is a Japanese former

welterweight Welterweight is a weight class in combat sports. Originally the term ''welterweight'' was used only in boxing, but other combat sports like muay Thai, taekwondo, and mixed martial arts also use it for their own weight division system to classify th ...

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 ...

fighting out of Yamaki Gym in

Setagaya, Tokyo is a Special wards of Tokyo, special ward in the Tokyo, Tokyo Metropolis in Japan. It is also the name of a neighborhood and administrative district within the ward. Its official bird is the azure-winged magpie, its flower is the Habenaria radi ...

. He is the owner of

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 ...

gym "TARGET", and the manager of the kickboxing promotion company " R.I.S.E.". He won the world title of WMAF at

Junior middleweight Light middleweight, also known as junior middleweight or super welterweight,PeBoxRec/ref> is a weight class in boxing but also may include other combat sports. Boxing The light middleweight division (also known as junior middleweight in the IBF o ...

. He is

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

Biography

Early life

He was born in

Saitama, Japan is the capital and largest city of Saitama Prefecture, Japan. Its area incorporates the former cities of Urawa, Ōmiya, Yono and Iwatsuki. It is a city designated by government ordinance. , the city had an estimated population of 1,324,854 ...

, September 22, 1970. He became a model, but he was halfhearted as he said in interview. For instance, although he had got drunk and had a hangover, he went to the audition. When he was 20, he decided to attend a fitness club, but he thought it wasn't enough and then he started going to

gym which was near to his home. That was Yamaki Gym. He debuted in Spring 1994 as "Ryuji Ibuki".

Winning Japanese Title

In December 1996,　Ito challenged Hammer Matsui's Japanese

title. He won by knockout at 4R, and won the title. In July 1997, he fought against Koki Date to defend his title, but he lost by unanimous decision and lost his title. Date won the title but he had to return his title as he couldn't defend his title because his skull was caved when he fought against Ito and the doctor ordered not to fight for a year. For this reason, Ito could challenge the title in 2 months later　after his loss. In September, Ito had a championship for the vacant title of MAJKF Welterweight, and fought against Takashi Idemoto. Idemoto cut Ito's middle of forehead with elbow, but he couldn't open his wound because his stamina ran out. On the other hand, Ito continued to attack with knee and kicks. At the end of 5R, Ito won by unanimous decision, and won the same title again.

Winning World Title

In April 1998, he went to

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

to attend the world tournament of 67 kg class, fought against

Jomhod Kiatadisak Chamlom Thodthing (; born July 5, 1970), known professionally as Jomhod Kiatadisak (), is a Thai former professional Muay Thai fighter and kickboxer. Biography and career He started learning muay Thai at the age of 7 and won his first fight wh ...

. He couldn't take a measure against Jomhod's neck wrestling, and he was knocked out by body shots with knee at 2R. When he was depressed just after the bout, Jomhod' second said him that "Jomhod said I was damaged as much as you were because I'm a human". When Ito heard this, he had confidence and stopped flinching from opponent's title and achievements. In May, he fought against Luke Kenton (/WMAF#2) for the vacant world title of WMAF at Junior middleweight. He won by majority decision at 5R. In September, he fought against

John Wayne Parr John Wayne "The Gunslinger" Parr (born 25 May 1976), also known as JWP, is a retired Australian Muay Thai fighter, kickboxer and boxer, fighting out of Boonchu Gym in Gold Coast, Queensland. He is a former 10-times World Champion and was the ru ...

. He cut Parr's middle of the forehead by left elbow at 2R, and the doctor stopped the bout. In March 2000, he fought against Sangtiennoi Sor.Rungroj (/WMAF#1)to defend his title. At 5R, Saengtiennoi's right shoulder was dislocated because of neck wrestling. He gave up to continue to fight, and Ito retained his title.

Retirement

In November, he got on the ring of K-1 and fought against

Takashi Ohno Takashi Ohno (born on Kodiak Island, Alaska) is an American politician who was a Democratic member of the Hawaii House of Representatives for District 27 from 2012 to 2022. Ohno announced in March 2022 that he would not be running for re ...

. He overwhelmed ohno with punching and middle kicks, and Ohno managed to continue clinching. This was regarded as passive attitude by referee and he was taken off his points twice, so Ito won by unanimous decision at 5R. Ito received the accident to his brain at the end of the year, the doctor stopped him to continue fighting

, so that he did a regrettable retirement this time. For this reason, he had a retirement bout(Exhibition) with Masato on March 30, 2001. At interview after the bout, he answered that he would continue to get involved in kickboxing. According to his interview, his best bout was vs. Saengtiennoi. On February 23, 2003, he established a new kickboxing promotion company "KRS", and he started a continuous kickboxing series event "R.I.S.E." which means Real Impact Sports Entertainment.

Kickboxing record

, - bgcolor="#c5d2ea" , 2001-03-30 , , Ex , , align=left, Masato , , MAJKF "ODYSSEY-1 Ito Takashi Retirement Memorial Match" , , Bunkyo, Tokyo,

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, , No Decision , , 1 , , 2:00 , - ! style=background:white colspan=9 , , - , - bgcolor="#CCFFCC" , 2000-11-01 , , Win , , align=left, Takashi Ohno , ,

K-1 J-MAX 2000 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 Fig ...

