Cornerman Magazin September 2012

AMATEUR BOXING PRO BOXING KICKBOXING MMA SEPTEMBER 2012

ISSUE 05

101

LONDON 2012

Australians leave their mark

CONTROLLED AGGRESSION Thunder Boxing smashes through the stereotypes

STORM DAMAGE MMA sweeps through the Capital

STEVE MOXON

WITH

IGOR BREAKENBACK

CORNERMAN’S NEW STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE ON WINNING FIGHT MOVES

PLUS MI VIDA LOCA

THE CRAZY LIFE OF JOHNNY TAPIA

The Aussie dynamite taking on the World

$7.95 (incl GST) ISSN 1839-9894

03

9 771839 989002

ringside view

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september 2012

05

CONTENTS AMATEUR BOXING

5-19

OLYMPIC GAMES 2012

5

Penny Pryor follows the journey of the Aussie amateurs

PCYC REPORT

9

Cornerman’s view on the PCYC scene over the last three months

GOLDEN GLOVES 2012

16

Fighter Anja Stridsman’s take on the biggest Australian boxing marathon

PRO BOXING

20-34

GEALE GREATNESS

20

The first Australian-born fighter to unify two major belts

CONTROLLED AGGRESSION

28

36

25

The new emerging promotion taking control of matchmaking

MI VIDA LOCA

28

Addicted to love: The crazy life of Johnny Tapia

ON THE WAY BACK

33

The highs and lows of young World Title contender Lenny Zappavigna

kickBOXING

35-45

REVIVAL

34

Action-packed fights at the Serbian Club

TERRITORIAL RIGHTS

36

Capital Punishment 6 goes off with a bang

NEXT GENERATION MUAY THAI

39

Young guns take control at NSW Central Coast

“STONE COLD” STEVE MOXON

42

Exclusive interview with the Melbourne fighter

mixed martial arts

46-59

I’LL GIVE YOU ONE MORE ROUND

49

Cornerman speaks to UFC cut man Mick Afanasief

EXTREME CAGE CHAMPIONSHIP 2

50

The heavyweight domination in the octagon

STORM DAMAGE

52

MMA sweeps through the Capital

dvd catalogue

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62

STRENGTH AND CONDITIONING

58

Matt Spooner’s functional strength and conditioning using Russian Kettle Bells

DIRECTORY

60-61

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SEPTEMBER 2012

ringside view

SEPTEMBER 2012

From the

Corner T

HEY say when it rains it pours and that’s exactly how the last 4 months have been for combat sports. There were shows on every week and you could pick and choose what style you wanted to watch, either in your local club, gymnasium or by watching TV on any sports channel.

The London Olympics were in July, where we had our best athletes raising the flag to represent. Penny Pryor looks at how Aussie boxers made their mark in the international ring on page 5.

A group of young amateur boxers went to America’s Ringside World Championships in Kansas Missouri and, proving the standard of Australian boxing is of the highest level, brought back a swag of medals. We bring you a PCYC report from Umina and North Sydney tournaments, as well as the Australian Fitness Expo Championship, where close to 100 boxers competed in front of a huge crowd over two days. Corporates were back in the boxing ring again and you can read all about that on page 18.

Just before we went to print, we were at Golden Gloves – Australia’s biggest boxing tournament - where 364 boxers from 4 different countries competed for a Golden Gloves necklace. You can read the story through the eyes of a young boxer on page 16.

On the same weekend Daniel ‘The Real Deal’ Geale made history by winning his second World title belt in Germany from two legitimate bodies, dominating the middleweight division.

JNI promotions put mixed shows on every few months and we bring you reports from April’s boxing and June’s Muay Thai and boxing shows.

Thunder Boxing promotions put on a great night of fights, not once but twice, and Hakan Saglam looks closer at the action on page 25.

Sarah Ngo writes a moving piece on the life of Johnny Tapia on page 28. For fans there is a longer version of this article on the Cornerman website.

Steve Jez put on a great mixed show featuring Val Borg, Michael Badato and Joel Bourke (read all about it on page 34) and Nick Boutzos had Paul Slowinski, Warwick Harrington and Josh Tonna shaking the Canberra’s Convention Centre.

We spoke to ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Moxon about his future world domination plans on page 42 and looked at the career of Paul ‘Pitbull’ Grima on page 44.The mixed martial arts scene goes from strength to strength and you can read about Cage Fighting Championship 21, featuring Robert Whittaker and Jesse Juarez in the main event bout on page 46. Extreme Cage Championship was a night to remember and James Cooney explains who is the best in the west on page 50.

ACT definitely keeps up with the bigger states and one of its highlights was the ‘Storm Damage’ promotion - an action-packed MMA night featuring a 6-man eliminator tournament.

We also talk to boxing and UFC cut man Mark Afanasiev and get his tips for fellow cornermen and cut men. Igor Breakenback shows us his favorite move in our 101 with series and Matt Spooner demonstrates some Russian Kettle Bell strength and conditioning exercises.

If you like Cornerman magazine and you haven’t subscribed yet, visit us online at www.cornerman.com.au and subscribe today, to make sure you have the magazine delivered to your doorstep.

Everyone from Cornerman thanks you for your support over the past year and we look forward to bringing you more exciting news and reports in 2013.

Yours truly, Tomas Vysokai tomas@cornerman.com.au For everyone that lives and breathes ring sports.

Editor: Tomas Vysokai Sub-editor: Allb Etsareoff Creative director: Nathan Wynyard Contributing journalists: Penny Pryor Keeta Nova, James Cooney, Hakan Saglam Sarah Ngo, Kiara Brooks, Matt Spooner, James White, Joel Keegan, Anja Stridsman, Sam Atkinson Contributing photographers: Milos Lekovic Hakan Saglam Marcel Jendruch Louie Abigail Werner Kalin Shelly Barnes Boris Knapcik Stephen Walton Ross Mailer Phillip Wheeler Wayne J. Tolton Leigh Taafe Jay Christiaens Peter McDermott Printing: Hero Print Australia Distributor: Wrapaway For all advertising enquiries: 0415490963 or sales@cornerman.com.au For all editorial inquiries: tomas@cornerman.com.au

AUSTRALIANS LEAVE THEIR MARK

From Damien Hooper’s fiery entry with an Aboriginal flag T-shirt to young Jai Opetaia’s close battle with a world champion, the Australian team made their presence well and truly felt at the 2012 Olympics.

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Cover photo: Milos Lekovic www.southsidestudios.com.au

HE Australian Olympic boxing team headed to London with a representative in each male division for the first time in its history of competing in the sport at an elite level.

Naomi-Fischer Rasmussen was the lone female representative in one of three possible female divisions.

The team may have left without a medal, but it definitely left a mark on the international boxing community and there are great hopes for many of the boxers if they decide to continue onto Rio in 2016.

Damien Hooper drew attention from the start with his “I love you Nan” hand-written sign at the opening centre to his first entry in the ring wearing an aboriginal flag on his shirt.

Ranked at number two in the world going into the games, Damien Hooper carried the team’s medal hopes into the fights.

His first fight was against Marcus Browne from the US. The American was a promising member of his team and he ended the first round of that fight one point ahead on 3-2 and with the upper hand.

But Hooper went into the second round much more confidently and his boxing improved. He managed to equal Brown’s blows during the second round but it was in the last round in which he truly shone, to take the fight 13-11.

For his second fight Hooper faced the Russian Egor Mekhontcev and eventual gold medal winner in that division.

Hooper couldn’t quite match the Russian’s ag-

gression and trailed him in all rounds by at least 2 points.

QUIET ACHIEVER The most successful Australian boxer at the games was the comparatively un-known Jeff Horn, who made it through to the quarterfinals.

Horn’s father, Jeff Horn Senior, had been standing by ready to catch a plane had he won that fight and made it to the semi-finals.

“If he got to the bronze medal stage we would go at any cost. His mother was there.

We would have got on a plane that day,” Horn senior says.

Horn was relatively late to boxing, taking it up only in 2008 and hadn’t even thrown a punch in a ring at the time of the Beijing Olympics.

“We went along to the 2007 Australian titles,” Horn senior says.

“We sat in the front row and watched the 64kg boys and Jeff said to me ‘Dad I think I can be as good as these guys’ and I thought ‘that’s the way to think if you’re going to make a go of it’.

“Since those days he’s actually retired most of those boys that were there.”

Horn won the Australian title in 2009 and then defended it again in 2011 and earlier this year on his way to Olympic selection.

Jeff Horn’s trainer, Glenn Rushton, points out that Jeff was the first Australian boxer in 20 years to win two fights at an Olympics.

“I think overall the team did very well.

It certainly is a big improvement form last time.”

Rushton wasn’t surprised that Horn was the most successful of the Australian team.

“The focus was on Damien Hooper but I knew how tough Jeff is,” he says.

“Damien Hooper was a little disappointing in his second fight and he was the one most favoured to win. I didn’t feel that he fought well in his second fight,” Rushton says.

Head coach Don Abnett also felt Hooper was not on game for his final contest.

For Horn senior, his son more than exceeded his hope of winning an Olympic fight.

“I always thought it would be great if he could go there and win a fight and to win two was a bonus,” he says.

