita Makihira via Decision (Unanimous)
- Yasuomi Soda def Fawad Seddiqi via Decision (Unanimous)
- K1 World GP Featherweight Semi Final #2: Takeru def Yun Qivia KO, Rd 2
- K1 World GP Featherweight Semi Final #1: Kaito Ozawa def Elias Mohmoudi via Decision (Unanimous)
- K-1 Koshien 2016 -65kg Final: Kensei Kondo def Umi Honma via Decision (Unanimous)
- K-1 Koshien 2016 -60kg Final: Yuma Saikyo def Takumi Yokoyama via Decision (Unanimous)
- K-1 Koshien 2016 -55kg Final: Taito Gunji def Ryuya Tsubakihara via Decision (Unanimous)
- K1 World GP Featherweight Qtr Final #4: Takeru def Jamie Whelan via Decision (Unanimous)
- K1 World GP Featherweight Qtr Final #3: Yun Qi def Shota Kanbe via KO, Rd 3
- K1 World GP Featherweight Qtr Final #2: Elias Mahmoudi def Ryuma Tobe via Decision (Unanimous)
- K1 World GP Featherweight Qtr Final #1: Ozawa Kaito def Josh Tonna via KO, Rd 1
- Tournament Reserve Bout: Hirotaka Asahisa def Yuta Otaki via Decision (Unanimous)
(Prelims):
- Rukiya def Hisaki Hashimoto via Decision (Unanimous)
- Ryuya Mineyama def Yuto Shinohara via Decision (Unanimous)
- Yuki Egawa def. Ryota via TKO
