27/05/2026
ISKA HALL OF FAME
ISKA is extremely pleased to announce that Takeru Segawa will be inducted into the ISKA Modern Hall of Fame as part of our inagural class of “LEGENDARY CHAMPIONS”. He will be honored this Thursday, May 28th at the GOAT Kickboxing Festival 2, which features two ISKA World Title bouts at Korakeun Hall, Tokyo, Japan.
Known world-wide simply as “Takeru”, he is considered by many as a generational talent and one of the greatest kickboxers in modern history. His credentials include, ISKA World Lightweight Champion, ONE Interim Flyweight World Champion and the only three-weight world champion in K-1 history. His fan-friendly high volume fighting style and natural charisma contributes to his enormous popularity.
As a child, Takeru was a fan of both pro-wrestling and kickboxing. He was inspired to pursue kickboxing as a professional career after seeing Andy Hug win the 1996 K-1 Grand Prix and began training karate in the second grade of primary school. At age 17, in 2008 Takeru used his earnings that he had saved from his part-time jobs to travel to Thailand by himself, where he trained striking full-time and competed in various amateur tournaments to gain experience.
After a successful amateur career of 13 wins 1 loss and 1 draw, he earned his first professional victory by unanimous decision on August 30th, 2009 at Kakumei Nagoya 3.
His 17-year professional career features nearly unprecedented highlights, including 3x K-1 Fight of the Year, 2024 ONE Championships Fight of the Year, and both K-1 Fighter of the year and Knockout of the Year. In April of 2026, he rematched the legendary Rodtang. Takeru dominated the rematch, knocking down Rodtang twice in the 2nd round and twice more in the 5th round as the referee stepped in to award Takeru the TKO victory. It was the first time Rodtang had been stopped by KO in 13 years. Shortly after, on May 1, 2026, Takeru held a press conference in Tokyo and announced his retirement.
It is with great pride that we honor Takeru Segawa and welcome him as a member of our inaugural class of LEGENDARY CHAMPIONS into the ISKA Modern Hall of Fame. See less