“So that was massive for me, I wasn’t aware before the Olympics that no Australian had won two fights at the Olympics for 20 years.”

Horn is currently considering a professional career and has had offers, according to his father, which include the AIBA’s professional league – AIBA Professional Boxing (APB) - which could also allow him to continue fighting at an Olympic level.

YOUNG GUN The 17-year old boxer from the central coast Jai Tapu Opetaia has been profiled previously in this magazine and carried the hopes of many on his young shoulders in his Olympic journey.

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SEPTEMBER 2012

Amateur boxing SCORING SYSTEM TESTED The AIBA adopted a new scoring system in time for the games, but it was the referees that caused the most controversy these Olympics.

The AIBA introduced a new scoring system for the games.

Previously there was a “one second window” during which three judges needed to score at the same time.

But that, along with the running score, was abandoned late last year.

Under the new system, which is still computerised, five judges score each round and the scores are counted at the end of the round. Scores are calculated separately for the red boxer and the blue boxer.

“The scores in each round are the average of three Judges’ score combination which are the closest together called as Similar Scores,” the AIBA states in its Technical & Competition Rules document which was effective from March 24, 2011 (Latest amendments: March 27, 2012).

Rule 2.4 states that if at the end of a round more than one Similar Score appears, the Trimmed Mean calculation will apply. The Trimmed Mean is when the highest and lowest Individual Scores are taken out and the average of the remaining three Individual Scores is counted.

But despite the AIBA’s ongoing efforts to introduce a reliable system the Olympics was not without controversy.

Referee Ishanguly Meretnyyazov from Turkmenistan and international technical official Aghajan Abiyev from Azerbaijan were expelled from the London Olympics.

Referee Frank Scharmach from Germany was also suspended for five days.

Meretnyyazov refereed the controversial bout between Japan’s Satoshi Shimizu and Magomed Abdulhamidov from Azerbaijan.

That fight was initially awarded to the Azerbaijani on points 22-17 but the Japanese corner lodged a protest after Abdulhamidov fell six times in the last round.

The AIBA Competition Jury reviewed the view of the fight and issued the following in a statement. “ The boxer from Azerbaijan fell down six (6) times during the 3rd round. According to our rules, the Referee should have counted at least three (3) times. In this case, following the AIBA Technical & Competition Rules, the decision should have been RSC (Referee Stop Contest).

“Therefore the protest lodged by the Japanese corner is accepted and the result of this bout overturned.”

Jeff Horn’s Queensland-based trainer Glenn Rushton says both the previous and the current system are inherently flawed and has lobbied the AIBA to adopt a system with separate judges for each boxer.

“A fundamental flaw is that one judge scores both the red and blue,” he says “Two fighters are constantly switching positions and your trying to score both points but if you only had a blue buzzer in your hand and you only had to watch one fighter think how much easier it would be.”

There of course would be an extra cost in hiring additional judges but Rushton says that three for each boxer, or six in total, would probably be sufficient.

He also suggests elevating the judges, like tennis referees, so nothing is obstructing their view of the fighters. “ I believe until we get a full technological solution like that in tennis like hawk eye…it would give boxing so much more credibility. No one likes to see subjective decisions.”

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As the youngest member of the team he courted controversy when he left the AIS training facility for family issues and has reportedly struggled with homesickness.

But he’s not the only one. Damien Hooper was also in trouble with head coach Don Abnett just prior to the games – a rift now mended – suggesting that the training atmosphere of the AIS can be stifling for young boxers who are, due to the very nature of their sport, fighters.

Opetaia went into his fight well prepared and confident and faced the Azerbaijani Teymur Mammadov who was ranked number two going into the games.

Mammadov looked visibly shocked when he went back to his corner after the first round. The Australian who he had expected to be a pushover, according to reports, had matched him punch for

IN A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN Women broke down one of the last bastions of inequality when they entered the ring for the first time at London. Naomi Fischer-Rasmussen was Australia’s representative.

A packed out stadium for the women’s medal fights along with Royal spectators Princess Kate and Princess Margaret, signalled that women’s boxing is much more than a sideshow and has become a real force to be reckoned with.

While the British fans applauded their hardest for Nicola Adams in her gold medal victory over China’s Cancan Ren in the flyweight division, it was the Irish crowd that were the loudest, as they cheered their hero Katie Taylor onto victory in her bout against Sofya Ochigava of Russia. Some Irish spectators had bought their seats months in advance for the girl who lead her country’s team into the opening ceremony. Her gold was Ireland’s first since 1996 in any sport and she was also awarded the best female boxer at the games.

Just three weight divisions – flyweight, lightweight and middleweight - were allowed for women in London and only 12 contenders in each, which meant that for some who were lucky enough to go through the first round on a bye their first fight was a medal fight. Two bronze medals are awarded to the two fighters who fail to win their semi final which means the winners of the quarter final are automatically assured a medal.

The president of the AIBA, Wu Ching-Kuo, said early in the games that he planned to lobby the IOC for more boxing spots overall which would allow more female divisions to be included in Rio 2016.

Although the IOC allowed the inclusion of women at London they did not allow an increase in the overall numbers which saw a reduction in the number of men’s divisions and boxers which were cut to 250 from 286 to allow for the 36 women.

punch with the score at the end of that round 5-5.

At the end of the second round the scores were still even 9-9 and while Opetaia later reported that he didn’t fight his best, he only looked slightly putoff by the strength of the more experienced fighter.

At the end of the final round the Australian corner were all smiles; confident the youngster had managed to pull it off. But when the referee held up the hand of his opponent, Opetaia fell to his knees in tears.

Later on Facebook he apologised to his supporters for letting them down and was inundated with words of support.

Head coach Abnett, who previously had been known to express his concern about the boxer, became his biggest supporter.

“I thought Jai did very well. He is only 17, and he only lost by one point to a former number on in the world,” Horn’s trainer Rushton says.

Just says after his arrival back in Australia, Opetaia was already back training and updating his friends and followers with the hashtag #ChampionsNeverRest.

OLYMPIC RESULTS BILLY WARD Yosbany Veitia Soto (Cuba) 4-26 (L) Age: 19 State: QLD 46-49kg (light-flyweight) JACKSON WOODS Samir Brahami (Algeria) 14-12 (L) Age: 19 State: TAS 48-52kg (flyweight)

BILLY WARD

JACKSON WOODS

IBRAHIM BALLA

LUKE JACKSON Qiang Lee (China) 7-20 (L) Age: 27 State: TAS 57-60kg (lightweight)

LOCAL HERO Only three spots for women were allocated to Oceania for the games, which meant not only did a woman have to be the best in the country but she also needed to be better than New Zealand’s best. Unlike the men’s selection process, instead of an Oceania games the girls had to compete at the World Championships in China before they would know if they made the team. It was only there, if they were the most successful in their division compared to their New Zealand rival, would they make the cut for the Olympic team.

Australia’s contender in the flyweight division was sent home from China after she was suspended for illegal drug use at the Australian trials.

That competition was months before the World Championship but Bianca Elmir was only informed of the ban after she’d reached China. Because of the late notice, Elmir needed to be replaced by someone who was already in China and Kristy Harris, who represented a division lower, stepped in and was defeated in her first fight.

New Zealander Siona Von Sasson Fernandez also lost her first fight but because her opponent managed to progress further in the competition than Harris’s, she was given the Olympic spot.

Jessica Retallack in the lightweight division was also defeated in her first fight, as the New Zealand fighter Alexis Pritchard went through to the second round after she was handed a walkover for her first, when her opponent was unable to make weight.

Naomi Fischer-Rasmussen in the middleweight division also had an open round bye and won her first fight against Shinhyeong Kim from South Korea. As the New Zealander had lost her first round bout that made Fischer-Rasmussen our only Olympic representative.

Rasmussen usually fights in the lower 69kg division but has held Australian titles in the middleweight division as well.

She faced Swede Anna Laurell in her first fight.

Laurell won her first World Championship in 2001 and then again in 2005. She is known for her

IBRAHIM BALLA Aboubakr Seddik Lbida (Morocco) 16-16 (W) Detelin Dalakliev (Bulgaria) 10-14 (L) Age: 21 State: VIC 51-56kg (bantamweight)

LUKE JACKSON

JEFF HORN

JESSE ROSS

DAMIEN HOOPER

long reach and prefers to fight at a distance. She looked much taller than Rasmussen in the ring who had weighed in just over the required minimum 69 kg.

But Fischer-Rasmussen showed the crowd that Australian women can fight too. She blind-sided the Swede with her speed in the first round and had her on the back foot as they both

CAMERON HAMMOND

JAI OPETAIA

finished that round 4-4.

Laurell gained some composure when she went back to her corner and managed to work out her opponent to an extent where she could combat some of that speed by keeping her on the outside.

