Masaaki Noiri

Masaaki Noiri began kickboxing at a young age because of bullying in school.[2]

As a schoolboy, Noiri began practicing Shin Karate, a style of full contact karate based on Kyokushin but modified to use boxing gloves and allow punches to the face. He soon became an All Japan Junior Champion in the discipline. On February 25, 2007 at the age of thirteen, Noiri participated in a try-out held by the K-1 kickboxing organization and was taken on as one of Japan's youngest prospects.[3]

Noiri continued to show promise by winning the New Japan Karate Federation's K-2 Lightweight Grand Prix on May 3, 2009.[4] He was then called upon to fight under the K-1 banner on August 10, 2009 at the K-1 Koshien 2009 King of Under 18 Final 16, where he defeated Ryo Murakoshi via knee strike knockout at the opening stage of the K-1 Koshien -62 kg/136 lb high school tournament.[5] Advancing to the quarter-finals at the K-1 World MAX 2009 World Championship Tournament Final on November 26, 2009, Noiri beat Keisuke Miyamoto by unanimous decision.[6]

The final two stages of the tournament were held on December 31, 2009 at Dynamite!! 2009. Noiri was drawn against the previous year's Koshien champion, Hiroya, in the semi-finals and caused an upset by winning a unanimous decision from the judges. He then took another unanimous nod over Shota Shimada in the final to become the K-1 Koshien 2009 King of Under 18 Tournament Champion.[7]

He returned to K-1 Koshien the following year, with all four tournament rounds being held on the same night at the K-1 Koshien 2010 King of Under 18 Final on November 20, 2010. He made it past Naoki Takeda with a unanimous decision victory in the first round, but was then eliminated by Keigo Ishida via decision at the quarter-finals.[8]

Noiri debuted as a professional kickboxer on March 14, 2010 in his home town of Nagoya, defeating Shinji Aseishi by unanimous decision.[9] Following this, he was recruited by Krush and went 3-0 in the promotion, including two KO wins, before entering the Krush First Generation King Tournament at -60 kg/132 lb which began on December 12, 2010.[10][11][12] He was victorious over Junpei Aotsu in the tournament's first round[13] but was then defeated by Yuji Takeuchi in the quarter-finals on April 30, 2011. Noiri floored Takeuchi in the second round and again at the beginning of the third when both men knocked each other down with concurrent left hooks. Takeuchi, knowing that he had to stop Noiri to win the fight, came back aggressively towards the end of the fight, however, and violently knocked Noiri out with a left hook to send him crashing out of the tournament.[14]

Despite having recently suffering the first loss of his professional career, Noiri was invited to the K-1 World MAX 2011 -63kg Japan Tournament Final, a one-night tournament made up of eight of Japan's best lightweights, on June 25, 2011. He faced a tough test in the quarter-finals against the more experienced Ryuji Kajiwara. The bout was called a draw after three rounds and so an extension round was added to decide the winner, after which Noiri was given a close split decision. In the semis, he went up against the previous year's runner-up in Yuta Kubo and came out on the losing side of a unanimous decision.[15]

He then returned to Krush to compete in the 2011 Under-22 ~63 kg Supernova~ Tournament.[16][17] After finishing both Violence and Daizo Sasaki in the same night on October 10, 2011,[18] Noiri advanced to the tournament's final stage held at Krush.14 on December 9, 2011. The semi-finals saw Noiri rematch Hiroya and cruise to a unanimous decision (30-27, 30-28, 30-28) after sending his opponent to the canvas in round one. In the final, he went up against Koya Urabe and ended the fight with one of the year's most impressive knockouts.[19][20] After nullifying Urabe's superior boxing, he landed with a flying knee that ended Urabe's night towards the end of the first round, crowning him the tournament winner.[21]

Noiri ended the year with a unanimous decision victory over Kengo Sonoda at Fight For Japan: Genki Desu Ka Omisoka 2011 on December 31, 2011.[22][23] To kick off 2012, he bested his first international opponent, Frenchman Cedric Peynaud, with a unanimous decision (30-28, 29-28, 29-28) at Krush.17 on March 17, 2012.[24][25]

