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  • Christian Buffaloe 12 years old, and his father Kenny spare while Christian shows off some of his karate moves.

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January 12, 2012

12 year old Buffaloe is a Karate Kid

Sports Editor Calvin Adkins

TARBORO — At fist glimpse, Christian Buffaloe appears to be an average kid. The long blond-haired 12-year-old's favorite pastime is playing video games and basketball. Take a closer look at Christian and one can clearly see that he is a fanatic for martial arts — to be exact, Kyokushin Karate, a full contact form of martial arts.

 Dressed in his Kyokushin uniform, Christian’s mannerism displays discipline, humbleness and confidence in himself. In a recent demonstration, the lad allowed a grown man to punch him in his stomach. When the man's fist connected with Christian's stomach, the lad didn't flinch.

"I really like doing this," he said about Kyokushin. "It gives me a lot of benefits in every day life. It teaches respect, courtesy to peers and other people."

It also demands a grade of no lower than a B for the Karate Kid.

Christian is the son of Kenny Buffaloe, an instructor of Kyokushin, who owned and taught martial arts schools in Tarboro, Pinetops and Rocky Mount for several years. At an early age, the older Buffaloe realized that his son could be special.

"When he was kicking in diapers and he didn't lose his balance is when I noticed his potential," Kenny said. "Kids that small are supposed to lose there balance. So, when he was 2 1/2 years old, I gave him his first formal training session. After it was over, he didn't cry. He did the whole thing and he didn't say he wanted to sit down or anything.

"I said, 'Maybe this is a fluke. I gave him another training session three days later. He took off after that. By the time he was 3-years old, he was training in my class with other kids. It was like throwing a fish in the water."

Fast forward nine years. Now, when Christian dons his Kyokushin uniform, he appears to be as confident as an adult.  He has already competed in several world events and a promising career of martial arts is ahead of him.

His recent accomplishments includes winning the youth division of the Japan Kyokushin Karate U.S. Weight Category Tournament in Little Tokyo (Los Angeles, California). In several hard fought battles, Christian emerged to the championship round where he faced an opponent that was bigger and taller than he was.

Christian defeated him in what was perhaps his signature match of his early career. He was honored with the "Fighting Spirit" award for that match and he qualified to fight in the World Kyokushin Karate Full Contact Championships in Tokyo, Japan.

In Tokyo, Christian showcased his talent in two matches against what was described as "more seasoned and experienced fighters," his father said. Although difficult, Christian won his first fight on a 5-0 decision. However, he suffered an injury to his right foot. Hampered by the injury, he lost in the second round by a decision.

"He lost, but he learned a lot from that fight," Kenny said.

Christian's furious fighting style and never-give-up-attitude also caught the attention of Japan's living legend, Toshio Fujiwara. Fujiwara is the  greatest kickboxing champion in Japanese history, according to Kenny. The fame fighter retired from the ring in 1983 after 141 fights including winning 126 and 99 by knockouts.

Fujiwara heard about Christian's matches at the Kyokushin World Youth Championships and he was apparently impressed by the lad. Fujiwara personally invited Christain to train at his gym two days later in downtown Tokyo.

"The trip to Japan turned out to be greater than we could ever have imagined," Kenny said. "A lot of doors and opportunities have opened up. We were recently contacted by a leading film company that wants to do a documentary movie on our lives that will start filming soon. Christian is hoping to be in a major motion picture one day and this may well be a start."

The documentary film scheduled to be made public by the Fall of 2012.

The film may be a step towards Christian's aspiration of becoming a movie star. For now he hopes to return to Japan one day to claim the elusive World Youth Championship title. But for now, he will settle for a trip to Disney Land.

"We're going to take a break," Kenny said. I promised to take him to Disney Land and that's what I'm going to do. We will start back training at the end of this summer for another tournament."

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