The second round ended 6-3 in the Swede’s favour. She kept ahead in the third round to finish that round 7-5 but Fischer Rasmussen came flying

JEFF HORN Gilbert Choombe (Zambia) 19-5 (W) Abderrazak Houya (Tunisia) 17-11 (W) Denys Berinchyk (Ukraine) 13-21 (L) Age: 24 State: QLD 60-64kg (light-welterweight)

CAMERON HAMMOND Moustapha Abdoulaye Hima (Niger) 6-13 (W) Custio Clayton (Canada) 14-11(L) Age: 22 State: NSW 64 - 69kg (welterweight) JESSE ROSS Abdelmalek Rahou (Algeria) 11-13 (L) Age: 22 State: QLD 69 -75kg (middleweight) DAMIEN HOOPER Marcus Browne (US) 13-11 (W) Egor Mekhontcev (Russia) 11-19 (L) Age: 20 State: ACT 75 - 81kg (lightheavyweight) JAI OPETAIA Teymur Mammadov (Azerbaijan) 12-11 (L) Age: 17 State: NSW 81-91kg (heavyweight) JOHAN LINDE Zhilei Zhang (China) RSC (L) Age: 29 State: SA + 91kg (super heavyweight)

JOHAN LINDE into the fourth round determined to do all she could to win the bout.

Unfortunately the much more experienced Swede won the fight 24-17 but the high number of points scored, indicated that the Australian could more than hold her own with the world’s best. Just to make it to the Olympics meant she was one of the 12 best fighters in her division in the world.

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SEPTEMBER 2012

Amateur boxing

PCYC

STARS IN THE MAKING

Umina PCYC boxing trainer Joel Keegan took two of his boys to fight in the US this year. He tells Cornerman about the journey.

A

FTER many months of committed training and exhausting fundraising efforts, Umina PCYC’s Satali Tevi-Fuimoano and Kyle Schneider set off for the Biggest Amateur Boxing Tournament in the world – America’s Ringside World Championships, in Kansas Missouri. A tournament with over 1400 entries, 6 boxing rings in action at all times, and boxers from Ireland, England, Scotland, Australia, Canada, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Sierra Leone, Samoa, and every state in America was going to be a challenge worth taking on.

Both boys drew quarter finals against Puerto Rican boxers. Tevi–Fuimoano was entered in the open tournament, where he defeated a Pueto Rican opponent with a unanimous points decision. The Puerto Rican was a strong and willing opponent, but the Umina boy’s skill made for a decisive victory. Schneider, entered in the novice (10 fights or less) division, was too strong against his opponent, who could match the young Aussie for either power or skill.

In the semifinals we had different stories.

PCYC

Where most people thought Tevi-Fuimoano had done more than enough to win 2 fights against his American opponent Charles Cornwall, it was not to be. The decision was given to Cornwall, who was to go on and win the final in convincing fashion. Young Schneider put together another good win, overpowering his Mexican opponent.

Schneider progressed to the final against Thomas Santiago of Puerto Rico. Santiago had an awkward style that involved a lot of ducking and bobbing, but interestingly very little punching. The Umina pup was the aggressor throughout the bout and was clearly able to make his opponent miss time and time again, and land his own shots, but when it came time for the judges to do their job, Schneider was to be disappointed.

Both boys fought extremely well, and certainly realise they are world class – to put it nicely. Some fantastic community support was developed to send both boys half way around the world for an opportunity to train and spar with the likes of Mick Katsidis while in LA. The true benefit of the trip will be in the years to come.

Cornerman takes a closer look at the PCYC boxing scene.

UMINA BOXING TOURNAMENT Saturday May 12

A GOOD ALLY Trainer Joe Walker has been a staunch advocate of women’s boxing. He explains to Cornerman why.

I

SUPPORT women’s boxing because of my martial arts background I was overjoyed when women’s amateur boxing was finally sanctioned in NSW in 2009. I had already had a lot of experience taking 20 women from white to black belt in karate and I understood that once women were over the fear of combat, they enjoyed it. Sometimes even more so than men because of the empowerment it gave them.

My gym - Joe’s Boxing had a women’s boxing program running so it didn’t take long before our first two girls entered the ring in late 2009. Others quickly followed and in 2011 one of my students broke through, winning first at NSW state titles. She then went home to win the German national title and competed in

BOXING REPORT

the European championships.

On the back of these successes comes Michelle Muchatuta - the next rising star at Joe’s Boxing. She won the Central NSW women’s boxing title in Moree on the 19th June. The girls were the headline act for this show, a first for Moree and the whole town turned out in force. Because of her African heritage, Michelle was an instant hit with the local aboriginal kids who followed her everywhere. Since then Michelle has remained active fighting in Wollongong and recently at Sydney’s Ivy. Michelle is a lawyer by day and has a dream to perhaps fight for her home country at the next Olympics and coaches at Joe’s boxing on Wednesday night for both boys and girls.

The Umina PCYC featured the cream of Central Coast boxing talent, fighting in front of a capacity crowd, when playing host to the biggest fight night on the coast in many years. With over 15 quality bouts throughout the night, no one was disappointed. The electric atmosphere was highlighted by two main events that were ‘absolute CRACKERS!’.

In the first main event, Satali Tevi-Fuimaono, from Umina PCYC, fought three time New Zealand champion, Sheldon Whalley. Whalley,with over 65 fights and a 2-year age advantage, was expected to be Tevi-Fuimaono’s biggest test to date. However, the young Umina dynamo put in an exhilarating performance, dominating the contest from the start to finish. The Kiwi champion had no chance to adjust as he was hit with clean-scoring counterpunches and heavy-handed combinations that had a telling effect. The Referee had little option but to stop the contest midway through the 3rd round, awarding a well deserved win to Tevi-Fuimaono Joel Keegan, Umina PCYC Head Boxing Coach was elated with the effort, “ It is was outstanding. Satali’s first fight in front of a home crowd -against a real tough opponent - and he does that.

Nikita Tszyu dodging punches from Taran Bensley

Absolutely Brilliant! A real credit to the Satali, his family and all the coaches here at Umina PCYC.” The other main event, Jasper Scannell, from Umina PCYC, matched up against Dillon Bargero, son of five time Australian champion, Marco Bargero. This bout had it all, including most people’s votes for ‘Fight of the Night’. Both boys had periods of dominance, with Bargero’s strong punching and walk-forward style posing problems for the sharp boxing and counterpunching style of Scannell. The three rounds had people out of their chairs, but the longer the fight went on, the more the Umina fighter began to open up the defences of the tough Wyong boy, with punches that consistently found their mark. It was a bruising affair and set the tone for futurefights to match.

“A great fight to watch, and a tough opponent for Jasper, in his first fight back after almost 3 years off. I couldn’t be happier with his performance or the test that Dillon gave him.” said Keegan.

Copacabana’s Shaun Wills, was another standout with a classy boxing performance against Blacktown PCYC’s Derrick Brinzi. Brinzi came with a reputation for power punching, but Wills, trained by former Irish international Terry Mahoney, showed great maturity and skill to overcome the Sydneysider’s strength. A great effort by a boxer who shows plenty of promise.

Nikita Tszyu was super impressive in his flyweight battle with Newcastle PCYC’s Taran Bensley.

The son of “Boxing Hall of

Fame”, special guest superstar Kostya Tszyu, Nikita didn’t have it all his own way in the opening round, but swung into action in the second round, landing too many unanswered shots for the referee’s liking. Kostya Tszyu must have felt a proud man, in between signing autographs and posing for photos as part of his special guest duties.

Josh English, unlucky not to be in late preparations for the London Olympics, showed everyone his recent good form was no fluke with a dominant display against the dangerous David Vo, from Cabramatta. After a sluggish first round, the little rocket from ‘Littleroc’ gym began to rip his opponent apart, with his trademark body shots and tricky head movement. A clear points win for a great kid on his way in a tough game.

Central Coast Youth Centre’s(CCYC) Shawn Bevan, put in a great display of counterpunching as he repeatedly avoided his strong opponent’s heavy-handed hooks and hard uppercuts, to reply with 2- and 3- punch combinations flush on the chin. His Penrith opponent was not easily deterred though, and pressed forward throughout the fight, which made for a great clash of styles and a really attractive fight. It was still a clear victory to the coast-based heavyweight (trained by Geoff Bushnell), Bevan.

In other performances on the night, Joey Birket (Bargero’s Boxing Gym) and Matt Cunningham (CCYC), could consider themselves very unlucky not to get the decision on the night, despite both giving away a bit of experience and weight in their bouts. Chris Nixon, from Umina PCYC, looked a certain winner in his fight - well up on points starting the third round - before running in to a haymaker from Ben Newton (Bargero’s Boxing Gym), which had Nixon unable to beat the count. Next time, champ.

Isabel Fry & Ahren Ross, both from Umina PCYC, had Competition Spars after failing to attract opponents. Isabel fought Michelle Muchabato, from Joe’s Boxing, and looked the much better boxer against her heavier, more experienced opponent. Ahren put in a great effort against the current NSW champion, Mark Glew, showing plenty of skill and fitness in a tough bout.

The night was a great success due to some fantastic support coaches and boxers from all over the coast.

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SEPTEMBER 2012

Amateur boxing

AUSTRALIAN HEALTH & FITNESS EXPO TITLES

NORTH SYDNEY Friday July 21 The North Sydney PCYC tournament is always a standout, but this year four Masters bouts nearly brought the roof down. That success is owed to Mark Pitts, trainer of some of Australia’s best fighters, who took the initiative to introduce Masters boxing into a mainstream tournament. It was a revelation to all just how capable these guys could be with some serious training behind them. Who would have thought that ‘old fellas’ could fight so well?

