Training

Training for this event was a little less intense than usual because most of my international team mates had moved recently due to career changes and my motivation was a little lazy but I still managed to attend most of the regular karate class.

weigh in

On Friday March 24th, Sensei Tats Nakamura  and I arrived in Dorval airport around 5pm.The weigh in took place at Shihan Andre Gilbert Honbu Dojo at 6pm. The last few years I've been fighting at 95kg. 91kg and up is super heavyweight so before Christmas I had decided to lose the 5kg and try to compete in the heavyweight division for a while. Losing 10 pounds in 10 days can be a little hard but with a change of diet it was surprisingly easy. Like always at the weigh ins there's a lot of tension and electric in the air. Fighters are talking to each other or some are very quiet but that same energy I feel when some of your opponents are trying not to stare you down is forever present. After making weight I was happy to talk to middle weight champ Dominic Adam and Sylvain Lemire for they were old world team members of mine and they advised me that in the second round I would be facing a Quebec heavyweight named Marc Andre Wilson and that I would have to be careful for he was strong and fast.

Sat the 25th, tournament day
I studied Marc Andre in the first round when he fought Pierre-Olivier Corcos. Actually Pierre proved to be the strongest of the 2 . So my first fight would be against Corcos. Like always before my first fight I get some "butterfly" feelings but as soon as I step on the mat I feel like a soldier... What impressed me the most about Corcos, he had a strong spirit. A never quit attitude. That spirit alone is what divides the international fighters from the local and national fighters. All the technique, speed and power is useless if there is no heart behind to fuel those talents. Although Corcos lost to me 5 to 0, I think we will be seeing more of this rising Quebec fighter.

In the finals I faced world open team member Jonathan Aumont from Montreal. Actually we had fought in 2004 and the fight was one sided winning 5 to 0. I was confident it would be the same, but when the fight started there was something very different about Aumont. He had gained 20 pounds of lean muscle and his foot work had changed. He landed some new techniques that I did not expect like knee to the face , spinning kick to my head and middle kick to my ribs. Lucky for me none had did enough damage to score but the look of revenge

was in his eye and we fought a extension round. I landed many unanswered inside low kicks and body punches that awarded me with a 5 to 0 decision from the judges. Aumont was much stronger and smarter in the ring then before. He is a serious contender.

Sayonara Party

After the tournament all the fighters met at the cage des sports were there was a  party with all the Shihans, Sensei's and all who supported the event. We had a great time together and strengthened the bonding between west and east.
 

I would like to thank Sensei Nakamura for his superb coaching skills. He always knows how to prepare me mentally before each fight and proper warm ups is essential to winning these tournaments. Sensei Tats Nakamura has competed many times internationally so his advice

is very useful for me. I also would like to thank Shihan Andre Gilbert and his staff for organizing a great tournament such as this one. Without these well-organized tournaments in North America, Kyokushin fighters here would not be able to gain enough experience to fight international fighters. Osu.

Johnny LeBlanc
Vancouver Kyokushin Karate

Some photos are up on Vancouver Kyokushin's web