The following is an excerpt from an article on TheFightNetwork.com:
“I don’t know if it was a thumb or a corner of a glove or just a punch that grazed my eyeball,” Kang said. “Who knows? The K-1 gloves have lots of corners around the knuckles that taper off sharp. I was seeing double out of that eye. Before that, the plan was to keep moving forward to put the pressure on him. I started to do that once my eye was all f–ked up, but then I couldn’t tell how close I was getting to him. I was like `OK, I’ve got to let him come to me now,’ because then I at least had a chance to catch him with the counter.”
After an attempted a single-leg takedown was quashed by his opponent, Kang said Akiyama (10-1) sensed something was wrong. The Japanese judoka jumped on the opportunity to take control of the fight.
“I think he saw it,” Kang said. “His whole demeanor changed. It was a good move on his part. I would have done the same to him if I smelled blood. I’m not taking anything away from him. Next time, I’m going to take everything away from him, though.”
To read the complete article, click here.