The most outstanding Masters bout, (perhaps also of the whole tournament), was North Sydney PCYC boxer, Mark Sheridan, fighting Hornsby PCYC boxer, Trevor Smith. This was a non-stop, toe-to-toe, hook for hook, jab for jab, absolute war. It was a real test to declare a winner, so close was the bout. In the end, Trevor Smith got the chocolates over the local Mark Sheridan, who is also the club president (who wants to mess with this club president!). It has rematch written all over it and I want ringside tickets!

Rod Walker, also from North Sydney PYCY, covered himself in glory in his very first bout by taking on the very experienced, Father Dave. Surprising everyone in the crowd, Walker more than held his own and had long periods of dominance with cheeky combinations off the ropes and clever defence that bamboozled the pugilistic padre.

Father Dave may well count his blessings to get the decision in a very close fight.

Jason Krishnan from Central Coast Youth Club (CCYC) was just too strong and fit for John Cantle of North Sydney PCYC. Cantle had evident ability, but could not match the work rate of Krisnan, who forced an early end to the bout in the third round.

In another showstopper, Guy Coleman, (North Sydney PCYC) and Mungo McCall, locked horns, producing a cracking fight, that saw both fighters dominate at different times. Coleman landed plenty of damaging right hand hits throughout the fight, but he could not stop McCall from pushing forward, cutting the ring off and eventually getting the better of the exchanges. Although Coleman was dangerous until the very end, the longer the fight went on, the more it swung to victory for McCall – another great fight.

In other bouts, we had an outstanding senior 75kg bout between Mick Axisa (Manly Fight

T Ronnie Lee vs Ben Dimitrioski

Gym) and Marty Clarke (Sutherland PCYC). Both of these boys have fought pretty much everyone, but had not fought each other, and have very different styles. The fight was a great one to watch, with Clarke clearly dominant on the outside and Axisa, his usual busy self in close. Although Clarke appeared to land plenty of shots and did a reasonable job of denying Axisa shots that scored, the decision went to Axisa.

81kg boxer, Dereck Zabolicki (North Sydney PCYC), looked sharp and very capable in his debut bout against Ben Castle, from Armidale PCYC. Always in control, Zabolicki landed several long shots but did struggle to convert these into telling blows and combos, although Zabolicki has plenty of time to improve.

Ignat Koslov (North Sydney PCYC), had to step up a weight division to get a fight, after his original opponent withdrew. His new opponent, from Blacktown PCYC, Darren Sutherland, proved to be an even match for ability. The difference in size was probably too much in the end and Sutherland scored a close points decision. Koslov forced the fight the whole time, gallantly pushing the attack forward, despite his weight disadvantage. His efforts resulted in good moments that nearly turned the bout his way. He will surely get results in his own weight class.

In a highly entertaining bout, Shane Berryman of Mt Druitt PCYC, scored a late stoppage win

Call Call us on us(02) on (02) 9715 9715 2083 2083 and and get started get started NOW NOW or email or email us atusjoe@joesboxing.com.au at joe@joesboxing.com.au for more for more information information 20/118 20/118 Queens Queens Rd Five Rd Five Dock, Dock, NSWNSW www.joesboxing.com.au www.joesboxing.com.au

over Jonathon Schouton, after being behind for the entire bout. Schouton (North Sydney PCYC), had done a great job of dealing with the strong and heavy-handed Berryman. Berryman had begun to run out of options, lunging forward with huge hooks and very awkward attempts at countering Schouten’s jab, when he connected with a huge punch that had the local in plenty of trouble. Schouton made the count, but Berryman landed another destructive combination seconds later, putting Schouton back in strife.

In the first bout of the night, Josh McKay (Mt Druitt PCYC) and Darcy Salmon (Sutherland PCYC) were outstanding . Despite a hot start from Salmon, Josh overcame a sluggish entry, finding his feet and using his heavy hands to end the bout early in the third round. Shawn Bevan showed class in his battle with the big punching Mt Druitt boxer, Toa Masila, winning a clear points decision after a tough first round. Josh Nagle (Orange PCYC), and Anthony Falabella (Kickstart Gym), had a tough battle, ending in a clear victory to Falabella, the tough kid from the northern beaches. David Ho (Stand Up) proved he is on the rise, with his second win on the trot, in dominant style. Ho has a great combination of power and style that will prove hard to beat for future opponents. In other bouts, Ronnie Lee (North Sydney PCYC), ran into foul trouble which may have robbed him of a possible win over Ben Dimitrioski, in their 81kg bout.

HE Australian Health & Fitness Expo is largest health and fitness expo in the southern hemisphere. The three day event, held in Darling Harbour, hosts hundreds of exhibitors and attracts over 100,000 visitors wanting to know about the latest and best offerings in the industry. This year, PCYC NSW and the Australian Health & Fitness Expo joined forces to put together a unique and brilliant showpiece of amateur boxing, “The Australian Health & Fitness Expo Titles”, taking the sport out to the wider community of fitness enthusiasts.

PCYC ran the boxing tournament over two huge days, featuring some of the best boxers from all over Australia. In a weekend of entertaining and highly skilled boxing, there were several noticeable standout boxers and bouts.

Luke Woods, the former National Youth Champion from the La Trobe boxing team in Tasmania, won the 64kg title in two bruising affairs.

Woods accounted for Terry Nicholas (SA) in the semi-final, followed with the tough assignment of Val Borg (Penrith PCYC , NSW) in the final.

Borg, a Boxing Australia scholarship holder, was a favourite in many people’s eyes, but struggled to find the answers to Woods’ mix of reach, footwork and evasion. The action was non-stop, with Borg pressing forward constantly, looking to dominate with relentless attacks.

Woods was up to the challenge and skilled enough to pick him off as needed. The third round was Borg’s best, but a clear win to Woods was never in doubt.

Another La Trobe boxer, Nick Cooney, possibly won the bout of the tournament when he upset Irish champion Ciaron Bates (Paddy Whackers , NSW) in the 60kg final. Bates came to the tournament with a formidable reputation and record, and quickly imposed himself on the tournament. In a strong performance, Bates disposed of NSW dynamo, George Kambosis (Tszyu Academy, NSW), in a great semi-final fight. Cooney was expected to wilt against the ferocity of the Irishman’s attack, but it was the Tasmanian who showed all the guile and ring smarts, playing the matador to Bates’ bull. Cooney used his footwork well to deny the Irishman much of his at-

tack, while Bates was determined to score on the inside. Bates had points taken in the later part of the fight for his use of the head, which certainly impacted on the bout, but Cooney was leading at the time. The bout stayed extremely close throughout and was a great contrast of styles.

Felipe Feriera (Stockade Gym, ACT), a young fighter with plenty of potential, was too strong for his opponents on his way to winning the middleweight youth title. In the semi-final, he beat the very tough NSW title champion, Luke Travers (14-5), before meeting current Australian title champion Cameron Jasper (SA), in the final. Again, it was a convincing win on the back of some tireless work at close range, with heavy uppercuts and hooks.

Mitch Dawson (Glove Box,NSW) ran away with a comfortable victory in the final of the 69kg division against World Series Boxing (WSB) champion, Troy O’Meley (Team Business, NSW), after a torrid first round of big exchanges had people unsure who would win. From the second round, Dawson settled in against O’Meley and put together a decisive win. Dawon’s semi-final win was less decisive, with his opponent, Kurtis

Cooper (Stockade Gym, ACT), stopped by injury. Many had Dawson behind, when Cooper’s nose began to bleed uncontrollably and the bout was stopped in the third round.

Dylan Hardy (La Trobe Boxing), last year’s National Youth Champion, made a smooth transition to the seniors , with a polished performance in the final against NSW’s rising star Blake Prospelyj ( 2 Blues Boxing, NSW). Hardy proved to have a big bag of tricks that made it impossible for Prospelyj to get the short space where he is usually so dominant. Hardy used his massive reach to land clean shots at long range, but also proved highly capable in close range, where the local boy was hoping to dominate.

Expect big things from this kid soon.

Jordan Bunder (Umina PCYC, NSW) had a tough weekend to win the 81kg title, beating the improving D’arcy George (Kickstart Gym, NSW), in the semi and then Beau Lopeti (South Sydney PCYC, NSW), in the final. Both opponents were ready to rumble, and stretched Bunder in each bout. George had an obvious plan to throw everything at Bunder , producing good results with the score very close until the last round, when Bunder began to pull away.

A great fight! For the final, Bunder faced relative novice Beau Lopeti, who fought well above his experience and boxed brilliantly showing greatpotential for the future.. With the title win, Bunder proved he is still in good form.

In the junior finals, Mateo Tapia (KickStart Gym, NSW) shows great promise, putting together a solid win against the older and more experienced, Blake Travers (Travers Family Gym, NSW). ACT junior, Alex Cooper (Stockade Gym, ACT) took care of business twice over the weekend, with victories against Mark Glew (Muswellbrook PCYC, NSW) and Jesse Travers (Travers Family Gym), in great displays of raw strength and power.

