[On February 10th (Wed) a press conference was held in GEN Sports Palace in Okubo Tokyo and the retirement of Yamamoto Yuya was announced. At Krush 65 on April 10th in the Korakuen Hall, a retirement ceremony will be held in honor of his achievements.
Yamamoto made his pro debut in September of 2001 at the age of just 17 in the All Japan Kickboxing Federation. After that, he achieved much including becoming the 23rd AJKF welterweight champion and coming in 2nd in the K-1 MAX 2009/2011 Japan tournaments. He also contributed to the middleweight division by entering the 2009 K-1 MAX world tournament and becoming #3 in the world. However, he is now facing a doctor stop after a neck injury and has decided to put an end to his 14 and a half year active career.
In this retirement address Yamamoto stated with a somewhat cool expression that "The doctor told me that 'You can't fight anymore, if you do you'll die.' Now I don't want to sound like I'm ignoring my family, but if I could I would have wanted to continue even if I did. Heck, it would have been a pleasure to have died on the ring. But if I couldn't die and was paralyzed in a hospital somewhere, there would be lots of people inconvenienced starting with my family... At the end I decided retirement for myself. I have no regrets".
When he was dropped in his fight against Kotetsu on Krush.51 last February 6th, Yamamoto said he "felt that it was different from usual". Afterwards, a inspection found that his neck had suffered injury and that the damage was reaching down to his spinal cord. Yamamoto--who had been feeling premonitions about neck injury before this--stated "The doctor told me that after transferring to welterweight, I was putting strain on my neck from fighting opponents taller than me. I can't dispute that was the case"
After being stopped by the doctor after last February, Yamamoto decided to get surgery, saying that "[he felt] emotional instability to the point of clinical depression and decided that the problem needs to be fixed." He says "The symptoms of my neck injury were the scariest thing I've experience in my 31 year long life. I do not want anyone to suffer the same fate in the future, so I recommend to getting regular inspections to all fellow fighters."
Looking back on his career, Yamamoto named as Fujimaki Takahito and Hamazaki Ikki as his most memorable opponents.
"I fought both of these guys twice and lost to them twice. In the rematch, I swore to myself 'I don't care if its a boring fight, but I'm definitely going to win!' then I still lost so I think I'll hold it against them forever (laughter). That said, I remember all my fights. Like how I fought Horikawa Mitsumasa and Kin Toukoku in the AJKF welterweight championship tournament. Its odd, but I actually put on a pretty aesthetically pleasing and technical fight against those two (laughter). People who've only seen my recent fights might be surprised by how I fought back then. But I gave it my all in every fight, so I have no regrets. I have truly had a happy career"
"If I was in the condition to put on a retirement fight, I would have liked to fight Marat Grigorian". After showing that he still had pride as a fighter, Yamamoto said that he would like to become an instructor in his future. "I shouldn't say this myself, but I actually think I have it in me to become a good teacher. So I'll give it my all in that field going forward."
At the end of the presser, Yamamoto gave his final message to his fans.
"I started in 17 and could continue fighting until 31 because of all the fans who cheered me on. I am truly grateful. I was just fighting because I liked to do so, but I am fortunate that people rallied around me to cheer me on. From now on, I would like to think long and hard about how I can repay everyone. I would like to become a virtuous person who can repay my debts, so I look forward to continuing to work with you going forward. As an active fighter, this is it and thank you for everything."