, , Bunkyo, Tokyo,

, , Decision(unanimous) , , 5 , , 3:00 , - bgcolor="#CCFFCC" , 2000-09-03 , , Win , , align=left, Ilin Vitali , , MAJKF "COMBAT - 2000　King Road II" , , Bunkyo, Tokyo,

, , TKO , , 4 , , 2:19 , - bgcolor="#CCFFCC" , 2000-07-20 , , Win , , align=left, Jo-En Hor , , MAJKF "COMBAT - 2000 King Road" , , Bunkyo, Tokyo,

, , KO (Left high kick) , , 3 , , 2:08 , - bgcolor="#CCFFCC" , 2000-05-26 , , Win , , align=left, Panomtuanlek Chorchanmuang , , MAJKF "COMBAT-2000" , , Bunkyo, Tokyo,

, , TKO , , 1 , , 0:28 , - bgcolor="#CCFFCC" , 2000-03-22 , , Win , , align=left, Sangtiennoi Sor.Rungroj , , MAJKF "COMBAT-2000" , , Bunkyo, Tokyo,

, , TKO (shoulder dislocation) , , 5 , , 2:28 , - ! style=background:white colspan=9 , , - , - bgcolor="#FFBBBB" , 1999-09-25 , , Loss , , align=left, Reece ToganeGym , , MAJKF "Set Fire II - Set fire to kickboxing! -" , , Bunkyo, Tokyo,

, , Decision (Majority) , , 5 , , 3:00 , - bgcolor="#CCFFCC" , 1998-09-19 , , Win , , align=left,

, , AJKF & MAJKF Joint Event , , Bunkyo, Tokyo,

, , TKO (Doctor stoppage) , , 2 , , 2:47 , - bgcolor="#CCFFCC" , 1998-07-17 , , Win , , align=left, Soldier Ogata , , MAJKF "Kick Guts" Kajiwara Ikki Cup, , Bunkyo, Tokyo,

, , Decision (Unanimous) , , 5 , , 3:00 , - bgcolor="#CCFFCC" , 1998-06-26 , , Win , , align=left, Kenichi Nagata , , MAJKF "Mach Shidokan Dream Match" , , Bunkyo, Tokyo,

, , KO (Knee) , , 3 , , 3:08 , - bgcolor="#CCFFCC" , 1998-05-22 , , Win , , align=left, Luke Kenton , , MAJKF "Champion Carnival" , , Bunkyo, Tokyo,

, , Decisoon (Majority) , , 5 , , 3:00 , - ! style=background:white colspan=9 , , - , - bgcolor="#FFBBBB" , 1998-04 , , Lose , , align=left,

, , , ,

, , KO (Knee to the body) , , 2 , , , - bgcolor="#CCFFCC" , 1997-10-25 , , Win , , align=left,

Morad Sari Morad Sari (born June 20, 1973) is a French-Algerian former professional Muay Thai fighter and kickboxer. He is a former Lumpinee Stadium Super Lightweight Champion who was active during the 1990s and 2000s. Notably he's the first non-Thai to w ...

, , MAJKF , , Bunkyo, Tokyo,

, , Decision (Split) , , 5 , , 3:00 , - bgcolor="#CCFFCC" , 1997-09-23 , , Win , , align=left, Takashi Idemoto , , MAJKF "World Championship" , , Bunkyo, Tokyo,

, , Decisoon (Unanimous) , , 5 , , 3:00 , - ! style=background:white colspan=9 , , - , - bgcolor="#FFBBBB" , 1997-07-26 , , Loss , , align=left, Koki Date , , MAJKF , , Bunkyo, Tokyo,

, , Decision (Majority) , , 5 , , 3:00 , - ! style=background:white colspan=9 , , - , - bgcolor="#CCFFCC" , 1997-05-23 , , Win , , align=left, Shinji Matsuura , , MAJKF , , Bunkyo, Tokyo,

, , TKO , , , , , - bgcolor="#CCFFCC" , 1997-03-29 , , Win , , align=left, Ryuji Goto , , MAJKF , , Bunkyo, Tokyo,

, , TKO , , , , , - bgcolor="#CCFFCC" , 1997-01-26 , , Win , , align=left, K Takahashi , , MAJKF , , Bunkyo, Tokyo,

, , KO , , , , , - , - bgcolor="#CCFFCC" , 1996-12-01 , , Win , , align=left, Hannmer Matsui , , MAJKF , , Bunkyo, Tokyo,

, , KO , , 4 , , 2:20 , - ! style=background:white colspan=9 , , - , - bgcolor="#fbb" , 1996-05- , , Loss, , align=left, Kenichi Ogata , , MAJKF , , Bunkyo, Tokyo,

, , Decision , , 5 , , 3:00 , - bgcolor="#CCFFCC" , 1995-03-23 , , Win , , align=left, Sumitomo , , K-LEAGUE KENZAN , ,

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

, , Decision (Unanimous), , 3 , , 3:00 , - , colspan=9 , ''Legend'':

Titles

*The 1st WMAF

Super welterweight Light middleweight, also known as junior middleweight or super welterweight,PeBoxRec/ref> is a weight class in boxing but also may include other combat sports. Boxing The light middleweight division (also known as junior middleweight in the IBF o ...

Champion (Defence: 1)

Awards

*1998 MVP (MAJKF, December 26, 1998) *2000 MVP (MAJKF, January 27, 2001)

Trivia

*His entrance music is Livin' La Vida Loca by

Ricky Martin Enrique Martin Morales (born December 24, 1971), known professionally as Ricky Martin, is a Puerto Rican singer, songwriter and actor. He is known for his musical versatility, with his Ricky Martin albums discography, discography incorporati ...

. *His elder brother Tsutomu "David" Ito is an actor and a businessman.

References

External links

TARGET R.I.S.E.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ito, Takashi 1970 births Living people Japanese male kickboxers Welterweight kickboxers People from Iruma, Saitama Martial artists from Saitama Prefecture