For many years now, Hifumi Abe has been top dog in the -66kg division. For a while, his main challenger was not an international player but a domestic rival, Joshiro Maruyama, who has since retired from competition.
So, who's left to challenge Abe? Well, in the 2025 World Championships, he was countered by Obi Dzhebov (TJK) for ippon. Abe has since managed to stay unbeaten.
However, Kim Channyeong (KOR) did manage to throw him in the 2025 Tokyo Grand Slam, and was ahead until the dying moments of the match, when Abe managed to throw and pin Kim. It was a close shave though.
To date, there hasn't been a rematch with either Dzhebov or Kim but neither is seen to be his main challenger. That distinction goes to yet another domestic rival, Takeshi Takeoka.
Abe and Takeoka fought in the 2025 Tokyo Grand Slam. Takeoka really gave Abe a run for his money. He was more aggressive and attacking a lot more, but in the end Abe managed to knock Takeoka down for waza-ari and win the match. It was a close one that went against the run of play and it demonstrated just how dangerous Takeoka, a World Champion himself, can be to Abe. It looks like another Maruyama-Abe-styled rivalry is in the cards.
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