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On Saturday, June 19 2004, the prestigious
All-American Open made another great success
in one of the world's biggest cities, New
York. Crowds from around the NY area and the
world completely filled the Hunter College
Gymnasium and witnessed some of the world's
best competitors with their own eyes. Over
one hundred fighters displayed superb
techniques and unshakable spirit in front of
Kancho Matsui, Shihan Lowe, Shihan Isobe and
North American & Japanese branch chiefs.
Johnny Leblanc and I flew to the Big Apple
on June 17. On the night before the event,
we went to the NY dojo for a warm-up. Johnny
looked very strong and totally ready for
competing in this grand scale event. Our
prime goal was to get up to the top 8 rank.
In order to achieve it, I knew he had to
beat at least one world class fighter. As
part of the preparation, I watched videos of
several Brazilian fighters numerous times to
further analyze their moves and techniques.
As I kept on studying with the videos,
Johnny kept training exceptionally hard. His
speed, stamina and techniques had been well
polished up by the time the event day closed
only one week away. In the last week of the
training plan, we spend so much time for
finalizing strategies against them. When
flying from the Vancouver Airport, I was
confident enough to say we've done
everything we could.
The event day saw the gym packed by the
enthusiastic Kyokushin fans and top class
techniques and spirits spectacularly
displayed by the World Class fighters
including the defending champion, Brazil's
Ewerton Teixeira.
Johnny had a bye in the first round. His
second round opponent was a fighter from the
local NY dojo, Slawek Was. I knew that the
match against him would not be easy because
I received information that he originally
came from Poland, one of the strongest
countries in the Kyokushin world. This
expectation tuned out to be right. The
moment after the bout began, the two closed
in and started exchanging hard punches. The
strongly built Polish fighter also possessed
powerful low kicks. However, Johnny's
defense was effective in checking the
technique with his shin. Improving Johnnyfs
defensive techniques was one of the
important themes for us in this event.
Johnny calmly delivered the shin block and
counter-attacked his opponent with back leg
inner low kick. The strategy was well
executed and confused the opponent. When
Johnny's uppercuts began landing, the
two-minute fight ran out of time. A
unanimous decision was awarded to Johnny
bringing him up to the third round.
Johnny faced off against Carlos Moreira from
Brazil in the third round. In his previous
match Moreira showed a wide range of high
kicks. The strategy we came up with to
counter Moreira was to not give away enough
distance for him to use those high kicks.
Johnny stepped closely into the Brazilian
and began working on the body. Moreira used
swift sidesteps to gain some space for his
kicks. Johnny did not chase him too far but
waited for his opponent to come in instead.
The well-matched bout kept on going and the
200lbs fighters kept delivering heavy blows.
With the slight edge Johnny had over Moreira,
the judges rewarded him with a victory.
Johnny advanced to the quarterfinal where
the undefeated champion was awaiting.
Immediately after "Tameshiwari" or breaking
techniques was conducted, the quarterfinals
commenced. The top 8 contenders included
Mikoshiba (Japan), Furlan (Brazil), Tanaka
(Brazil), Kosowski (Poland) and of course,
Teixeira (Brazil). Teixeira at the age of 22
is one of the most prominent fighters in the
international tournament scene. In last
year's 8th World Tournament, he astoundingly
captured 3rd place despite the fact it was
his first debut in a World Tournament.
Johnny looked very calm before the match.
Shihan Stuart came and gave him some advice.
All other Canadian fighters from Montreal
wished him good luck. The strategy that I
told Johnny prior to the bout was to watch
his left knee and front kick. Everything was
ready to go and Johnny stepped onto the mat.
The bout began with close quarter fighting,
both delivering powerful uppercuts and low
kicks. They stayed in the middle of the ring
for about 40 seconds, mainly targeting the
stomach of the other. Teixeira's knee kick
was released several times during the rally
but Johnny moved to his left to keep the
kick from connecting. The fight was
progressing as I expected but something
unexpected happened around the one-minute
mark. Johnny received "Chui" or warning from
the referee for pushing with the forearms.
Because the two stayed in so closely their
forearms were quite often pushing against
each other. Johnny was leaning towards his
opponent more, so he ended up receiving the
warning.
Johnny positioned himself at mid distance in
order to avoid another warning. Then,
Teixeira delivered a devastating front kick.
Johnny stepped to the side the moment before
it was released. Then, they came close again
and began the uppercut campaign. Everything
was being done in a split second and the
situations kept changing very quickly.
With ten seconds to go, the judges gave
Johnny another warning, which constituted "Genten"
or one full warning for the groin kick he
threw. When the fight resumed, time was
over. Johnny lost the very tough match to
the champion but the experience and
confidence he earned from it are enormous.
For the three minutes, neither of them went
out of bounds. Johnny tasted the World-Class
kicks and punches with his own body. It is
hundreds times better than studying his
moves by watching videos. Now he knows what
to expect and what he has to work on for a
next tournament.
Ewerton Teixeira was once again crowned with
the All-American title having won it for
four consecutive years. Edward Tanaka
finished second. The fact that five fighters
out of the top 8 came from Brazil proved the
team's excellence in strength and spirit.
Johnny came in 6th place. As far as I know,
he became the first Canadian born fighter
who managed to climb up the ladder to this
level in the history of this high caliber
event. The result speaks for itself. We
Canadian fighters can do it as long as we
keep training and studying hard. Yes, we can
do it very well.
I would like to take this opportunity to
express my sincere gratitude to the
International Karate Organization
Kyokushinkaikan for letting us be part of
this spectacular event. I would also like to
express our special thanks to Shihan
Katsuhito Gorai and his staff of the New
York dojo for organizing the event so well
every year. Finally, I would like to thank
Shihan Stuart Corrigal for giving us the
opportunity to access the event. One should
never forget that he or she wouldn't be able
to become a better fighter without the
supports they receive from others. That is
actually a significant part of the Kyokushin
Way. Having it in our heart deep down, we
will keep training hard.
Osu.
Go to the NY dojo web site
for the official results
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Johnny before the opening ceremony
is about to begin.
The opening ceremony with
Shihan Lowe's speech
Men's 1st round bout
Johnny and Tats waiting
for the 1st match
Tameshiwari or Breaking techniques
by the top 8 fighters
Johnny and
Ewerton Teixeira
Tats in officiating as a corner judge
Closing ceremony with award winners
Congratulations, Johnny. Job well done!
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Group photo with Kancho Matsui
and Shihan Stuart Corrigal |
