On Saturday I praised K-1 announcers Michael Schiavello and Mike Kogan for their candor in calling the recent Kazuyuki Miyata vs. Kazuhisa Watanabe fight, a fight that wasn't on par with the caliber of kickboxing that fans have come to expect from K-1.Now Miyata has responded, and he's not pleased with being called out.
"K-1 USA's commentator Mike Kogan insulted me," Miyata wrote on his blog, as translated by MMA Fighting's Japan correspondent, Daniel Herbertson. "He knows me but he's still saying these kinds of things about me?"
Miyata said he'd use Kogan's comments as motivation in the future.
"I'm so pissed off, I'll fight in the next K-1 as well. I'll fight anybody," Miyata wrote. "It's been a long time since I've felt this way but I really want to kick someone's ass."
If Miyata is going to use those comments as motivation to work harder, good for him. Athletes find motivation in perceived slights all the time, and maybe Kogan's comments can spur Miyata to improve.
But Miyata is dead wrong when he suggests that Kogan shouldn't have criticized him just because "He knows me." Kogan's job as an announcer is to give the viewers honest commentary about the fight they're seeing, and that's exactly what Kogan did. Miyata isn't a K-1 level kickboxer, and the announcers would be doing the fans a disservice if they pretended he was. Kogan did great work calling the fight, and he should be commended.
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