Michael Thompson (karateka)

Michael Thompson

Medal record
Competitor for  England
Men's Kyokushin
British Open
Gold	London 1982	Open
Bronze	London 1983	Open
Gold	London 1984	Open
Bronze	London 1985	Open
Gold	London 1986	Open
Gold	London 1990	Open
Commonwealth Championships
Gold	Sydney 1988	+90 kg
European Championships
Bronze	1982	+90 kg
Silver	1987	+90 kg
Silver	1989	+90 kg
Gold	1991	+90 kg
Ibutz Oyama Cup
Silver	Budapest 1983	+90kg
Bronze	Budapest 1986	+90kg
World Open
Bronze	Tokyo 1987	Open
Men's Seido
World Cup
Silver	Osaka 1994	Open

Michael Thompson (born June 23, 1962) is an English former karateka and kickboxer who competed in the cruiserweight and heavyweight division. After a long and distinguished career in Kyokushin, in which he won the British Open four times, the Commonwealth Championships in 1988 and the European Championships in 1991 as well as competing three times in the World Open, Thompson later switched to Seido and reached the final of the 1994 Seidokaikan Karate World Cup. During his time as a Seido competitor, he also fought as a professional kickboxer in K-1, amassing a 6-5 record and becoming the WKA European Super Cruiserweight Champion.

Career

Michael Thompson established himself as one of the United Kingdom's best Kyokushin fighters during the 1980s, winning the British Open four times (1982, 1984, 1986 and 1990) and finishing in third place twice (1983 and 1985). He also medaled at the European Championships three times, taking bronze in 1982 and silver in 1987 and 1989 before eventually winning the tournament at +90 kg/198 lb in 1991.^[1] As well as winning the inaugural Commonwealth Championships in 1988, Thompson competed in the Kyokushin World Open on three occasions. In his best showing in the tournament, he made it to the semi-finals at the 1987 edition, losing out to Shokei Matsui.^[2]

After transitioning to Seido in the early 1990s, Thompson fought his first match against Taiei Kin at the K-1 Grand Prix '93 in Tokyo, Japan on April 30, 1993, losing by majority decision after two extension rounds were needed to separate the pair. He bounced back with a first round knockout of Nobuaki Kakuda at K-1 Sanctuary III in Osaka, Japan on June 25, 1993. Entering the 1993 Seidokaikan Karate World Cup on October 3, 1993, Thompson rematched Kakuda in the tournament's opening stage and repeated his performance to score another first round KO. It was another familiar foe and outcome in the quarter-finals, as Taiei Kin again beat him by an extension round decision to eliminate him from the competition.

Thompson then signed with K-1 and made his professional kickboxing debut on March 4, 1994, stopping Gary Sandland with a spinning back kick in round four at K-1 Challenge. The following month, he was invited to compete in the K-1 Grand Prix '94, held on April 30, 1994 in Tokyo. He lost to Masaaki Satake via technical knockout due to a cut in round three of their quarter-final match. Returning at K-1 Revenge in Yokohama, Japan on September 18, 1994, Thompson knocked out Muay Thai exponent Changpuek Kiatsongrit with a lighting-quick spinning back kick just two seconds into the third round.

Competing in his last major full contact karate tournament, Michael Thompson made it to the final of the 1994 Seidokaikan Karate World Cup on October 2, 1994. Following wins over Wataru Uchida, Eiji Matsumoto and Kenneth Felter, respectively, he was stopped with a body kick from Sam Greco inside the first round of the tournament championship match. In his next outing, he beat Rene Papais on points in a karate match at K-1 Fight Night in Zurich, Switzerland on June 10, 1995.

He soon made his way back to the kickboxing ring and faced Peter Aerts in a non-tournament bout at the K-3 Grand Prix '95 in Nagoya, Japan on July 16, 1995. He was outmatched in the fight, getting beat around the ring before being stopped in round two. In another tough matchup, Thompson was dropped by Ernesto Hoost a total of four times over two rounds, forcing the referee to call a stoppage at K-1 Revenge II in Yokohama on September 3, 1995.

