Issac Hardman vs Kazuki Kyohara live stream, updates, fight card, results, preview

First time Kazuki Kyohara travelled Down Under, the old man threatened to throw him off Uluru.

Which now, years later, goes right to the heart of how he fights.

“Oh, the guy’s a mad man,” Issac Hardman cackles when quizzed on his Japanese rival for Wednesday night’s No Limit headliner in Sydney.

“A Kamikaze mad man.

“From what I’ve seen of his fights, he comes in really hot and heavy.

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“And that excites me because I do my best work against guys who want to fight.

“I’ve actually noticed that when Kyohara gets hit in exchanges he has this eagerness to try and punch through, even runs into exchanges.

“And that will bring him undone.

“Because if he comes running in and I tip one onto his chin, yeah, he’ll be heading home to Mt Fuji with a f***ing headache.”

Ranked among Australia’s most exciting fighters, Hardman is now looking to get his world title aspirations back on track against Kyohara (6-1-3).

A rangy striker who initially dreamed of playing professional basketball, Kyohara switched to boxing in his early teens after watching Japanese superstar Ryota Murata win gold at the 2012 Olympics.

Like Murata, who would eventually go on to become a two-time WBA middleweight champion, the 26-year-old also has plans to eventually dominate in the same division as his idol.

“Growing up I played basketball, was a centre,” Kyohara told Fox Sports Australia this week via an interpreter.

“But then when I was in high school, I watched Reoto Morata win a gold medal at the Olympics.

“That’s when I decided ‘I want that … I want to become a boxer’.”

Elsewhere, the fighter making his first appearance outside Japan has also trained judo, which he took up aged 12, and boasts an awkward fight style that has him convinced of an upset.

The bookies, however, disagree, with Hardman the $1.10 favourite – and paying just $1.50 for the KO – while his international rival is far wider at $7.50.

Asked what he knew about Hardman, the Fukuoka product grinned: “I didn’t know anything about him before signing the contract.

“But immediately, I said I would fight.

“In Japan, most of our boxers are from flyweight to lightweight – there’s a lot of competition for them – but at middleweight there are very few.

“So this fight will be good for me.

“I want to get the Japanese national title, eventually the world title, but I have to get there step-by-step.

“And beating Hardman Wednesday night will definitely help raise my level up.

“After watching some of his fight videos, I think he’s really strong, a high-level fighter.”

Kyohara also revealed this was not his first trip Down Under.

“When I was a little boy we had a family trip here,” he said.

“We went to Uluru.”

Most enduring memory?

“We went up the rock,” he grinned, “and my father acted like he was going to push me off”.

Hardman, meanwhile, is promising to knock Kyohara cold in his first fight back since losing a contentious split decision to Rohan Murdock in March.

In fact, the Queenslander suggested he could produce a bigger highlight reel moment than even his 2022 icing of Beau Hartas – which earned him the nation’s Knockout of the Year.

No Limit CEO George Rose also praised the headliner for his third Wednesday fight night in a month, saying he was looking forward to watching Hardman, who he dubbed “one of the real characters of Australian boxing”.

Rose also suggested fight fans should tune in to watch undefeated Sydneysider Mounir Fathi (5-0), who faces Aucklander Jerome Pascua in the opening fight of the night.

Fathi, a super welterweight, is managed by former world champion Billy Dib, who describes the 28-year-old as one of the best prospects he has seen.

“And Billy has seen plenty in boxing,” Rose said. “So when he talks you listen.

“Billy has been telling us about Mounir for some time and he’s in a stacked division here in Australia … so let’s put him on the Fox Sports platform and see how he goes.”