Lastly, Satali Tevi-Fuimoano (Umina PCYC, NSW) beat Luke Hart (Phoenix Gym, ACT) in a fight that showed little.

The tournament was a great success, emphasising all the positive aspects – the commitment, fitness, community - involved with the sport of boxing.

Scheduled again for next year on the 19th – 21st of April, it will continue as a great showcase for the sport and the dedicated community that make it happen.

Mitch Dawson vs

Kurtis Cooper

www.cornerman.com.au 11

may

SOUTHS

JUNIORS

now&then MAY – 69 kg Billy Vos vs Zeb King

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Both boxers from very good schools of boxing showed some class in this fight. King was moving light on his feet and had a quick jab that he established right from the opening bell. Being a southpaw he stayed off Vos’s lead foot, moving well.

Both fighters had great moments in the fight, King employing his left power hand with great precision, while Vos mainly turned King on the ropes and counter attacked with heavy shots.

It was a close bout but judges saw it in favor of Zeb King.

JUNE – State of Origin

Held every year at this time, State of Origin saw the Queensland team visiting Souths Juniors with their best boxers. It was a great display of amateur boxing proving that both states have many of the elite young prospects in Australia.

52kg – Nikita Tszyu from NSW, a winner of 2012 National Championships, was too strong for another current junior champion Will Moses from QLD. Southpaw Tszyu rocked Moses at the end of first round with a well-timed lead hook. Moses couldn’t find his mark and Tszyu got more comfortable as the fight progressed. The last round was a one-way traffic for Tszyu who

secured a points victory.

57kg – Blake Travers had the reach but couldn’t match the speed and power of 2012 National Champion Allan Nicolson who took the points win and levelled the score to NSW 1 – QLD 1.

61kg – Another great fight was between the current National 60kg champion Isaiah Farr and Chad Hoskins from NSW. Farr stayed low and was circling around the ring picking his shots, taking the victory in a closely fought match.

60kg – Their brothers fought previously just two fights earlier and it was time to avenge the loss when Jesse Travers took a close points decision over Tony Nicolson, levelling the score once again at 2-2.

62kg – Youseff Dib, a younger brother of the World champion Billy Dib, did not impress the judges after a well fought three round contest. The current Australian champion Matt Casboult, who was boxing on the back foot, was dropped with a low blow in round 2 so referee John Shamsabad took a point off the NSW boxer. Casboult managed to counter effectively in the last round, which brought him home a victory and improved the overall score to QLD 3 – NSW 2.

62kg – 2012 National Champion Clay Waterman from QLD was too fast and too classy for Dean Stewart and won comfortably improving the score of QLD by 2.

At that point Queensland broke the spirit of the NSW team and

57kg

Jason Enriquez vs Alper Ozmen

64kg

Edward Hart Brown vs Sam Woodhouse

69kg

John Halabi vs Josh Lim

75kg

Tristian Kapang vs Jake Maggiore

81kg

Tim Hannan vs Ben Dimitrioski Dylan Buncher vs Dom Stanuga

RSCO (Rnd 1)

Winner(Pts) RSCO (Rnd 1)

Winner(Pts)

Winner(Pts) Winner(Pts)

july

their victory was decided when Liam Wilson and Liam Pope won with only two fights to go.

George Kambosos improved the score for NSW after a great match with Miles Zalewski that went the distance and went in favour of Kambosos.

The only stoppage of the night was in the heavyweight division when referee John Shamsabad decided that Nathan McKay had enough against Queensland boxer Joe Goodhall in the second round.

The final score was QLD 7 – NSW 3.

JULY – 81 kg Ed Burns vs Pouono Lopeti Ed Burns from FBI Bondi Boxing piled on the pressure from the opening round, keeping Lopeti from Redfern PCYC on the ropes and counter punching. Burns who came to the fight undefeated with 5 fights, used his head well, but every time he had his opponent on the ropes he threw his straight right and squared up which got him slightly off balance. Halfway through round 2, Lopeti moved into the offensive and threw his jab when Burns moved his head and connected with a solid right that sent Lopeti down for a count.

He recovered quickly and started to press the fight knowing he needed to start working to collect the valuable points to stay in the fight. Burns was trying to use the same move but was jumping into his shots and getting more off balance.

Lopeti kept the foot down in the last round and was scoring with lead hooks and straight rights, but Burns used his head well and made him miss a lot.

The red corner thought they had it as Burns raised his arms up after the bout, but

the judges had Lopeti ahead on points and awarded him as winner.

46kg

Emitt McKoskery vs Adam Mourad

60kg

Marco Pranjit vs Chayen Sen

64kg

Sam Woodhouse vs Ali Altimeemy

71kg

Matthew Johnson vs Philip Doak Sam Mawson vs Rashwan Elmasri

AIBA Technical and Competition Rules

Each blow, to have a scoring value, must, without being blocked or guarded, land directly with the knuckle part of the closed glove of either hand on any part of the front or sides of the head or body above the belt. Swings landing as above described are scoring blows.

AUGUST – 69kg

75kg 91kg

David Tapveluelu vs Tammy Parker

Winner(Pts) Winner(Pts)

Winner(Pts)

Winner(Pts) RSCO (Rnd 3)

RSCO (Rnd 2)

Winner(Pts)

august

Daniel Lewis vs Mick Axisa Styles make fights and these two fighter’s clashing styles proved that. Daniel Lewis stepped up the weight class after an injury layoff while Manly Fight Gym boxer Mick Axisa gave away experience and stepped up for the challenge.

Both boxers being pressure fighters fought all three rounds in close quarters, making it rather hard for judges to score. With theirs hands up and heads close they swang hooks, uppercuts and big overhands. Lewis a taller fighter looked stronger out of two and was trying to push Axisa backwards. Round two saw Axisa taking the charge with constant pressure. He stayed low, picking his shots and waited for his opponent to open up.

The pace was gradually increasing as the fight progressed and Axisa began to skilfully turn Lewis, creating some great angles to attack from.

It was worth the main event as they fought their best all three rounds. You could see the disappointment on Mick Axisa face when judges awarded victory to Daniel Lewis from Jason Lewis Boxing.

Leroy Fisher vs Shaun Bonds Aaron Bridges vs Jeff Phipps

Winner(Pts)

64kg

Andrew Arezza vs Anton Dearnley

69kg

Amir Srour vs Matt Battaglia Jayden Haywood vs Kai Dixon Luke Del Vecchio vs Eddie Lorenzo

71kg

Anthony Sgro vs Nathan Nicolls

75kg

Brad Abbott vs Pablo Corea

81kg

Dillon Buncher vs Steve Gardner Dean Gould vs Samuel Harmon

91kg

Luke Powell vs Damien Harding

Winner(Pts)

RSCO Winner(Pts)

Winner(Pts)

Winner(Pts)

Winner(Pts) Winner(Pts)

Winner(Pts)

RSCO (Rnd 3)

www.cornerman.com.au 13

SEPTEMBER 2012

CONNECTION IS SECRET

OUT OF THE SHADOWS

TO LAMBERT’S SUCCESS

Guts and determination helped Gwen Bard make it into the ring.

Tom Lambert trains his boxers out of Narrabeen’s Kickstart boxing gym and has been producing some talents. We ask him how he started and his future plans.

T

up & comer XXXX

MATEO TAPIA • Talented prospect • Fights like pro Age: 14 Weight: 57kg Fight record: 8W4L Trainer: Tom Lambert Gym: Kickstart Favorite Fighter: Johnny Tapia 12month goal: To win State Titles, hopefully go to Nationals and later in US to have a crack at the big boys.

ELL us something about yourself.

I was a Muay Thai fighter, I hurt my knee and had a severe knee injury so started boxing. I fell in love with boxing and trained at Kostya Tzyzu boxing academy as an amateur and pro. I became good friends with Igor Goloubev and told him wanted to become a boxing coach and he showed me the ropes. I was an assistant coach for Igor and I am so very grateful to him for being such a good mentor and more importantly, a great mate and I always value his opinion to this day.

When did you start with training boxers?

6 yrs ago. Mateo Tapia was my first boxer. I could see he had talent even at 9 years of age. At the time he was too young to train in NSW so we set a goal to compete in the Golden Gloves when he turned 11 and he got silver at his first ever fight. That’s when I knew that training fighters is what I wanted to do.

How many amateur competitors do you have in your club?

15 at the moment but there’s more on the way, I never put a fighter into a fight unless I think they are ready, mentally, physically and crucially....emotionally.

I have a rule in my gym, 3 strikes and you’re out. I have no tolerance for time-wasters. In the end, I’m hard but fair, I’m not looking to have the most fighters in a gym, I want a small number of quality fighters who want to be there and who I think should be there.

What are the youngest kids you train for a fight?

9 years of age, because at that age they enjoy it and absorb a lot from being around the older competitive fighters and it allows me fine tune their abilities and focus on areas that need development.

With the NSW ban on competition for the under-14 age group, how do you keep younger kids motivated?

