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K-1 may have reduced role on New Year’s Eve

By Zach Arnold | September 28, 2006

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By Zach Arnold

There are at least two reports (from Jiji Press and Asahi Shimbun) that discuss rumors of Tokyo Broadcasting System trimming down K-1’s role on the TV network for New Year’s Eve. The reason? The reports claim that TBS wants to build their New Year’s Eve programming around the theme of “Kameda Matsuri” (Kameda festival), which would mean boxing programming featuring the under-age-20 Kameda boxing brothers. Despite the fact that the original contract between the Kamedas and TBS is supposed to expire in November, there is reason to believe that the two sides will negotiate a new deal. Gryphon (in English) and Black Eye 2 (in Japanese) have more details.

The network has indicated publicly that K-1 will still have programming on New Year’s Eve, but it appears that they will be splitting time now with boxing.

K-1 announced that their New Year’s Eve show will take place, once again, at the Osaka Dome (which sold the rights to their building’s name and it’s renamed the Kyocera Dome).

Update: On a K-1 related note, Peter Aerts hasbeen canceled from the 9/30 Osaka Castle Hall event. Gary Goodridge vs. Remy Bonjasky is now booked.

Update II: Here’s a ZAKZAK/Yukan Fuji article in which President Inoue of TBS denies that the network will air a “Kameda Matsuri” on New Year’s Eve. “It was never examined (as a possibility) at our bureau.” The Kameda vs. Juan Jose Landaeta fight on 10/18 will air on TBS from 6:55 PM-8:54 PM.

Kakutolog has a funny scan of a Tokyo Sports article, with the paper raising (or maybe hoping) for a “Kobashi Matsuri” pro-wrestling event on New Year’s Eve. The one interesting angle to this story, if it has any measurement of truth to it, is that NOAH is backed by Nippon TV. Nippon TV was the network heavily rumored to be interested in PRIDE. If N-TV invests in pro-wrestling programming on New Year’s Eve, what would that mean for PRIDE’s chances for getting back on TV for New Year’s Eve?

Topics: All Topics, Boxing, Japan, K-1, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 10 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

10 Responses to “K-1 may have reduced role on New Year’s Eve”

  1. Monkeymatt says:

    Gryphon’S post seems to contradict this one?

    “he said “In this newyear eve,Dymamite time is bigger than last year”.”

    “And,Today’s japan.Famous Boxer KAMEDA brothers.Rumor said “In 2006 Newyear eve TBS broadcasted not Dynamite but KAMEDA’s boxing match”.

    But President deny this rumor”

  2. b says:

    Zachory, might be time for a refresher course in Japanese and I think you might want to look at that Black Eyes blog post again. It clearly says that according to TBS, they are not going to broadcast Kameda fights on NYE and instead, expand K1’s role.

    The Asahi article that he linked to says the same thing:

    “「亀田戦」大みそかの中継なし TBS”
    “TBS: No broadcasts of Kameda fights on NYE”

    In that Asahi article, the Black Eyes blog, and everything else I’ve read, TBS Pres. Inoue says that there was never a plan to broadcast the Kamedas on NYE and it was just baseless speculation spread by others.

    The father also said that they absolutely won’t fight on NYE.
    http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20060928-00000085-sph-spo

    I’ve heard the younger Kameda’s also say they don’t want to fight on NYE, believing it’s a time to be spent with family instead.

    The brawl that broke out of Taiki’s recent fight is also being investigated by both the Japan Boxing Commission and by the police:
    http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20060928-00000144-mai-spo

    More disagreements over decisions favoring the Kamedas…

    Apparently Dad was photographed trying to get a piece of the brawl (set off by people trash talking the Kamedas) but being held back by ringside officials, which Black Eyes speculates may have made a NYE Kameda special that much more difficult. Very embarrassing since the President of the World Boxing Commission was also ringside.

