Yoshihiro Sato

If it hadn’t been for an argument after school one day, the name Yoshihiro Sato would never have meant a thing to kickboxing fans. As a 13-year-old, Sato was walking with a friend after school one day when he became involved in an altercation. He suffered a comprehensive beating and, with his pride hurting worse than his person, resolved never to allow it to happen again. Looking back, his antagonist did him a favour. Sato proved to be a natural and once he had the fundamentals drilled into him he was in his element. Three years later he won an open karate tournament and he went back the next year to repeat the feat. It was a sign of things to come - from a schoolboy target of bullies, Sato went on to establish himself as one of Japan’s top kickboxers. Japan is a land that perhaps more than any other admires and expects technicality in its fighters. Sato embraces this philosophy with a consistent, unhurried picking apart of his opponents. Where some fighters lean especially towards punches or kicks, Sato is constantly working high and low with flowing combinations punctuated by push kicks and a long knee to the torso. Sato’s record is a litany of top names. He holds wins over Buakaw Por Pramuk, a legend in the kickboxing world, and the heavy-handed Mike Zambidis. And with anywhere and everywhere a target for precision shots, the Japanese fighter has a very appropriate nickname - not for nothing do they call him the ‘Infinite Sniper’.