Twice a year I hold a sparring day at my gym and I invite other gyms with kids under 14 to come and spar. It’s all very friendly yet professional, with trophies given to every competitor and there are no winners or losers. I have done it for the past 6 years and it’s getting bigger and bigger. I train them for the novice titles which happens once a year in QLD. All my fighters are like a family, they are treated all the same, whether they are 9 years old or 30 years old, and they all feel really connected with each other and that in itself is the greatest motivation. They all train together, there is no segregation at all. Everyone learns a thing or two from each other.

We are all there for one another, whoever is fighting. If one fighter is on a particular night, the rest of the fighters go and give support, it really is like a family.

What are the best achievements of your boxers?

State Titles, Golden Gloves, Novice Titles & Pro How long have you been working with James Beard?

2 years. James has lost 25 kg since starting with me, he wanted to turn professional when he first came to me 2 yrs ago, when he was 100kg, but I felt it in his best interest to lose some weight and see if we were a good match as a coach/fighter. As a coach I needed to see where his potential lay so I asked him to do three tough amateur fights which he completed with all 3 wins and I knew then he was ready to turn pro.

How is he going?

Really well, he’s training really hard, sparring the best of the best. Sakio Bika, Garth Wood…

What do you have planned in near future?

For him to win the NSW title and then go on to win

James Beard after his pro debut win.

14 www.cornerman.com.au

E

A CRACKER OF A NIGHT

Bondi RSL club played host once again to Shadow Boxer fight night and showcased some great up-and-coming young fighters as well as some veterans.

Z

ACK Richards and Ash Sutton-Davies were awarded fight of the night, while Kurtis Cooper managed to take a title.

Up and coming boxer, Anja Stridsman, fought a fast-paced exhibition bout against debutant Mattie Schuster in a ‘fight of the night’ match. Stridsman kept a cracking pace while Schuster’s tight guard was enough to fend off the strong attacks until she could open up in the second round, throwing hard punches in combos that got Stridsman on the back foot.

Regaining her range, Stridsman used good footwork and her reach advantage to push the pace again. Schuster stayed calm and tight and managed to finish the match strong. Although an exhibition match, the women showed impressive skill and technicality and will be ones to watch out for in the future.

Kurtis Cooper faced off against Mitch Dawson for the East Side light middleweight title in a rematch after their first encounter earlier in the year at the Health and Fitness Expo Titles. (p11) Both men immediately started throwing hard punches with bad intentions, Cooper using his reach advantage and Dawson weaving in,fishing for body shots. No clear winner could be seen after the first 2 rounds. Round 3 saw

Dawson come out of his corner like a bat out of hell; head hunting, moving in low and coming up with hard hook-cross-hook combos. The knockout intention was clear and Cooper could only cover up and try to weather Dawson’s storm. After a standing 8 count, Cooper countered off Dawson’s combos with jabs and crosses as Dawson’s energy waned. Although Dawson started working for body shots and uppercuts, Cooper held on and managed to take the title.

For the main event, Zack ‘Attack’ Richards faced off against Ash Sutton-Davies in a crowd-pleasing fight. Both men came out strong, throwing fast, heavy punches until their fitness got the better of them and they backed off to box. After two rounds of trying to pick each other off, round 3 saw the men drained of energy and starting to grapple until Richards managed to back off and shut down Sutton-Davies’ bursts, eventually clinching the victory.

Other mentions go to Sam Mawson and Ricardo Moylette, who fought a back and forth match that resulted in Ricardo Moylette taking the victory. Tanya Smith fought Susanne Geis and after landing some heavy shots scored a well earned win by decision.

VERY coach thinks their boxer is exceptional, indeed many are, but in the case of Anton Shalom, his boxer truly is. Forty eight year old Gwen Bard made her debut at Shadow Boxer fight night on June 9 at a catch weight of 55kgs.

She managed to win the fight but the journey to the ring was much more intense.

Gwen started training about 2 years ago for exercise but was soon sparring with the guys. At a natural weight of 50kgs she had a very difficult time. She had a great opportunity though when Shinichi Murayama came to Australia from Japan to fight Maydad Ronen for a masters title and started training at her gym. She was able to spar with Shinichi and learn a lot from him. When it was time for him to fight Gwen asked to work in his corner “because I want to fight and I think it would be a great learning experience”.

Her coach was blown away and her persistent nagging convinced him that she wasn’t fooling around with her desire.

When an opponent was found, 38 year old Feliciano Kinderman, Gwen needed to eat 8-10 meals per day just to make weight, sometimes getting into arguments with her coach about the importance of making weight.

Not only was that hard but leading up to the fight one of her 2 dogs became quite sick and although she worked hard to get the dog to the vet in between focussing on making weight and getting to training, 2 weeks out from the fight her four- legged friend died.

Instead of becoming depressed she became more determined.

This determination showed in her fight as she held off a strong and constant attack from her opponent to take the win. Gwen showed that with determination anyone can achieve what they want to. We can only hope to find the same determination in ourselves and our fighters.

SEPTEMBER 2012

Amateur boxing

GOLDEN GLOVES

Daniel Lewis vs Ozan Craddock

ALL THAT

TTERS GISLIGOLD H

Golden Gloves winner Anja Stridsman gives her first person account of the 2012 tournament.

AVING struggled as a female to get fights in NSW, the Golden Gloves was a perfect opportunity to get at least one good quality fight, and would be a benchmark of how far I’d come in my training.

So on the 31st of August I packed my bags and went with my coach to Brisbane, expecting at least one fight, and harbouring a small hope that I would get two.

The Golden Gloves, now in its 12th consecutive year, is becoming the biggest tournament for amateur boxing within Australia, with over 300 fighters participating in the tournament and over 220 fights. This year it became an international tournament with teams coming from New Zealand, England and New Caledonia.

A lot of planning goes into running an event like this, with the coordination of hundreds of people and with fights going from 10am right through till 2 am. Not unexpectedly, there were a few hiccups.

There’s this feel to a big tournament, trepidation, anticipation, impatience. You can almost smell it on the air. The cacophony of chattering voices, all talking about the same thing, all thinking about the same thing: boxing, and perhaps food, for those deprived, struggling to make weight. Whether we were 25 or 15, we were all there for the same thing. Hoping to get at least one fight or more, and winning a pair of those coveted golden gloves to become the golden gloves champion.

Arriving at the weigh in, you see people skipping in empty parking spaces, stressing to make weight. Others are anxiously using the test scales, shedding clothes to lose kilos, gazing expectantly at the numbers by their feet. Some

16 www.cornerman.com.au

flex triumphantly at falling within their bracket, others sheepishly make their way back to the parking-lot with a bit more work ahead of them.

Everywhere, people are milling about in groups, expectant at the days of competition to come.

With every fighter having to weigh in on the first day, in order to start all the match ups, the queue of people stretched on far ahead. It started outside, snaked around corners, through the function room, seemingly never-ending. We had a lot of waiting ahead of us, and that was just the beginning. That is what I remember most of the first day, waiting. Waiting to weigh in, waiting for my book to be processed, waiting to see the doctor, and then waiting and waiting again to find out when you were fighting. If you were fighting.

Luckily for me, being a female, and a minority in the tournament, a handful of us who were not already weighed in, were called to the front of the line to weigh in, in the privacy of a tiny little bathroom.

After that it was time to see the doctor. There was only one, and although he was efficient having done this many times, one doctor to over 300 fighters, is bound to take a little bit of time.

More waiting.

Impatience grew as the day went on. People were everywhere, leaning against the walls, squatting on the ground, sitting on the spectators’ chairs, walking around aimlessly, sleeping in corners. Some talking, some gazing into space.

Everyone waiting.

Finally they started the bouts, two hours late, while the rest of the draw went on at the back.

For the rest of us who hadn’t been matched up yet, we didn’t have much choice but to hang

around, in case we would have to fight on the day. I was lucky to have a room at the venue, and was able to go and have a rest, while my coach kept an eye on the draw. As for other people, they didn’t have much choice but to keep on waiting.

We found out at around 9pm that no women were fighting on the first night, but that I would have to go to the weigh in the next morning at 8am, when I would find out whether I would fight then or have to wait until Sunday. At least I would get one fight.

As much as the first day was about waiting, the second was quite the opposite. From realising that I’d forgotten my wraps in Sydney, hurrying to purchase a pair on the morning before the fight, to cancelling breakfast in order not to be late to the fight.

With two chocolate bars digesting, I’m warmed up and gloved up, outside the ring and ready to go. We find out then that due to all the delays and number of fights, they are cutting the fights short, making ours 3x1.5 minute rounds instead of 4x2 minutes. I couldn’t help but feel a bit disappointed, especially since I was only getting one fight to begin with.

For me, with all the waiting, preparation and anticipation, the 5 minute fight was over way too quickly, and there was a bit of an anticlimax stepping out of the ring, but I stepped out as the winner and the 2012 golden gloves champion.

The good thing about the golden gloves is that it is nothing if not unpredictable. The next day I was fortunate enough to get another fight with a girl whose opponent had left. We had a tough fight where I could leave it all in the ring. I won the fight and got to leave the tournament in haste with two golden gloves championships in two days.

IN NUMBERS President of Boxing Queensland, Ann Tindall, gives Cornerman a look behind the scenes of Australia’s biggest boxing tournament.

