Kensaku Maeda

Japanese kickboxer
Kensaku Maeda
Born前田憲作
(1968-05-09) May 9, 1968 (age 55)
Zama, Kanagawa, Japan
NationalityJapan Japanese
Height174 cm (5 ft 9 in)
Weight60 kg (130 lb; 9.4 st)
StyleKickboxing
StanceOrthodox
Fighting out ofTokyo, Japan
TeamTeam Dragon (1999-)
Singsak Victory Gym (S.V.G)
Caesar Gym
TrainerSingsak Muangsurin

Kensaku Maeda is a Japanese former professional Kickboxer, former K-1 WORLD GP Japan producer. He is also renowned as the founder and head trainer of the successful kickboxing gym Team Dragon.[1]

Biography

Early years

In his youth Maeda was fan of Tiger Mask and Bruce Lee's movies which sparked his interest in martial arts, he later joined the Caesar Gym in Tokyo. The affiliation with Takeshi Caesar's gym led him to make his professional debut with the Shootboxing organization.

Maeda made his Muay Thai debut in 1989 at the Nakhon Pathom Stadium where he won by decision, following the experience he decided to switch from Shootboxing rules to Japanese Kickboxing in Japan and joined the All Japan Kickboxing Federation with the ambition to be ranked in the major Bangkok Stadiums.

Kickboxing career

in the late 1980s one of Maeda's main trainer, Singsak Muangsurin a former Rajadamnern Stadium Junior Welterweight Champion, decided to left Caesar Gym and create the Singsak Victory Gym (S.V.G).
Maeda followed Singsak but S.V.G didn't have a local and fighters had to train in dire conditions under a bridge in Setagaya.[2]
Despite this situation Kensaku Maeda managed to won his first title on July 18, 1992, against his rival Atsushi Tateshima taking the AJKF Featherweight Championship belt by decision. Overcoming this situation and becoming champion attracted attention from the media and his popularity grew importantly.

Maeda lost his AJKF Featherweight title in a rematch with Atsushi Tateshima on November 27, 1993. He rebounded by winning his first world title the next year on July 30, 1994, against the American Lawrence Miera by TKO for the WKA Muay Thai World Super Featherweight title.
His fighting success added to his good looks made him a popular figure in media. In 1994 The character Shinsaku Maekawa in the video game Battle K-Road was directly inspired from Maeda. In 1996 he played the main role in the movie adaptation of the popular manga Rokudenashi Blues.

On July 25, 1997, he defended his WKA Muay Thai World title against the Australian Craig Pace by second-round KO. Four months later he made his K-1 debut for the Japan Featherweight Grand Prix at the K-1 Grand Prix '97 Final event, he lost to Takehiro Murahama by decision. Following this loss Maeda went away from the rings for almost two years.[3] During his time off he took back his role from the Rokudenashi Blues movie in Rokudenashi Blues '98. He also appeared in the live-action adaptation of Abare Bunya.

In 1999 Kensaku Maeda founded Team Dragon with Taishin Kohiruimaki and Charn a Thai trainer. Maeda made his return to the ring on August 22 at K-1 Spirits '99 where he stopped Karim Nassar by second-round TKO.
On December 5, 1999, Maeda faced Australia's Brad Hemming at K-1 Grand Prix '99 final round. He won by first-round knockout.[4] On March 19, 2000, Maeda face Muay Thai legend Chamuekpet Hapalang at the K-1 Burning 2000 event. He was defeated by unanimous decision after five rounds.[5] On May 12, 2000, at K-1 King of the Ring 2000 Maeda won a double world title match beating Massimo Rizzoli by second-round TKO. He conserved the WKA Muay Thai World title and won the WAKO PRO Muay Thai World Super Featherweight title.

Maeda's retirement fight happened on October 11, 2002, at K-1 World MAX 2002 Champions' Challenge. He won a three rounds unanimous decision against Miroslav Safra.

After career

The day following his retirement fight Maeda officially opened his own Kickboxing gym called Team Dragon in Tokyo and would focus on being a Kickboxing instructor.

His work showed impressive results quickly some of his students (Taishin Kohiruimaki, Ryuji Kajiwara, Junichiro Sawayashiki, Keiji Ozaki) started to win titles in various organizations.

On January 28, 2008 K-1 hired Maeda to supervise the youth development of future K-1 fighters leading to the creation of K-1 Koshien, a tournament to determine the best under 18 amateur kickboxers of the country.