Upon his return to Seido karate, Thompson lost his third consecutive fight as he dropped a unanimous decision to Andy Hug^[3] in a one-off match at the 1995 Seidokaikan Karate World Cup on October 8, 1995. This would be his last appearance under karate rules as he would spent the remainder of his career as a kickboxer and actually went on to train with Andy Hug at his training complex in Lucerne, Switzerland.

On December 9, 1995, Thompson defeated Pedro Rizzo via cut TKO in round three at K-1 Hercules in Nagoya. He was unable to stay out of the losing column for long, however, as he was TKO'd inside the first round by Duane van der Merwe at the K-1 Grand Prix '96 Opening Battle in Yokohama on March 10, 1996. Heavily outweighed and giving up 19 cm/1 ft in height, he was pushed into a corner and floored with an uppercut in the opening seconds and suffered three more knockdowns before the referee called the fight off.

He went on a three fight winning streak over the next two years and kicked it off by TKOing Attila Fusco with third round low kicks at K-1 Fight Night II in Zurich on June 2, 1996 to capture the German's WKA European Super Cruiserweight (-90 kg/198.4 lb) Kickboxing Championship. He followed this up with back-to-back wins over Musashi; the first a unanimous decision at K-1 Fight Night '97 in Zurich on June 7, 1997, and the second a majority decision at K-1 Japan '98 Kamikaze in Tokyo on October 28, 1998. In his last fight before retirement, Thompson lost to Michael McDonald by way of unanimous decision at K-1 Fight Night '99 in Zurich on June 6, 1999.

Championships and awards

Karate

• Kyokushin British Open
  • 7th Kyokushin British Open Champion
  • 8th Kyokushin British Open 3rd Place
  • 9th Kyokushin British Open Champion
  • 10th Kyokushin British Open 3rd Place
  • 11th Kyokushin British Open Champion
  • 15th Kyokushin British Open Champion

• Kyokushin World Open
  • 4th Kyokushin World Open 3rd Place

• Commonwealth Kyokushin Championships
  • 1st Commonwealth Kyokushin Championships +90 kg/198 lb Champion

• European Kyokushin Championships
  • 2nd European Kyokushin Championships +90 kg/198 lb 3rd Place
  • 4th European Kyokushin Championships +90 kg/198 lb Runner-up
  • 5th European Kyokushin Championships +90 kg/198 lb Runner-up
  • 6th European Kyokushin Championships +90 kg/198 lb Champion

• Ibutz Oyama Cup
  • 1st Ibutz Oyama Cup +90 kg/198 lb Runner-up
  • 3rd Ibutz Oyama Cup +90 kg/198 lb 3rd Place

• Seidokaikan Karate World Cup
  • 1994 Seidokaikan Karate World Cup Runner-up

Kickboxing

• World Kickboxing Association
  • WKA European Super Cruiserweight (-90 kg/198.4 lb) Kickboxing Championship