W

HY did you change the venue for this year’s Golden Gloves?

We had outgrown our previous venue and our hometown, which I love, doesn’t have anything large enough to properly accommodate the Golden Gloves for the dates we needed. We were lucky enough to be approached by the Acacia Ridge Tavern who are great supporters of amateur boxing and the change was made.

Golden Gloves is the biggest tournament in Australia. What’s behind the smooth running of such a massive event?

A large band of dedicated volunteers hold everything together, the R&J would be the most vital running everything from the weigh in through. Paul Thompson, Terry Kidd and Wayne Rose get special mention for the work they did behind the scenes to keep things running smoothly. We try to keep it the friendliest tournament in Australia with clubs able to bring up their full teams from their first bout novice through to their world champion. I think with full teams it helps keep things friendlier.

g over Tai Hawkins

Nikita Tszyu winnin

Did you experience any problems during the tournament?

There were certainly more positives than negatives however having a larger number of competitors slowed the weigh-in, our computer deleted all information when it was shifted in readiness for the draw and the draw could have been handled differently. We knew we could handle everything in the case of computer malfunction but it was a delay we didn’t need.

Yes there were frayed nerves and we had to change the order of bouts on the last day to accommodate those with early flights but judging from the large number of people thanking us and telling us how much they love the Golden Gloves it was a success.

How do the locals and local businesses respond to such an influx of people?

The hotels and motels in the local area were certainly well utilized.

Have you got the date for 2013 GG and what changes can we expect?

The dates are 22 - 25 August 2013, we will need to advise the venue a little later but will let you know immediately. Boxers looking

NUMBERS

YEARS OF RUNNING: 12th year - our first open Golden Gloves was in 2000 COUNTRIES REPRESENTED: 4 - Australia, New Caledonia, New Zealand and England NUMBER OF COMPETITORS: 364 weighed in NUMBER OF FIGHTS: 211 with another 11 bouts postponed due to the length of the tournament.

NUMBER OF DIVISION/CLASSES: 10 Elite, 10 Youth, 13 Junior, 18 School and Sub-Junior and Ten-Year-old divisions, 3 Novice divisions 0-3, 4-7 and 8-15 after 15 bouts they are considered experienced.

FIGHTER OF THE TOURNAMENT: Andrew Moloney from East End Boxing FIGHT OF THE TOURNAMENT: Daniel Lewis and Ozan Craddock

to enter will have to nominate, with the weigh-in on the morning of the 22nd and first session on the Thursday evening. This allows us to let the boxers know from the outset exactly when the sessions are and how many bouts in each weight division. Next year will be the best ever and we’re looking forward to it already.

www.cornerman.com.au 17

SEPTEMBER 2012

Up next was a construction manager Shane Lange, again from Claim Central. Lange faced Richard Peard from East Side Protection. Both fighters, known for their punching power, brought everything into the ring. Lange started out calm with his hands up and countered back with fast hands to take the lead in the first round. The second round was even, with Lange prevailing with speed and Peard with stronger punches.

Peard brought home a victory in the last round by using his range and moving his feet.

The main event of the evening was the professional NSW Welterweight title. Sam Ah See and Alex Ahtong, both southpaw fighters, set out to put on a great display of quality boxing over eight, three-minute rounds.

Ahtong had more professional experience with 26 previous fights and was featured in our April issue after a great win over Steve Maxwell in

Ah See connects with a beauty

Hobart. Sam Ah See had stepped into the ring as a professional only 5 times prior to this bout but held numerous amateur State and National titles.

Both fighters started very relaxed, Ahtong kept his hands raised while Ah See countered with his hands down and a lightening -speed jab. Ah See used his footwork, comfortably moving away from the heavy hits, and getting in quickly to score shots.

Round two saw Ah See mixing head and body shots, stepping up the pace and forcing Ahtong to go backwards. It was obvious that Ahtong needed to catch Ah See with one shot as he was just too fast. Ah See opened up a windmill of punches in last ten seconds, showing the judges that he owned the round.

In round 3, Ah See was the volume puncher while Ahtong just wanted to counter punch. Once again Ah See finishing in a flurry of punches,

closing the round comfortably 10-9. Ah See started to close down the range using his gloves to block hooks and leaned forward into his punches to bring more power to his shots.

Ah See changed tactics slightly in round 6, moving his head to set up body and head shots.

He dealt fewer punches but put more power behind his shots.

Round 7 was the best round from Ah See. He caught Ahtong early with lead hooks followed by straight lefts which lead to a split top lip. The doctor stepped in to look at the cut during the break and Alex Ahtong’s trainer called the fight for the safety of his boxer.

Sam Ah See, the new NSW State Welterweight Champion was happy with the TKO victory despite feeling drained as a result of dropping to welterweight. Both fighters put on a great show, at the end of a fantastic night of corporate boxing.

TAKING THE CHALLENGE

George Dranganoudis tells Cornerman why he decided to get in the ring.

Anthony Hannaford on the front foot

Aaron Aitken works behind his jab

WITH GLOVES

Corporate Fighter Promotions put on another great show at the UNSW Roundhouse on August 17th.

E

IGHTEEN young men from the CBD and around Sydney put their hands up to test their skills and inner strength in three twominute round matches.

The evening also raised over $10,000 for two great charities, Children’s Cancer Institute Australia and Autism Spectrum Australia.

Over 12 weeks, Tomas Vysokai and legendary trainer Johnny Lewis put the budding boxers through their paces. They met three times a week and after the first few strenuous training sessions most stopped smoking and drinking with many beginning to organise their lives around the date of the fight.

The big night finally arrived and one by one, the apprentices stepped into the bright lights to the cheers of the crowd. The nerves turned to adrenalin and each man gave it his all.

39 year old Josh Geller (HCM Australia) had a lot of reach on his much younger opponent Benard Chedid.

Chedid’s plan was to stay close and hit the body to weaken the taller Geller. After three close rounds, judges awarded the decision to Josh Geller.

18 www.cornerman.com.au

Tate Dale is only 19 years old and was signed up to Corporate Fighter by his older brother. He didn’t know what to expect but claims that after one week of training he was hooked and never looked back. Tate was up against insolvency accountant Anthony Murphy. Murphy used his range and movement to take the control from round one, changing his attacks from head to body. Young Tate was getting frustrated but kept the pressure on until the final bell. Judges awarded the win to Anthony Murphy.

Actor and TV Presenter Luke Carroll started Corporate Fighter training to get fit and tick an item off his bucket list. He looked confident and had speed over his younger opponent Tom Watt (Aurec). He used his jab, keeping his hands down at times. Watt pushed forward and his tight combinations put the judges on his side, taking the win by split decision.

Executive operations manager Aaron Aitken (Claim Central) made his second appearance in the square ring this year against an IT recruiter Vinesh Vijayananthan. Aitken looked composed and experienced. He used his jab well and was on the front foot for the whole three rounds. Vinesh

circled around and tried to counter punch using his lead hook and straight right. But he wasn’t able to score enough points so the decision went to Aaron Aitken.

Energy broker George Dranganoudis (ICAP) made his debut at 36 but he looked composed, despite facing an opponent 9 years his junior.

Nick Worthington tried to push back at times but couldn’t find his rhythm.

In another exciting bout Anthony Hannaford (HCM Australia) took a close decision over Jeff Saal (Claim Central). Saal moved well and scored points up until the last seconds of round 2 where, right on the bell, he was hit with a right and fell to the canvas. He beat the count but was unable to even the score in the last round. It was a welldeserved victory for Anthony Hannaford.

Travis Dale (Claim Central) kept his hands up and was on the front foot for most of the fight against Alex McSwiney (Student), who put together some impressive scoring combinations.

Both in their twenties, the fighters kept the intensity high throughout the whole fight. It went back to judges and they made the decision in favour of Alex McSwiney.

W

HAT was involved in12 weeks of training?

I committed to training with Tomas and Johnny on Tuesday and Thursday nights and on Saturday mornings.

Each session was 1 hour long but some felt much longer, especially the Saturday cardio sessions. I also tried to fit in an extra training session at lunch during the week.

Was it difficult to manage your training schedule with your busy work schedule?

I needed to adjust a few things in both my work and personal life. Initially it was a big change but after a few weeks I seemed to fit everything in. It’s amazing how much you can fit into your life when you have a routine.

Have you noticed any changes in your lifestyle during your training period?

Huge changes. My diet changed drastically, for the better. I gave up alcohol for 12 weeks and made the commitment to eat healthily throughout.

What was your friends and family reaction to the news of taking the charity boxing fight?

After the initial laughter subsided most where shocked that I would even think about something like this. This was the furthest thing from my comfort zone.

There seem to be a lot of corporate involvement at the fight night, do you believe corporate boxing is gaining momentum in Australia?

Absolutely. The formula works for individuals and companies alike. It provides individuals the opportunity to test their physical and mental strength. For companies like the one I work for it provided a fantastic night of entertainment for our clients. All while raising money for two great charities. It’s win win for everyone.

What were the reaction of your bosses?