    The (Japanese) news link in Gryphon’s (English) blog says the same thing:
    http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20060927-00000155-jij-soci
    “Never heard of a plan to broadcast the Kamedas and we intend to expand K1’s (time) slot”
    There’s no mention of a Kameda fight on NYE, other than the Pres. saying they don’t intend to broadcast the Kamedas on NYE.

  3. Zach Arnold says:

    The TBS president is quoted as saying that the rumors about K-1 having a decreased role are not true, which is a public response to the claims others have been making about seeing the Kameda brothers on New Year’s Eve.

    Everyone knows K-1 will be on TBS on New Year’s Eve – the question is whether or not they will take a backseat to someone else this year (because of last year’s ratings performance).

  4. b says:

    The other TV stations are also getting in on this today:
    http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20060929-00000019-spn-ent

    TV Tokyo Pres. spoke about the recent post-fight Brawl and the Kameda dad: “TBS, the fight broadcaster, is also responsible for the Kameda’s provocative attitude. TBS should guide/teach and warn the (Kameda) dad and the kids. Those broadcasts are not the way TV should be.”

    Fuji TV Pres.: “TBS provoked ill-will from their viewers when they dragged out the pre-fight broadcast for more than an hour before actually broadcasting the fight (=Koki’s title fight in August). That was a clumsy way to broadcast.”

    Although no one has filed any official complaints (according to a different article I read), the police are taking statements from the Japan Boxing Commission, the promoter Kyoei Gym (also Kameda’s gym), and 3 people from Korakuen Hall. The JBC has also requested Kyoei gym to submit a report. The JBC Commissioner said today that the Kameda dad may be punished if it is found that he contributed to the brawl.
    http://sports.yahoo.co.jp/hl?c=sports&d=20060929&a=20060929-00000021-sph-spo

  5. monkeymatt says:

    any clips online of the chief gorilla (kameda sr.) and his cronies going at it in the crowd? i search youtube but my japanese ain’t that hot…

  6. b says:

    I was reading somewhere (forgot the source) that TBS provided film of the fight itself to other outlets (for news purposes, I assume) but did not provide any of the post-fight “brawl” footage. The only shots I have seen were still photos from the press that were at the fight. Mostly just gobs of people jossling with other people, so it’s difficult to say who’s doing what to whom from still shots.

    TBS has not mentioned anything of the brawl on their broadcasts, news or otherwise. They didn’t mention much of the post-Koki criticism either, while the other outlets pounced on it.

  7. b says:

    Ahhh, okay, here is the source. It was a post from Gryphon:

    http://d.hatena.ne.jp/gryphon/20060928#p3

    “According to [TV Asahi show] Yajiuma Wide, TBS, the owner of the broadcast rights, sent film of the fight to the other stations but apparently did not send them video of the post-fight brawl. I think it was newsworthy, though…”

  8. b says:

    Here is one photo of part of the post-fight “fight”
    http://ca1n.c.yimg.jp/sports/sn2006092723160400046159m/sportsnavi.yahoo.co.jp/fight/pict/200609/im00046159.jpg

    While I can’t be sure from that pic, that looks like Koki Kameda bouncing around in the middle with the shaved head and white outfit.

    Notice the guy wearing the light blue jersey in the bottom right. The jersey says TBS. There’s a guy behind him with a shaved head, save a ponytail, who is one of the younger Kameda brothers. There is also someone in front of the TBS guy…

    Same TBS guy from a different angle, clearly holding someone back. Who could it be? He looks very familiar.
    http://image.news.livedoor.com/newsimage/2/u/21_pfuln20060928003001001-m.jpg

    Ah, it was Papa Kameda!
    http://www.tokyo-np.co.jp/00/spo/20060928/060928sp12.jpg

  9. Testing the Trackback…

    What’s happening in the Japanese kakutogi scene now, courtesy of fightopinion.com

    ……

  10. kaku says:

    it seems that 10/18 fight will be postponed because of injured kameda

    http://mmajapan.blogspot.com/2006/10/kameda-koki-title-defense-postponed.html

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