In 2010 Team Dragon and Maeda received the Best Dojo award for their success in the Shin Karate Grand Prix.[6]
In the early 2010s Team Dragon emerged as one of the best kickboxing gym of Japan with fighters such as Hirotaka Urabe, Koya Urabe, Hideaki Yamazaki or Takeru.[7]

On May 25, 2014, Maeda was introduced as producer of the newly created K-1 WORLD GP JAPAN, he had to leave the head of Team Dragon rebranded K-1 Gym Dragon to one of his trainers Masakazu Watanabe.[8]

On September 9, 2016, for undisclosed reasons Maeda was forced to resign by the K-1 company and replaced by Mitsuru Miyata the former Krush producer.[9]

Team Dragon Gym was freed from the K-1 affiliation but the fighters attached to it stayed with K-1 and as a result over 20 of his fighters, including his best champions, transferred to the newly created K-1 Gym KREST with Masakazu Watanabe as the head trainer.[10]

Titles and accomplishments

Notable Students

Name Titles
Japan　Taishin Kohiruimaki
  • ISKA World Oriental Super Welterweight Champion (2000)
  • K-1 World MAX Japan tournament Champion (2004, 2005, 2009)
Japan　Ryuji Kajiwara
  • J-NETWORK Lightweight Champion (2006)
  • WFCA World Lightweight Champion (2007)
  • Krush -63 kg Champion (2011)
Japan　Kyotaro Fujimoto
  • K-1 Heavyweight Champion (2009)
Japan　Hirotaka Urabe
  • Krush -60 kg Champion (2011)
  • ISKA oriental rules World Super Lightweight Champion (2014)
  • K-1 World GP -60 kg Champion (2015)
Japan　Koya Urabe
  • K-1 WORLD MAX 2011 –63 kg Japan Tournament Runner-Up
  • ISKA K-1 rules World Lightweight Champion (2013)
  • ISKA K-1 rules World Super Lightweight Champion (2014)
  • K-1 World GP 2015 –60 kg Tournament Champion
  • K-1 World GP 2016 –60 kg World Tournament Champion
Japan　Takeru
  • Krush -58 kg Tournament Champion (2013)
  • K-1 World GP -55 kg World Tournament Champion (2015)
  • K-1 World GP -57.5 kg World Tournament Champion (2016)
  • K-1 World GP -60 kg World Tournament Champion (2018)
Japan　Hideaki Yamazaki
  • Krush -63 kg Champion (2013)
  • Krush -65 kg Champion (2015)
  • K-1 World GP 2016 –65 kg Japan Tournament Champion
Japan　Haruma Saikyo
  • Krush -58 kg Champion (2017)
  • K-1 World GP -57.5 kg World Tournament Runner-Up (2018)

