is a retired professional Japanese

Japanese people

The are an ethnic group originating in the Japanese archipelago and are the predominant ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 127 million are residents of Japan. People of Japanese ancestry who live in other countries...

 Heavyweight

Heavyweight

Heavyweight is a division, or weight class, in boxing. Fighters who weigh over 200 pounds are considered heavyweights by the major professional boxing organizations: the International Boxing Federation, the World Boxing Association, the World Boxing Council, and the World Boxing...

 karateka and kickboxer

Kickboxing

Kickboxing refers to a group of martial arts and stand-up combat sports based on kicking and punching, historically developed from karate, Muay Thai and western boxing....

. He is 4 time K-1 Japan tournament champion, a former WAKO

World Association of Kickboxing Organizations

The World Association of Kickboxing Organisations is one the international organization of kickboxing, and the governing body of Amateur kickboxing sport certified by SportAccord...

 Heavyweight Muay Thai

Muay Thai

Muay Thai is a combat sport from Thailand that uses stand-up striking along with various clinching techniques. It is similar to other Indochinese kickboxing systems, namely pradal serey from Cambodia, tomoi from Malaysia, lethwei from Myanmar and muay Lao from Laos...

 champion and two time K-1 World Grand Prix

K-1 World Grand Prix

K-1 World Grand Prix, also known as the K-1 World GP, is an elimination kickboxing tournament that has been held annually since 1993 by the K-1 organization. Each year, K-1 holds various 16-men, 8-match grand prix style tournaments throughout the world to determine which 16 fighters will compete in...

 finalist. He announced his retirement and decided to end his 14-year professional career at the press conference in Tokyo on August 26, 2009.

He holds notable wins over Ray Sefo

Ray Sefo

"Sugar" Ray Sefo is a New Zealand kickboxer, boxer and mixed martial artist. He is five time Muay Thai World champion and eight time K-1 World Grand Prix Finals tournament participant, currently living in Las Vegas, Nevada and training with Xtreme Couture.He holds notable wins in the K-1 over...

, Peter Aerts

Peter Aerts

Peter "The Dutch Lumberjack" Aerts is a Dutch super heavyweight kickboxer. He is a three-time K-1 World Grand Prix and Muay Thai World Champion. Aerts is best known for his powerful strikes and high kicks.- Biography :...

, Sam Greco

Sam Greco

Sam "Slam 'em" Greco is a retired Australian super heavyweight kickboxer, heavyweight mixed martial artist and professional wrestler of Italian descent, who fought in Kyokushin karate, professional kickboxing, and K-1 tournaments....

 and Bob Sapp

Bob Sapp

Robert Malcolm "Bob" Sapp is an American kickboxer, mixed martial artist, professional wrestler, actor, comedian and former professional American football player. Sapp currently has a combined fight record of 21–21–0, mostly fighting in Japan...

.

Biography and career

Musashi was born as Akio Mori (森昭生) in Sakai, Osaka

Sakai, Osaka

is a city in Osaka Prefecture, Japan. It has been one of the largest and most important seaports of Japan since the Medieval era.Following the February 2005 annexation of the town of Mihara, from Minamikawachi District, the city has grown further and is now the fourteenth most populous city in...

, Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

. After he started practicing Seido-kaikan (正道会館) karate he took his ring name from the famous samurai

Samurai

is the term for the military nobility of pre-industrial Japan. According to translator William Scott Wilson: "In Chinese, the character 侍 was originally a verb meaning to wait upon or accompany a person in the upper ranks of society, and this is also true of the original term in Japanese, saburau...

 of the same name Musashi Miyamoto, since his kicking techniques is said to resemble the latter's sword-slashing moves. Musashi is trained by former WBA

World Boxing Association

The World Boxing Association is a boxing organization that sanctions official matches, and awards the WBA world championship title at the professional level. It was previously known as the National Boxing Association before changing its name in 1962...

 Super Middleweight

Super middleweight

Super Middleweight is a boxing and Muay Thai weight division that has a weight limit of 168 pounds .- 1960s–1983 :There was interest in a division between Middleweight and Light Heavyweight in the late 1960s, the mid-1970s, and the early 1980s...