Karate record

Kyokushin record
Date Result Opponent Event Location Method Round Time 1987-11-00 Loss Shokei Matsui 4th Kyokushin World Open, Semi Finals Tokyo, Japan 1987-11-00 Win Hiroki Kurosawa 4th Kyokushin World Open, Quarter Finals Tokyo, Japan Default 1987-11-00 Win Kenji Midori 4th Kyokushin World Open, Fifth Round Tokyo, Japan 1987-11-00 Win H. Hashizume 4th Kyokushin World Open, Fourth Round Tokyo, Japan 1987-11-00 Win A. Guerrero 4th Kyokushin World Open, Third Round Tokyo, Japan 1987-11-00 Win Enrique Corredor 4th Kyokushin World Open, Second Round Tokyo, Japan 1987-11-00 Win Stephen Takiwa 4th Kyokushin World Open, First Round Tokyo, Japan
Seido record Date Result Opponent Event Location Method Round Time 1995-10-08 Loss Andy Hug 1995 Seidokaikan Karate World Cup Osaka, Japan Decision (unanimous) 3 3:00 1995-06-10 Win Rene Papais K-1 Fight Night Zurich, Switzerland Decision 3 3:00 1994-10-02 Loss Sam Greco 1994 Seidokaikan Karate World Cup, Final Osaka, Japan KO (right body kick) 1 2:16 For the 1994 Seidokaikan Karate World Cup Championship. 1994-10-02 Win Kenneth Felter 1994 Seidokaikan Karate World Cup, Semi Finals Osaka, Japan Decision (majority) 3 3:00 1994-10-02 Win Eiji Matsumoto 1994 Seidokaikan Karate World Cup, Quarter Finals Osaka, Japan Decision (unanimous) 3 3:00 1994-10-02 Win Wataru Uchida 1994 Seidokaikan Karate World Cup, First Round Osaka, Japan KO (left knee) 1993-10-03 Loss Taiei Kin 1993 Seidokaikan Karate World Cup, Quarter Finals Osaka, Japan Extension round decision 4 3:00 1993-10-03 Win Nobuaki Kakuda 1993 Seidokaikan Karate World Cup, First Round Osaka, Japan KO (right high kick) 1 1:40 1993-06-25 Win Nobuaki Kakuda K-1 Sanctuary III Osaka, Japan KO (left high kick) 1 0:47 1993-04-30 Loss Taiei Kin K-1 Grand Prix '93 Tokyo, Japan Extension round decision (majority) 5 3:00 Legend:       Win       Loss       Draw/No contest       Notes Kickboxing record Kickboxing record 6 wins (3 KOs), 5 losses, 0 draws Date Result Opponent Event Location Method Round Time Record 1999-06-05 Loss Michael McDonald K-1 Fight Night '99 Zurich, Switzerland Decision (unanimous) 5 3:00 6-5 1998-10-28 Win Musashi K-1 Japan '98 Kamikaze Tokyo, Japan Decision (majority) 5 3:00 6-4 1997-06-07 Win Musashi K-1 Fight Night '97 Zurich, Switzerland Decision (unanimous) 5 3:00 5-4 1996-06-02 Win Attila Fusko K-1 Fight Night II Zurich, Switzerland TKO (left low kick) 3 1:20 4-4 Wins the WKA European Super Cruiserweight (-90 kg/198.4 lb) Kickboxing Championship. 1996-03-10 Loss Duane van der Merwe K-1 Grand Prix '96 Opening Battle Yokohama, Japan TKO (right hook) 1 2:10 3-4 1995-12-09 Win Pedro Rizzo K-1 Hercules Nagoya, Japan TKO (cut) 3 1:19 3-3 1995-09-03 Loss Ernesto Hoost K-1 Revenge II Yokohama, Japan TKO (left knee) 2 2:45 2-3 1995-07-16 Loss Peter Aerts K-3 Grand Prix '95 Nagoya, Japan KO (punches and knees) 2 0:40 2-2 1994-09-18 Win Changpuek Kiatsongrit K-1 Revenge Yokohama, Japan KO (spinning back kick) 3 0:02 2-1 1994-04-30 Loss Masaaki Satake K-1 Grand Prix '94, Quarter Finals Tokyo, Japan TKO (cut) 3 0:34 1-1 1994-03-04 Win Gary Sandland K-1 Challenge Tokyo, Japan KO (spinning back kick) 4 1:10 1-0 Legend:       Win       Loss       Draw/No contest       Notes References ↑ "Fighter Profiles - Great Britain". Kyokushinresults.freeserve.co.uk. Retrieved 2013-09-14.  ↑ "Akiyoshi "Shokei" Matsui, the greatest Kyokushin Karateka". Bubblews.com. Retrieved 2013-09-14.  ↑ "Andy Hug: "Never Give Up!"". Centralkickboxing.org. 2000-08-24. Retrieved 2013-09-14.  External links K-1Sport profile Persondata Name Thompson, Michael Alternative names Short description Karateka and kickboxer Date of birth June 23, 1962 Place of birth London, England Date of death Place of death