Yoshiki Takei

Yoshiki Takei (武居由樹; born 12 July 1996) is a Japanese professional boxer and former kickboxer, who held the OPBF super bantamweight title between 2022 and 2023.

Takei made his professional debut against Tasuku at Krush.47 on November 9, 2014.

He won the fight by a first-round knockout, stopping Tasuku with strikes to the body at the 2:33 minute mark of the opening round.

Takei would then suffer two consecutive defeates, which would prove to be the only two losses of his professional kickboxing career.

He first lost a majority decision to Tenma Sano at Krush.49 on January 4, 2015, which was followed by a majority decision loss to Haruma Saikyo at K-1 World GP 2015 -55kg Championship Tournament on April 19, 2015.

Despite only amassing an 1–2 record, Takei was given the chance to challenge the WINDY KICK super flyweight champion Shuto Hagiwara at WINDY Super Fight 2015 on August 16, 2015.

He captured the title by a first-round technical knockout, after he had knocked Hagiwara down three times inside of a single round.

Takei faced Yusho Kamemoto at Krush.59 on October 4, 2015.

He won the fight by unanimous decision, with two scorecards of 30–28 and one scorecard of 30–27.

Takei next faced Katsuhiro at Krush.61 on December 4, 2015.

He knocked Katsuhiro out with a left hook to the body after just 51 seconds.

Takei extended his winning streak to three consecutive fights with a narrow unanimous decision victory against Taito Gunji at Krush.63 on February 5, 2016.

Takei took part in the 2016 Krush Super Bantamweight tournament, held to crown the inaugural Krush Bantamweight champion.

Takei was booked to face Ryusei in the tournament semifinals on April 10, 2016.

He won the fight by a second-round knockout, flooring his opponent with a left uppercut in the final minute of the second round, which left Ryusei unable to beat the eight count.

Takei advanced to the tournament finals, held on June 12, 2016, where he faced the former WPMF and J-NETWORK super bantamweight champion Yuki Ueba.

He made quick work of Ueba, stopping him with a right uppercut at the midway point of the opening round.

After capturing his second professional title, Takei was booked to face Yuichiro Ito in a non-title bout at GRACHAN 25 x BFC Vol. 2 on October 10, 2016.

He won the fight by unanimous decision, with scores of 30–27, 30–26 and 30–28.

Takei made his first and only Krush title defense against Ryusei, whom he head previously beaten by stoppage in the quarterfinals of the bantamweight tournament, at Krush.71 on December 18, 2016.

He won the rematch by a third-round technical knockout, after knocking Ryusei down thrice in the last round of the bout.

As a professional kickboxer, he held the K-1 Super Bantamweight Championship from 2017 until 2020, and was the 2017 and 2019 K-1 Super Bantamweight Grand Prix winner.

Takei participated in the 2017 K-1 World GP Super Bantamweight (-55 kg) World Grand Prix, which was held on April 22, 2017.

He was scheduled to face Antonio Orden in the quarterfinals of the one-day tournament, while the other three fights pitted Keisuke Ishida against Charles Bongiovanni, Nobuchika Terado against Jamie Whelan and Kenji Kubo against Son Dachen.

Takei won the fight by a third-round technical knockout.

He first knocked Orden down with a strike to the body, before forcing a referee stoppage with a flurry of punches at the 2:31 minute mark of the final round.

Orden was given a verbal warning in the third round, after hitting Takei with an elbow in the clinch.

Takei advanced to the tournament semifinals, where he faced Keisuke Ishida.

He first knocked Ishida down with a left straight, before finishing him with repeated right hooks at the midway point of the first round.

Takei faced the former RISE bantamweight champion Kenji Kubo in the finals of the Grand Prix.

He won the fight by a clear unanimous decision, with all three judges scoring the bout 30–27 in his favor.

Aside from the tournament title, Takei also captured the vacant K-1 Super Bantamweight (55 kg) Championship.

A month later, on May 22, 2017, he vacated the Krush Bantamweight Championship.

Takei faced the "Legend of Heroes" featherweight champion Namito Izawa in a non-title bout at K-1 WORLD GP 2017 -67kg World Tournament on September 18, 2017.

He knocked his opponent down with a head kick in the third round, before knocking him down twice more with flurries of punches, which resulted in an automatic technical knockout victory for him.

Takei then faced Victor Saravia in another non-title bout at K-1 WORLD GP 2017 Heavyweight World Tournament on November 23, 2017, in his fifth and final fight of the year.

He made quick work of Saravia, winning the fight by a 98 second spinning back kick knockout.

At the annual "K-1 awards" held on January 14, 2018, Takei was named the 2017 "Fighter of the Year".

Takei made his first K-1 Super Bantamweight Championship defense against Kenji Kubo at K-1 World GP 2018: K'FESTA.1 on March 21, 2018.

At the time of his retirement from the sport of kickboxing, on December 9, 2020, Takei was ranked as the best fighter at 55 kg (122 lbs) and the eight best pound for pound fighter in the world.