On May 20, 2012, Noiri ventured up to 64 kg/141 lb limit to face Raz Sarkisjan at the Hoost Cup. The previously unknown Dutch-Armenian fighter scored a major upset with a unanimous decision win, flooring Noiri twice in the second round before getting dropped himself in the third.[26][27] Three months later, Noiri returned to 63 kg/138 lb and bounced back with a unanimous points (30-27, 30-27, 30-28) win over Makihira Keita at Krush.22.[28][29]

The end of 2012 saw lightweight's previous kingpin Yuta Kubo move up in weight, and so Noiri then took his place as number one in the world rankings. This despite his loss to Sarkisjan which took place at 64 kg/141 lb, technically outside the lightweight limit of 63.5 kg/140 lb.[30][31]

He solidified his place as the world's top lightweight[32] with a unanimous decision (30-28, 29-27, 29-28) win over Yetkin Ozkul at Krush.24 in Tokyo on November 10, 2012. After an even first two rounds, Noiri dropped Ozkul with a flying knee in the final round, securing a victory.[33][34][35]

He dominated Makoto Nishiyama en route to a second round referee stoppage in a non-tournament bout at the Krush Grand Prix 2013 ~67kg First Class Tournament~ on January 14, 2013.[36][37]

Moving up to the welterweight division, Noiri was invited to the Road to Glory Japan -65kg Slam on March 10, 2013 and had his rubber match with Hiroya in the quarter-finals. This fight was much closer than their first two affairs as Noiri was only able to pick up a majority decision due to a point deduction for low blows to Hiroya, resulting in scores of 30-29, 30-29 and 29-29. He struggled again in the semis, but came out with another majority decision over Yukihiro Komiya. In the tournament final, he was much more dominant as he floored Yuki twice in round one and twice again in two, forcing the referee to stop the bout.[38][39][40]

This tournament win qualified him for the Glory 8: Tokyo - 2013 65kg Slam event on May 3, 2013, the tournament made up of the world's eight top 65 kg kickboxers.[41][42] In the quarter-finals, he defeated Liam Harrison via TKO due to a cut in round two, and in the semis he outpointed Mosab Amrani. He faced fellow Japanese native Yuta Kubo in a rematch in the final. He suffered a brutal low blow in the first round and wasn't able to rally back until the third. It was too late by that time, however, and he lost the decision.[43][44][45]

In his first match under Muay Thai rules, Noiri knocked out Seiji Takahashi with a third round front kick to the face for the vacant WBC Muaythai Japan Super Lightweight (-63.503 kg/140 lb) Championship at a New Japan Kickboxing Federation event on July 15, 2013.[46][47]

Noiri had his rubber match with Yuta Kubo at Krush.32 in Nagoya on September 1, 2013, defeating Kubo for the first time in three attempts to take his Krush 67 kg/147 lb title and put an end to his seventeen fight win streak in the process.[48] The bout was relatively one-sided in favour of Noiri and saw Kubo deducted a point in round three for extensive clinching, allowing Noiri to take a wide unanimous decision.[49]

He challenged Tetsuya Yamato for his WBC Muaythai International Super Lightweight Championship at an NJKF event in Tokyo on February 16, 2014, losing a unanimous decision.[50]

On March 22, 2020, Noiri defeated David Meija at K-1 K'Festa 3. [2] Before the fight, the COVID-19 epidemic swept the globe. Masaaki Noiri says his camp was fortunately not affected by the virus.[2]

• New Japan Karate Federation
  • 2009 All Japan Shin Karate K-2 Lightweight Grand Prix Champion[51]

• Glory
  • 2013 Road to Glory Japan 65 kg Tournament winner
  • Glory 2013 65kg Slam Tournament Runner-up
  • 2016 La Nuit De Champions 66 kg Champion
• K-1
  • 2017 K-1 -65kg Champion
  • K-1 Koshien 2009 King of Under 18 62 kg (136 lb) Tournament Champion
• Krush
  • 2011 Krush Under-22 ~63 kg (140 lb) Supernova~ Tournament Champion
  • Krush -67 kg Championship
• World Boxing Council Muaythai
  • WBC Muaythai Japan Super Lightweight (-63.503 kg/140 lb) Championship