Aleksandr N. PitchkounovNSAC report of K-1 World Grand Prix 2006 in Las Vegas
/ref> (; born May 6, 1979) is a former Russian

heavyweight Heavyweight is a weight class in combat sports and professional wrestling. Boxing Professional Male boxers who weigh over are considered heavyweights by 2 of the 4 major professional boxing organizations: the International Boxing Federation an ...

kickboxer Kickboxing ( ) is a full-contact hybrid martial art and boxing type based on punching and kicking. Kickboxing originated in the 1950s to 1970s. The fight takes place in a boxing ring, normally with boxing gloves, mouth guards, shorts, and ...

and kyokushin karateka competing in

K-1 K-1 is a professional kickboxing promotion established in 1993 by karateka Kazuyoshi Ishii. Originally under the ownership of the Fighting and Entertainment Group (FEG), K-1 was considered to be the largest Kickboxing organization in the worl ...

. He was the runner up at the

K-1 World GP 2007 in Hawaii This is a list of events held and scheduled by the K-1, a Japanese kickboxing promotion. The first event, List_of_K-1_events#1993_events, K-1 Sanctuary I, took place on March 30, 1993, at Korakuen Hall, Kōrakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan. Since its i ...

and K-1 World GP 2008 in Taipei tournament.

Background

Pitchkounov began training in

Kyokushin kaikan is a style of karate originating in Japan. It is a Full contact karate, full-contact style of stand-up fighting and is rooted in a philosophy of self-improvement, discipline, and hard training. Kyokushin Kaikan is the martial arts organizat ...

at age of 13 in 1993. He became a black belt in 1999 and started training

kickboxing Kickboxing ( ) is a full-contact hybrid Martial arts, martial art and Boxing (disambiguation), boxing type based on punch (combat), punching and kicking. Kickboxing originated in the 1950s to 1970s. The fight takes place in a boxing ring, norma ...

a year later after being interested by watching

-competitions. He finished third place in the 7th World Open Karate Tournament in Japan at the age of 20. During the tournament competition he knocked out

Nicholas Pettas Nicholas Pettas (born January 23, 1973) is a Greek- Danish karateka, former heavyweight kickboxer and actor, who fought out of Team Spirit Tokyo, Japan. Pettas mainly competed in the promotion K-1 between 1998 and 2007, and was the winner of th ...

with a head kick.

Career

Pitchkounov made his K-1 debut in May 2004, defeating

Seth Petruzelli Seth Christopher Petruzelli (born December 3, 1979), nicknamed "The Silverback", is an American retired mixed martial artist, kickboxer, professional wrestler and entrepreneur. Petruzelli competed in the Heavyweight and Light Heavyweight divisi ...

via TKO. After picking up two more wins in other promotions, he returned in 2005, defeating French fighter Rani Berbachi via decision. On November 19, 2005, at the K-1 World Grand Prix 2005 in Tokyo Final, Pitchkounov faced Pat Barry. The two fought to a draw, and had a rematch five months later, with Pitchkounov winning a close decision. In 2007, he returned to face

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

fighter

Hiraku Hori Hiraku Hori (; born April 3, 1982) is a retired Japanese heavyweight kickboxer. A professional from 2001 until 2010, he competed almost exclusively in K-1. Career Hori made his professional debut at K-1 Survival 2001, winning via third-round kn ...

. Pitchkounov defeated Hori after three knockdowns in the first round, all with punches. In the quarterfinals of the

K-1 World Grand Prix 2007 in Hawaii This is a list of events held and scheduled by the K-1, a Japanese kickboxing promotion. The first event, K-1 Sanctuary I, took place on March 30, 1993, at Kōrakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan. Since its inception, K-1 events were organized by the F ...

, he faced another Japanese fighter in Tatsufumi Tomihara. He won via third-round KO. In the semi-finals, he faced Pat Barry for a third time, winning a more clear-cut unanimous decision. In the final, Pitchkonouv faced

Samoan Samoan may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the Samoan Islands, an archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean ** Something of, from, or related to Samoa, a country encompassing the western part of the Samoan Islands ** Something of, from, ...

Mighty Mo. The fight was highly exciting; Pitchkonouv scored an early knockdown from a wheel kick to the head, before being knocked down twice with barrages of punches from the Samoan. In the third round, Pitchkonouv was dropped again from a series of hooks, but rose again. After getting dropped a fourth time in the fight with an overhand right, the fight was stopped. Pitchkonouv fought twice more in 2007, defeating

Tsuyoshi Nakasako Tsuyoshi Nakasako (; born January 29, 1974) is a Japanese retired heavyweight kickboxer who competed in K-1. During his ten-year career from 1998 until 2008, he fought a variety of K-1 champions including Ernesto Hoost, Peter Aerts, Remy Bonjasky ...

and losing to

Doug Viney Douglas Ma'afu Hawke, better known as Doug "Vicious" Viney (born 20 November 1976) is a Tongan-New Zealander heavyweight boxer and kickboxer. He is the K-1 World GP 2007 in Las Vegas champion, who also represented Tonga as a super heavyweight ...

via unanimous decision. He returned to K-1 in 2008, facing

Chalid Arrab Chalid "Die Faust" Arrab (born May 28, 1975) is a German- Moroccan kickboxer and mixed martial artist. He trains at Team Golden Glory in Breda under Cor Hemmers. Biography and career Arrab's amateur boxing record of 34 Wins and 31 KOs out of ...

, whom he defeated via a close decision. After a decision over

Nobu Hayashi Nobu Hayashi (; born April 27, 1978) is a professional Japanese heavyweight karateka and kickboxer. He is a two-time K-1 Japan tournament runner-up and holds notable wins over Ben Edwards, Sander Thonhauser and Faisal Zakaria. Hayashi fights ou ...

in the quarterfinals, he faced

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

MMA fighter Vaughn Anderson in the semi-finals. Greatly outmatching his opponent in size, Pitchkonouv won via first-round KO. In the finals of the 2008 K-1 World Grand Prix in

Taipei , nickname = The City of Azaleas , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Taiwan#Asia#Pacific Ocean#Earth , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Country ...

, he faced fellow

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

Ruslan Karaev Ruslan Savelyevich Karaev (Karayev) (; ; born May 19, 1983) is a Russian kickboxer. He is K-1 World GP 2005 in Las Vegas and K-1 World Grand Prix 2008 in Taipei tournament champion. He joined the Golden Glory's K-1 stable, training under Cor ...

. After an errant low blow in the first round, Karaev knocked out Pitchkonouv with a left hook.

Titles

*2008 K-1 World GP in Taipei Finalist * 2007 K-1 World Grand Prix in Hawaii Runner-Up

Kickboxing record (incomplete)

External links

Official K-1 website

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pitchkounov, Aleksandr 1979 births Living people Russian male kickboxers Heavyweight kickboxers Russian male karateka Kyokushin kaikan practitioners Sportspeople from Perm, Russia Russian expatriates in Japan