In early 2004, after winning the 2003 middleweight sanda title, Liu Hailong began to fade from people's vision. After the 2005 10th Games, Liu Hailong announced his retirement due to long-term injuries. Liu Hailong chose to enter the university campus for further study, away from his beloved Sanda arena.
After retiring, the news about Liu Hailong's comeback has not stopped. Some media described Liu Hailong's comeback time and opponents in detail, but all of them were confirmed by Liu Hailong as "fake news".
Liu Hailong
In 2008, the news that excited Sanda lovers came, and Liu Hailong announced to the camera that he would re-emerge against Japan's Hiroharu Iga. The date is set for May 23, 2008.
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" data-track="11" > a challenge letter</h1>
Liu Hailong's return to the field was due to a challenge letter. Let's start with Hiroharu Iga, the initiator of the challenge book, a challenger from the Japanese fighting world.
Hiroji Iga
Born in 1974, Hiroji Iga is four years older than Ryu Yanagi and is a 80 kg veteran of major japanese combat events. He has beaten white boxers weighing more than 100 kilograms in indiscriminate competitions.
From the age of 12, Hiroji Iga practiced judo for ten years. As a result, Hiroharu Iga was extremely good at wrestling and even better at preventing falls, and quickly became a household star after moving to the famous Japanese event SpotBoxing.
Before challenging Yanagi, Hiroharu Iga had a professional record of 31 games, 10 of which were won by KO, earning him the title of "King of Ko in Japan".
But Hiroji Iga has big ambitions to make a name for himself in the world's fighting arena. So he targeted Liu Hailong, the iconic Chinese sanda figure.
The outside world has speculated that there are two reasons for this decision: 1. Liu Hailong is the representative of the highest level of martial arts sanda, as long as he can defeat Liu Hailong, Iga Koji can become famous in China and even the world. 2. Liu Hailong focused on his studies after retiring from the army, and has not trained for more than a year, and has long been out of his peak state. How to see how cost-effective this kind of good thing is.
Hiroharu Iga knows Sanda very well and has played against Chinese Sanda athletes on several occasions. Qiao Xiaojun, the "god of changeable thunder", once commented on Iga Koji after fighting with him: "His will is extremely tenacious, his ability to resist blows is also very good, and his wrestling skills are not inferior to those of Chinese players." ”
After careful preparation, Iga Hiroharu came to Guangzhou confidently after writing the war book himself. In order to expand his influence and force Yanagi to fight, Iga Hiroji challenged Yanagi through the media.
After learning that he had been challenged, Liu Hailong was slightly shocked, this was the first time in his life that he had received a challenge book. After all, in Liu Hailong's career, there have been opponents who want to beat Liu Hailong, but that is only a personal goal.
Thinking about it again and again, Liu Hailong officially announced the battle through the media, although he had not played a game for three years, but after all, Sanda was something that was integrated into his blood, and he did not fight for a long time, and his heart was itchy.
Ryu Yanagi (right) and Hiroji Iga (left)
The alternative response to the post-war difficulties is also very large. Liu Hailong had to resume training in less than two months, and in such a short period of time, it was difficult for athletes to adjust to their best state.
The disparity in strength, the KO king is difficult to defeat Liu Hailong
For various reasons, the event, which was scheduled for May 2008, was postponed to early 2009.
On January 10, 2009, the day of the decisive battle agreed by the two sides, the Lingnan Pearl Gymnasium in Foshan was full. Liu Hailong slowly stepped into the ring amid the shouts of the audience.
Shortly after the first round began, Liu Hailong first kicked a high whip leg, followed by a powerful backhand punch, and Iga Koji fell to the ground in response.
Iga Hiroji was also tenacious, and after getting up, he pounced on Yanagi Hailong, and was kicked by Yanagi Hailong with a kick on his leg. Although the game has only just begun at this time, the strength of both sides is already clear at a glance.
Iga Hiroji then also found that his repeated active attacks were repelled by Yanagi's rapid fists and legs, and once he got close, he would be lightly thrown to the ground by Yanagi. He was just a little curious as to why Liu Hailong hadn't attacked himself with all his might.
At the beginning of the second round, Yanagi Suddenly attacked, and after a few high whip legs, the action was consistently used with a neck throw, and Iga Koji felt the horror of Yanagi Hailong.
But then, Liu Hailong seemed to be deliberately retaining his strength. It would be the last time he would get into the ring and he wanted to play a little longer. Although Liu Hailong did not choose a KO opponent, the arena at this time became his personal performance show, and the heavy punch made Iga Koji, who was busy with fighting, have no ability to fight back.
In the third round, Iga Hiroharu, who fought back on the water, once launched an onslaught, and he knew that only KO Yanagi Hailong could turn defeat into victory, otherwise he would undoubtedly lose.
It's just that Liu Hailong is too powerful, frequently controlling the distance with his legs, and then catching Iga Hiroharu's legs easily knocks him to the ground.
Subsequently, The dominant Yanagi Frequently attacked Hiroji Iga with his fists and feet, enjoying the ring he loved so much. In the end, Yanagi defeated Hiroji Iga without controversy. Compared with the scrappy pre-match, Iga Koji was much more humble after the defeat.
After the game, Liu Hailong said that he was just an ordinary person who did an ordinary thing. "Although compared to my peak, I am not as good as before. But I was very satisfied with being able to return to my current state within a few months, and I didn't embarrass myself, let alone shame Chinese kung fu. ”
After the game, according to the statistics of the ticket sales department of Foshan City, the box office sales of this competition exceeded 2 million, which was indeed a miracle for the Chinese sports market in 2009.
This article is submitted by the author and does not represent the official views of Sanda King
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Original/Responsible Editor: Izumi Jiao