Who do you think is P4P #1 in Kickboxing right now?

[Monte Moku]

Takeru?

Marat?

Giorgio?

Tenshin?

Cedric?

Someone else?

 

[Monte Moku]

In my opinion, either Marat or Cedric is #1 right now. Both have been improving a lot and seem to only be sharpening their tools more. They also have faced some really good opposition in their last five and beat them while looking very crisp and tight. That being said, I feel like it's still really close between all the top guys right now and there's valid arguments on all sides.

 

[Nova44]

I mean it could be Petro but he hasn't fought any of the top guys at his weight in years so i just can't call him #1 when the other guys you've mentioned have a better claim.

In my opinion it's either Takeru or Doumbe.

 

[Yodsanan]

 

[Monte Moku]

View attachment 858126

This is probably a dumb question, but I often see Takeru listed as the #1 in the world on a lot of Kickfighting websites. Is the level of opposition at ~60kg comparable to ~70kg? I love watching Takeru and Tenshin fight, but my ignorance of their opposition always stops me from rating them above guys like Marat, Giorgio, etc.

 

[Monte Moku]

I mean it could be Petro but he hasn't fought any of the top guys at his weight in years so i just can't call him #1 when the other guys you've mentioned have a better claim.

In my opinion it's either Takeru or Doumbe.

Do you think Petro still has what it takes to beat the elite guys? Personally I feel like Superbon or Marat have what it takes to beat him, but that's much easier said than done with Giorgio haha

 

[Nova44]

Do you think Petro still has what it takes to beat the elite guys? Personally I feel like Superbon or Marat have what it takes to beat him, but that's much easier said than done with Giorgio haha

I think Petro absolutely could still be the best in the world at his weight but without top level fights in years it's hard to know for sure. I think Superbon probably has the best shot, Marat and Sittichai next, and i'd even give an outside shot to Tayfun.

As for your question about Takeru's weightclass, a lot of people who don't watch a lot of 60kg and below look at their records and think "they mostly fight other japanese guys so how good can they be?" and i understand this, but when you watch Rise and K-1 along with other smaller orgs in Japan you realize that all the best fighters at those weights are either in K-1 or Rise.

Even looking at combat press... at 55kg you have 5 of the top 10 in the Rise tournament coming up, at 60kg #1 and #2 fought in March in K-1, at 64kg #1 and #2 are fighting soon.

Sorry for the long winded post.

 

[Yodsanan]

Is the level of opposition at ~60kg comparable to ~70kg? I love watching Takeru and Tenshin fight, but my ignorance of their opposition always stops me from rating them above guys like Marat, Giorgio, etc.

It's good, but no. If there would be a Lightweight that takes on the other top fighters in the division, I would rank him number one. Just has to happen.

 

[Monte Moku]

I think Petro absolutely could still be the best in the world at his weight but without top level fights in years it's hard to know for sure. I think Superbon probably has the best shot, Marat and Sittichai next, and i'd even give an outside shot to Tayfun.

As for your question about Takeru's weightclass, a lot of people who don't watch a lot of 60kg and below look at their records and think "they mostly fight other japanese guys so how good can they be?" and i understand this, but when you watch Rise and K-1 along with other smaller orgs in Japan you realize that all the best fighters at those weights are either in K-1 or Rise.

Even looking at combat press... at 55kg you have 5 of the top 10 in the Rise tournament coming up, at 60kg #1 and #2 fought in March in K-1, at 64kg #1 and #2 are fighting soon.

Sorry for the long winded post.

No need to apologize for the long post, you more than adequately answered my question! What you say makes sense, Thailand has a similar thing going on with Muay Thai (in that the best MT fighters are there and mostly compete against their countrymen). I watched the K-1 GP the other night and it got me really excited to get into the Japanese scene more, I appreciate you giving me an idea for what the landscape of the divisions looks like.

 

[Monte Moku]

It's good, but no. If there would be a Lightweight that takes on the other top fighters in the division, I would rank him number one. Just has to happen.

That makes sense. Nonetheless, I gotta dig into those lower weight classes haha. Like I said to Nova, I watched the recent K-1 GP the other night and it was a banger! I loved the fights and I am hype to get into the Japanese scene more.

 

[Nova44]

No need to apologize for the long post, you more than adequately answered my question! What you say makes sense, Thailand has a similar thing going on with Muay Thai (in that the best MT fighters are there and mostly compete against their countrymen). I watched the K-1 GP the other night and it got me really excited to get into the Japanese scene more, I appreciate you giving me an idea for what the landscape of the divisions looks like.

Make no mistake though, if Petro's division in ONE actually have a grand prix and start actually fighting each other then it's still the best division in the sport.

 

[SuperLuigi]

In terms of pure skill Tenshin, in terms of accomplishment Perreira/Takeru.

 

[Snubnoze707]

Make no mistake though, if Petro's division in ONE actually have a grand prix and start actually fighting each other then it's still the best division in the sport.

They should do another tournament since they added a lot more top guys since the last one. I think we all did get a bad taste in our mouth from that last one due to the overturned decision/rematch with Petro.

They should just give us Petro vs Grigorian already...

 

[AndyMaBobs]

I mean it could be Petro but he hasn't fought any of the top guys at his weight in years so i just can't call him #1 when the other guys you've mentioned have a better claim.

In my opinion it's either Takeru or Doumbe.

For me now Petrosyan is clearly the best but also not really. I feel like he's sort of becoming the Bernard Hopkins of kickboxing, in that when he has fought tough opposition he has still won, but he seems to be in his own sort of class. The kinda class where you look and go 'wtf he's still fighting', but it's against guys of a similar sort of age to him.

I think P4P for me is prooooooooobably Takeru, but it's hard to call. I feel like this era hasn't quite had the same stand outs as the K1 Max days, but the way the sport is actually competed is very different now too, which makes it a hard comparison

 

[Snubnoze707]

What was great about the K-1 MAX/WGP days is we had most all of the top guys in the same promotion regularly competing with each other. Right now not even the Japanese market is consolidated. It was much easier to rank guys back then.

I still feel like Petro is the best on paper but as noted he isn't competing consistently against top guys so that leaves some questions.

 

[SOFA KING AWSM]

Takeru

 

[JustOnce]

I mean it could be Petro but he hasn't fought any of the top guys at his weight in years so i just can't call him #1 when the other guys you've mentioned have a better claim.

In my opinion it's either Takeru or Doumbe.

Imagine if I made this thread. This guy

 

[Snubnoze707]

Imagine if I made this thread. This guy

Easy to imagine. You wouldn't have bothered to post options/pictures and would be questioning every answer...

 

[wheel2wheel]

Takeru

 

[Tayski]

Imagine if I made this thread. This guy

Must be refreshing that someone created the thread for you.