Tonight the Lee Gar gyms of Auckland paid host to a number of kickboxing and muay thai fights, with 4 guys representing our club. So I figured I would go along and check it out, heres my review. some of the facts might not be totally right because the rounds tend to merge together in memory. AMATEUR FIGHTS- no elbows or knees to the face First fight up was Dane Leo from Braveheart gym against David Aholelei from Balmoral Lee gar in a light heavyweight match. First fight for David and I think for the other guy so they were both nervous and made some mistakes in over commiting attacks in the first round. David however controlled the fight with great punching and kicking combinations, while Dane could only stay defensive. stoppage in the third round by TKO when Dane would not continue. Next fight was Terry Jack (Pathai gym) vs Quang Xu (City Lee Gar), a super welterweight match up. Xu had one fight which was a win while Terry had two fights, both wins. Terry showed he was the better puncher, but Quang consistently nailed Terry with his teep. This fight got real heated in the third round with the crowd screaming as both fighters went hell for leather- they were both going on pure adrenalin by the end. close fight, decision went to Terry. Next was a heavyweight match up with Mike White (braveheart gym) against Hori Bellass (Balmoral) Hori has had 5 fights and won them all while I think this was only Whites second or third fight. Horis experience was obvious as he preserved his energy well, controlling his breathing and picking his shots while White moved a lot. By the end of the first White was breathing heavy while Hori had hardly broken a sweat! second round and Hori came out strong with big punches and kicks, knocking White down at one point- however White sprang back up before the ref could call it and continued fighting! Hori however was prepared and got the better of White, who finally was pummelled into the corner where he was knocked down and would not continue. Next up was a cruiserweight fight between Anton hunt from SMAC gym against John Gallia from City Lee Gar. John Gallia came out strong and landed a spinning back kick early in the first which really hurt Anton. John bullied Anton for the whole fight and just could not mount a good offensive against the unorthodox fighting style of John. this went all 3 rounds and John won an easy decision. Next was a fight I had been looking forward to, Shannan Foreman (Balmoral) against Dwayne Glassgow (Braveheart). Glassgow had quite an experience advantage with a lot more fights than Shannan, but Shannan has really been on form lately, winning his last fight with a flying elbow drop to the head! this fight however would be under amateur rules with no elbows. Shannan came out firing and kept the pressure on with slick punching combinations and hard leg kicks. in the second Shanna dropped a frustrated Glassgow who could not mount an offense against Shannans speed. Glassgow was finally saved by the final bell after taking a good lesson from Shannan. great fight! PRO KICKBOXING- No elbows Getting into the professional fights with a super heavy weight fight between Richard Tutaki from John Glazier gym against a very fit looking Syd Asiata from Rebel Lee Gar. This fight would not last the distance with Syd doing a demolition job on Tutakis legs. Up next is a 5 round fight for the commonwealth bantamweight title, with Dane Mongkon Noi of Nuggets gym fighting Ben Agnew of Balmoral. There was a BIG size difference in this fight, and I found it hard to believe they were in the same weight division with Dane being a good head higher than Ben. Unfortunately range would be the deciding factor in this fight, and while Ben got some good punching in his opponent controlled the range with lightning fast roundhouse kicks and a knockdown from a cross in the third (I think). decision loss for Ben. MUAY THAI RULES Up next was Steve Donaldson from SMAC gym against the legendary Jom Bing fighting out of city Lee gar. Jom Bing is an old school hard as nails thai with over 200 years and quite a few years under his belt, who is a former kings cup winner in thailand. This would be a real "old age and experience" against "youth and strength". this was a real corker of a fight, with Jom showing Steve a few things about the clinch- like how to throw a bigger guy around like he was a ragdoll! Jom is a southpaw and used his left kick like Samkor- he just clubbed away with his leg, occasionally getting in and mixing it up with elbows and knees, where he dominated the clinch. Joms experience in the ring was evident as he showed amazing evasion skill and timing. A decision win for Jom, but respect to Steve for getting in against a legend. And finally the big grand daddy event, Yodkhunsuk Sit Kriengkrai (ranked 6th at lumpinee) against Shane Chapman of City Lee Gar. Shane had a height advantage here but the Thai was looking in great shape. First round was feeling out with some good kicks thrown from both. In the second it stepped up a bit with some great clinchwork from both. Shane landed a big left hook in the third to score a knockdown, but the Thai recovered quickly and both fighters exchanged some real hard knees and elbows, with Shane Chapman finding a home for his flying knees a couple of times. The final round looked pretty even until right near the end, when the Thai let his guard down for the split second needed for Shane to let loose a HUGE right elbow, hitting Yodkhunsuk square in the jaw and putting him down for about 5 minutes! great fight from both guys with Shane putting in a great performance.
Your getting quite good at these reviews. Hopefully you'll be able to give us a review of your first fight in a couple of months