Kickboxing record

Professional Kickboxing Record (Incomplete)
29 Wins (18 (T)KO's), 12 Losses, 1 Draws, 0 No contest
Date Result Opponent Event Location Method Round Time
2002-10-11 Win Czech Republic Miroslav Safra K-1 World MAX 2002 Champions' Challenge Tokyo, Japan Decision (unanimous) 3 3:00
2000-07-26 Win Australia Ben Smullen WOLF REVOLUTION 〜First Wave〜 Tokyo, Japan KO (left knee) 2 3:00
2000-05-12 Win Italy Massimo Rizzoli K-1 King of the Ring 2000 Bologna, Italy TKO 2 2:35
Retains WKA Muay Thai World Super Featherweight title and wins WAKO PRO Muay Thai World Super Featherweight title.
2000-03-19 Loss Thailand Chamuakpetch Haphalung K-1 Burning 2000 Yokohama, Japan Decision (unanimous) 5 3:00
1999-12-05 Win Australia Brad Hemming K-1 Grand Prix '99 final round Tokyo, Japan KO (left Kick) 1 1:33
1999-08-22 Win Australia Karim Nassar K-1 Spirits '99 Tokyo, Japan TKO (corner stoppage) 2 0:27
1997-11-09 Loss Japan Takehiro Murahama K-1 Grand Prix '97 Final Japan Featherweight Tournament Semi-finals Tokyo, Japan Decision (unanimous) 3 3:00
1997-09-28 Win England James Burgess AJKF KICK OVER-IX Tokyo, Japan TKO (corner stoppage) 2 0:27
1997-07-25 Win Australia Craig Pace AJKF Tokyo, Japan KO 2 0:56
Retains WKA Muay Thai World Super Featherweight title.
1997-04-29 Win Switzerland Souleymane Suleimani AJKF Tokyo, Japan KO 2
1997-01-31 Win Thailand Arnee Sor.Suwanpakdee AJKF Tokyo, Japan KO 2
1996-03-24 Loss Japan Riki Onodera AJKF Yokohama, Japan Decision 5 3:00
1996-02-02 Loss Thailand Tongsak Bor.Kor.Sor Lumpinee Stadium Bangkok, Thailand Decision 5 3:00
1995-07-30 Win France Khaled Ebieb AJKF CHALLENGER-IX～ALL OR NOTHING Tokyo, Japan
Retains WKA Muay Thai World Super Featherweight title.
1995-01-07 Netherlands Marcel Karus AJKF HOLDING OUT FOR A HERO Tokyo, Japan
1994-11-26 Win Netherlands Maikel Lieuwfat AJKF DESTINY X Tokyo, Japan KO (Spinning back fist) 5 1:52
Retains WKA Muay Thai World Super Featherweight title.
1994-07-30 Win United States Lawrence Miera AJKF DESTINY VII Nagoya, Japan TKO (corner stoppage) 2 3:00
Wins WKA Muay Thai World Super Featherweight title.
1994-05-20 Win Australia John Ford AJKF DESTINY V Tokyo, Japan KO (Knees to the Body) 2 1:32
1993-11-27 Loss Japan Atsushi Tateshima AJKF EVOLUTION step-8 Tokyo, Japan KO (right Elbow) 3 0:49
Lost AJKF Featherweight title.
1993-09-25 Japan Hayashi (林成根) AJKF Evolution STEP 6 Tokyo, Japan
1993-05-22 Loss Thailand Peemai Or.Yuttanakorn AJKF Tokyo, Japan TKO (corner stoppage) 4
1993-04-11 Thailand Fapikart Luktabfar Channel 7 Stadium Bangkok, Thailand
1992-11-14 Win United States Billy Bowen AJKF in Las Vegas Las Vegas, United States KO (right middle kick) 4 1:21
1992-07-18 Win Japan Atsushi Tateshima AJKF EVOLUTION One Truth 5th Tokyo, Japan Decision (majority) 5 3:00
Wins AJKF Featherweight title.
1992-05-30 Win Japan Takashi Nakajima AJKF Tokyo, Japan
1992-01- Japan Tadayuki Sugawara AJKF Tokyo, Japan
1990-07-14 AJKF Tokyo, Japan
1989 Win Thailand Nakhon Pathom Stadium Nakhon Pathom, Thailand Decision 5 3:00
1989-02-17 Win Japan Hidekazu Miyake Shoot Boxing - Handicap Match 60 kg vs 65 kg Tokyo, Japan 2nd Ext.R decision (unanimous) 5 3:00
1988-09-17 Win Japan Shinji Koshino Shoot Boxing Tokyo, Japan Ext.R decision (unanimous) 4 3:00
1988-04-03 Loss Japan Li Sogi Shoot Boxing World Revolution Sengen Tokyo, Japan KO 1 1:13
1988-01-31 Loss Japan Hidekazu Miyake Shoot Boxing '88 First Match Tokyo, Japan Decision 3 3:00
1987-10-10 Win Japan Hidekazu Miyake Shoot Boxing vs Okinawa Karate Tokyo, Japan KO 4 (Ext.R) 2:23
Legend:   Win   Loss   Draw/No contest   Notes

Acting Work

  • Rokudenashi Blues (1996)[11]
  • Jigoku-do Reikai Tsushin (1996)
  • Rokudenashi Blues'98 (1998)
  • Abare Bunya (1998)
  • Shin Shonan Bosozoku Arakure Knight 4

References

  1. ^ "Team Dragon Official Website ：チームドラゴンジム：".
  2. ^ 佐竹. YouTube. Archived from the original on 2021-12-08.
  3. ^ "BoutReview XX No.02 --- 前田憲作 インタビュー（扉）".
  4. ^ "Report k1 99.12.5 K-1 GP'99 決勝 東京ド－ム". boutreview.com. Retrieved 1 March 2022.
  5. ^ "Report k1 3.19 K-1 BURNING 2000(K-1JAPANシリーズ) 横浜アリーナ". boutreview.com. Retrieved 1 March 2022.
  6. ^ "第160回新空手道交流大会（東京）-大会記録 | Npo法人 全日本新空手道連盟".
  7. ^ "立ち技界最大勢力、チームドラゴン。王者を続々輩出する強さの秘密とは。（橋本宗洋）".
  8. ^ "【K-1】前田憲作がチームドラゴン代表を辞任".
  9. ^ "【K-1】前田憲作が選手離脱に関して声明文".
  10. ^ "【K-1】元チームドラゴン所属選手が会見「前田先生とは方向性の違い」".
  11. ^ "Rokudenashi blues (1996)". IMDb.