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Posted: Saturday, July 30th, 2005 8:33 AM HST
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Choi knocks out Akebono, Penn takes decision
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HONOLULU (AP) -- Former sumo grand champion Akebono fell Friday night to Choi Hong-man of South Korea in a battle of the giants in the K-One World Grand Prix in Hawaii.
Akebono is 6-foot-8 and weighs 470 pounds. Choi is 7-foot-2 and weighs 353 pounds.
Choi landed a flurry of blows to Akebono's head, stopping him with eight seconds left in the first round. Akebono was battered and helpless as Choi mercilessly landed punch after punch.
Akebono's K-One record dropped to 1-and-7 with the last two losses to Choi, who improved to 4-and-0. K-One combines elements of kickboxing, karate and taekwondo.
In the co-main event, Hilo's B.J. Penn won a unanimous decision over Renzo (Hen'-zo) Gracie of Brazil in a mixed martial arts event. Both fighters weighed in at 185 pounds.
Penn is now 10-2-1, while the 38-year-old Gracie's record slipped to 10-6-1.
In an eight-man K-1 heavyweight tournament, Gary Goodridge of Trinidad and Tobago scored a first-round knockout over Hilo's Wesley "Cabbage" Correira. Goodridge went on to win the 2005 K-1 Grand Prix Hawaii tournament.
In the undercard bouts -- Michihisa Asano of Tokyo choked Steven Okano of Hilo into submission in the first round; Riki Fukuda of Tokyo stopped Honolulu's Brandon Wolff in the second round and Honolulu's Mike Malone outpointed Dustin Hanning of California.
(Copyright 2005 by the Associated Press. All rights reserved. KPUA.net contributed to this story.
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