Last Saturday I went for the first time to the Korakuen Hall to see the guys from my gym (teiken.com) fighting. I have to say I was really surprised and dissapointed when I saw how small the place is! I was expecting something like Ratchadamnonen stadium in Bangkok, instead it's on the fifth floor of a building, and there isn't really much difference between ringside and cheaper seats (besides the price).
Even with a full house I wonder just how much money they actually get from staging fights in that place... Anybody knows the average pay a fighter gets from a fight in Korakuen Hall?
That's what I like about Korakuen Hall. In all the vids you watch of
fights there,..you can never tell just how small it really is. I like the
venue.
And if you wanna see small venues,..try a SHOOTO event at the Shimo-
Kitazawa Town Hall...THAT'S small. You'd really be pushing it to
squeeze 300 in there!
- Juggs
Yoyogi is where SHOOTO runs its major events (they used to do NK Hall before it closed down).
So Korakuen is like an ESPN Friday Night Fights venue
hey hungrytiger,
a couple of questions about teiken gym if thats ok.
any reason you choose that gym over others? are you gonna fight for the gym? and if not, do you still get a chance to spar?
ive visited a couple of other gyms in tokyo and the trainers were very friendly but i got the impression that id only be doing bagwork and possibily some mitt work. ive only fought as an amateur and it was a long time ago ... maybe thats why haha.
thanks for any info.
Clay Spicer is correct!!
I went to watch Pancrase one time there and Bas Rutten sat in front of
me! We talked and got pretty drunk together. Extremely fan friendly
venue.
- Juggs
Melvinferd,
When I first moved to Japan I lived in a small city west of Tokyo (Akishima). There I trained in a place called Ishikawa gym. I've been to gyms in six different countries, but that was the smallest gym I had ever seen! Famous for Rick Yoshimura (Roberts being the real name), an american soldier who defended the japanese lightweight belt for 19 times (the record so far), now their prospect is a famous boxer called Keita "KO Sensation" Manabe.
Anyway, there they had hard sparring like three (or more)times a week, but very little work on the focus mitt... didn't like the sparring too much cos the ring was so damn small! Like boxing in a phone booth!
I then moved to central Tokyo, so I decided to go to one of the big gyms. I first went to Kyoei, but the place was so packed they had people skipping rope outside in the street (during winter!). So I decided to checke Teiken and had a very good first impression, they showed me around and introduced to me several people (and I was just visiting the place!).
The trainers are not bad, then there's Sendai who's one of Barrera's trainers, but only trains the top dogs. But to answer your question, I've fought in both kickboxing and boxing and I'm pretty advanced but they've never allowed me to spar!! I'm planning on getting a pro card so I can fight in Japan, then I'm sure they'll have me sparring...
If you're only training for fitness the chances that they are gonna allow you to spar are very slim...
May I ask what gyms you have visited?
HungryTiger,
How was your training with Rick?
hungrytiger,
i visited kyoei and one at uguisudani station. im not that surprised they dont let you spar. good luck with fighting pro.
think ill look into mma clubs.
anyone have any good experiences training in tokyo? ie friendly and technical?
thanks
That's probably Kokusai gym. That gym is quite famous and has produced several champions, all with funny names... one is called Thrash Nakanuma, Prosper Matsusomething, Celes Kobayashi etc
J Roc, Rick actually retired a few years ago so I have never seen him training. He's works at the american base in Fussa (dont know his rank), and teaches a boxing program there. Sometimes he brings some of his boxers to spar at Ishikawa gym...
That's why I was asking.
I am at Fussa and will probably join his program soon. I've seen some of the guys spar and they look damn good. I was just wondering if you had any experience with him.
Major gyms like Teiken and Kyoei are very reluctant to train compelte novices (renshusei) seriously, not to mention let them spar. Try smaller gyms if you have little experience in boxing and want to train seriously to compete in pro or ama. They may have poorer equipments and a smaller space to train, but the coaches tend to be more caring. Go to public gyms for weight training equipments.