Try to remember, 75% a knight in armour was never killed, Only knocked down and unable to get back up :D , Without aid from his good friends or with a little luck, If any of you have actually had to wear a full suit of 14th century gothic plate mail, Its really quite heavy :p But at the same times its hard to be knocked down in the first place.
When you say a fight, you need to be more specific .
A fully trained and geared european knight would best a samurai each and every time, If not for the different in weapons and art of fighting,
There were rules of fighting that wouldnt apply to a samurai and vice verse
And who said some knight cant take his opponents weapon? thats crap
Bearing in mind many knights didnt use swords, they used more "heavy" and powerfull weapons ... Like a mace for example .. changes things alot!
Samurai did not believe in making attempts to . . "move" from your opponents strike .. only parry it ... Knights how ever .. fought to win .. And fought dirty ... Its a simple matter that a Kantana is very unlucky to get through the superior Spainish Iron which most Dark Age European armies gear was crafted from, The real Kantana is a tiny weapon compared to most swords, Only swifly shaped for a cutting purpose,
I would say the Knight would dominate any battlefield against their Eastern rivals, They very nearly conquered "and held" a good portion of the middle east, If not for climate problems and shortage of supplies .. Most European "much to popular belief" were NOT made up of peasents .. Maybe Militia, But even they had some weeks or months training with their weapons ..