 Boxing

Boxing

Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...

 Champion (1994 - 1999) Frankie Liles. His elder brother Tomo

Tomo

Tomo may refer to:*TomoTherapy, a manufacturer of medical equipment*Yeshiva Toras Moshe, a yeshiva in Israel often called To-Mo*Sinkhole, in New Zealand any hole in the ground could be called a Tomo, it is particularly used for pot holes in Karst country....

 fought in K-1 Middleweight

Middleweight

Middleweight is a division, or weight class, in boxing. Early boxing history is less than exact, but the middleweight designation seems to have begun in the 1840s. In the bare-knuckle era, the first middleweight championship fight was between Tom Chandler and Dooney Harris in 1897...

 division.

Throughout his long K-1 career Musashi made it to the K-1 World Grand Prix 7 times. He made it to the finals twice, both times he lost to Remy Bonjasky

Remy Bonjasky

Remy "The Flying Gentleman" Bonjasky is a Dutch super heavyweight kickboxer of Surinamese descent. He is a three-time K-1 World Grand Prix champion, who has won the title in 2003, 2004, and 2008...

, via decision.

Musashi's entrance theme was made by Japanese heavy metal band Loudness

Loudness (band)

is a Japan-based heavy metal band formed in 1981 by guitarist Akira Takasaki and drummer Munetaka Higuchi. They were the first Japanese heavy metal act signed to a major label in the United States, releasing twenty-three studio albums...

. The song is called Battleship Musashi. Musashi also took part in a Loudness 25th anniversary concert at Tokyo International forum where he congratulated the band. Musashi also plays Issei Kurosaki/Kamen Rider Caucasus in Kamen Rider Kabuto: God Speed Love

Kamen Rider Kabuto: God Speed Love

is the theatrical film adaptation of the Kamen Rider Kabuto TV series directed by Hidenori Ishida and written by Shōji Yonemura. Unlike many others Kamen Rider movies, it does not follow the TV series's storyline. Instead, it is more like a prologue...

.

Musashi fought his last ever k-1 fight against long time veteran and rival, Jerome Lebanner at the K-1 World Grand Prix 2009 Final 16. Musashi put on a valiant performance in the fight by avoiding Jerome's heavy punches and landing his own punches, until the final 40 seconds where Musashi was knocked down by a powerful combo. In the end, it was a unanimous decision loss for Musashi. Although fans saw him in very good shape and he put up a very strong fight, Musashi announced that he would retire after the fight and would not enter the ring again.

Titles

• 2004 K-1 World Grand Prix runner up
  K-1 World Grand Prix 2004
  K-1 World Grand Prix 2004 Final was a kickboxing event promoted by the K-1 organization. It was the twelfth K-1 World Grand Prix final, involving twelve of the world's best K-1 fighters from eight countries, with all bouts fought under K-1 Rules...
  
  
• 2003 K-1 World Grand Prix runner up
  K-1 World Grand Prix 2003
  K-1 World Grand Prix 2003 Final was a kickboxing event promoted by the K-1 organization. The event was held at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan on Saturday,December 6, 2003 in front of 67,320 spectators. It was the eleventh K-1 World Grand Prix final involving ten of the world's best fighters...
  
  
• 2003 K-1 Japan GP champion
• 2002 K-1 Japan GP champion
• 2001 K-1 Japan GP runner up
• 2000 K-1 Japan GP champion
• 1999 WAKO World Heavyweight Muay Thai champion
• 1999 K-1 Japan GP champion

Kickboxing record

Kickboxing Record
Legend:

External links

• Musashi Official Website
• Profile at K-1
  K-1
  K-1 is a defunct world-wide kickboxing promotion based in Tokyo, Japan founded by Kazuyoshi Ishii, a formerKyokushin karate practitioner. K-1 combines stand up techniques from Muay Thai, Karate, Taekwondo, Savate, San Shou, kickboxing, western-style boxing, and other martial arts...
  
  

See also

• List of K-1 events
• List of K-1 champions
• List of male kickboxers
• List of kickboxing organizations