They were very supportive of me and of

Corporate Fighter. My CEO didn’t hesitate in paying for 4 tables on fight night for staff and clients and even offered to help me with extra sparing sessions.

Take us through your final day prior to the fight.

I was very fortunate. I had a great night sleep the night before so woke up completely rested. I had breakfast with my wife at my favourite cafe before going for a walk to the beach. I even managed to get a couple of hours sleep after lunch before heading to the roundhouse for our 4pm weigh in.

Were you nervous hours leading up to the fight?

Surprisingly I wasn’t that nervous. I had done the hard work, hadn’t cut any corners and so was comfortable that I was as ready as I could be.

That’s not to say I was overconfident but what was to be will be. I was just hoping I would enjoy the night.

How did you feel when they announced you as a winner?

Relieved. I had 55 family, friends, work mates and clients turn up to watch me fight. They had yelled their lungs out during the fight so I was really happy to win for them.

Will you continue training now when the fight is over?

Definitely. I’m planning to have a few weeks off but then I’m going to build in 2 to 3 training sessions into my weekly schedule. The benefits to my lifestyle are just too good not to continue Have you got any advice for businessmen thinking about having a go?

If you’re looking to change your life for the positive then don’t hesitate, sign up. For me I lost 10kg, trained with a great bunch of guys and stepped in the ring. It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity. I even managed to achieve better results at work.

one to watch SAM AH SEE • Lightning fast • Classy boxer Age: 21 Division: Welterweight Stance: Southpaw Amateur fights: 70 Pro record: 6F 5W 4KO 1TD Australian rating: 8 (boxrec) Best Fight: Alex Ahtong Trainer: Mick Akkaway Manager: Josh King Favorite Boxer: Floyd Mayweather 12 month goal: Aussie title, Regional World title

www.cornerman.com.au 19

GEALE

TITLES TITLESFOR FOR GRABS GRABSAT AT

CROATIAN CROATIANCLUB CLUB

NOW IN LEGENDARY COMPANY

Boxing Works trainers Boxing Works trainers showshow howhow it’s done it’s done

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By Sean Castle

t Champion, Daniel Geale

Two times World Middleweigh

A

USTRALIA’S World Middleweight Champion, Daniel “The Real Deal” Geale has confirmed his place among the top echelons of world boxing by adding the WBA World “Super” Middleweight belt to the IBF belt he already owns by defeating long-term German world champion Felix Sturm. And in the process he has elevated himself into legend status within Australian boxing history by becoming the first Australian-born fighter to unify two major belts, the IBF and WBA. For the second time in his glittering career, Geale has gone into the lions’ den of world boxing, Germany, and escaped with two of the most prestigious belts on offer in world boxing.

In a classic fight at Oberhausen’s Koenig Pilsener Arena that pitted two of the sport’s most clever and strategic boxers against each other, Geale prevailed in a split decision victory with Judges Stanley Christodoulou and Dave Parris scoring it 116-112 in favour of Geale, while American Eugene Grant had it 116-112 to Sturm.

Reminiscent of his split points decision IBF title win in May, 2011 also in Germany against another German in Sebastian Sylvester, Geale again showed all those wannabe fighters how it is done by again stepping into a foreign territory and coming home with all of the goodies.

Defending his IBF belt for the third time, the Tasmanian born and raised fighter appeared

20 www.cornerman.com.au

ulievPaoautilivaati eePoorg rgG eo G s v s v m m a rah raha Peter G Peter G

more active throughout, ducking and evading Sturm’s heaviest blows with solid defence and clever footwork. Sturm did have many strong moments throughout the fight with the defending WBA champion managing to deliver some of his powerful left jabs as well as catching the Aussie fighter with some clean right-hand body shots. Geale was left with a small cut after the second round that had no real significance, while Sturm had a cut under his left eye from the eighth. Both fighters had their corners shouting at them throughout the fight, warning of the closeness of the contest. Sensing a close decision, both fighters stepped up the pressure in the final rounds, with the fight ending in a flurry of punches as both fighter aimed to leave a lasting impression on the judges.

Geale and his corner raised their arms as the bell sounded to end a bout that could have swung either way. As expected the partisan crowd, not used to close decisions going against their fighters, greeted the verdict with the customary chorus of boos and jeering. But none of that mattered for the new unified IBF/WBA Middleweight Champion of the World.

Geale, as is his nature, was humble and respectful in victory in praising his opponent.

“Felix Sturm has been a great champion in this division for a long period of time. Nobody holds this belt for as long as he has and defends it successfully more than a dozen times unless he is top class” Geale generously said after the fight.

“I also need to thank my wife Sheena and my kids who without their support I couldn’t do this. Also, I need to personally thank Graham and Garrie from Grange and the whole team who have backed me. I hope this starts to repay them” Geale added.

The Champion, who fights under the tutelage of Graham Shaw at the Grange Old School Boxing gym in Sydney’s south-western outskits, now adds his name to a list of fighters that have held the WBA title including past legends “Sugar” Ray Robinson and “The Raging Bull” Jake LaMotta. Across both belts that he now holds, “The Real Deal” has his name forever linked as holding the same belts as superstars Carlos Monzon, “Marvellous” Marvin Hagler, Roy Jones Jr and Bernard “The Executioner” Hopkins. Geale now joins naturalised Aussie champions Kostya Tszyu and Vic Darchinyan in unifying major world titles and has a range of options open to him to pursue as he seeks to fight only the best. Leading American agent Gary Shaw will look at more big fights knowing his charge will duck no fighter or no location.

“Daniel is clear in that he only wants to fight the best. He has instructed me to look at making things happen to get him in the ring against the likes of WBC title holder Julio Cesar Chavez Jr, WBO Champion Dmitry Pirog or ideally the great Argentine Sergio Martinez.

Daniel is willing to take any of them on” Shaw commented.

Peter ‘The Chief’ after winning Peter ‘The Graham, Chief’ Graham, after winning the NSW boxingboxing title. title. the heavyweight NSW heavyweight

ANS of kickboxing were were o Valin Valin ANS of kickboxing EnxpvesdEitxpedito vosxo n o x o fortunate to seetoone fortunate seeofone of Steve SMteve M Australia’s greatsgreats Peter “The Australia’s Peter “The Chief”Chief” Graham contesting Graham contesting for thefor NSW heavyweight boxing the NSW heavyweight boxing title against titleholder “Gorgeous” title against titleholder “Gorgeous” George Poulivaati on Saturday at the at the George Poulivaati on Saturday Croatian Club, Club, Sydney.

Fans would Croatian Sydney.

Fans would have been with local have familiar been familiar with star localSteve star Steve “Stone“Stone Cold”Cold” Moxon who was it Moxon whoputting was putting it all on all theon line international recognition thefor line for international recognition against Expedito Valin Valin for thefor vacant WKF WKF against Expedito the vacant middleweight title, but few have have middleweight title, butwould few would predicted how impressive the fights were. were. predicted how impressive the fights Peter Graham startedstarted strongly against Peter Graham strongly against George Poulivaati, using using his range and and George Poulivaati, his range is footwork.

His opponent was happy to taketoatake a footwork.

His opponent was happy rag Rghg Rghis eli vs Fea li vs Fara few shots land big acounter of his of own few to shots to aland big counter hisand own and io Asip Sio AsSip rarelyrarely took atook backward step the entire fight. fight. a backward step the entire Graham’s combos really really startedstarted to damage Graham’s combos to damage Poulivaati towards the end theof third Poulivaati towards theofend the round, third round, wherewhere he landed a flurry of unanswered shots.shots. The final he landed a flurry of unanswered was Moxon’s, who seemed to Theround final round was Moxon’s, who seemed to But Poulivaati wasn’twasn’t done.done.

But Poulivaati be pushing for thefor KO. foughtfought well off theoff the be pushing theValin KO. Valin well The followi ng four were an absolute The followi ngrounds four rounds were an absolute ropes ropes and wouldn’t go down, but Moxon lookedlooked and wouldn’t go down, but Moxon slugfest with both maintaining a pace slugfest with fighters both fighters maintaining a pace hungrier for thefor title. was given a splita split hungrier theMoxon title. Moxon was given rarelyrarely seen at fighters of their Poulivaati seen at fighters ofweight. their weight.

Poulivaati decision victoryvictory and summed up hisup performance decision and summed his performance kept coming forward, eatingeating punches and and kept coming forward, punches with, “I was“Iprobably looking for thefor KO with, was probably looking thetoo KO too landing his own. times it looked like either landing his At own.

At times it looked like either much much and he kicked and kicked and kicked.

I’m I’m and he kicked and kicked and kicked. man could finish finish the other. man could the other. glad to wintothis trueachampion and and glad wintitle thisfrom title afrom true champion The final was as energetic as theas first, Theround final round was as energetic the first, thank thank you toyou all my supporters.”

EarlierEarlier in the in the to all my supporters.” with perhaps Graham havinghaving slightlyslightly betterbetter with perhaps Graham evening, eight time champion kickboxer evening, eightworld time world champion kickboxer fitnessfitness and lighter feet. Poulivaati’s courage and and Stan “The and lighter feet. Poulivaati’s courage Longinidis described Moxon as as Stan Man” “The Man” Longinidis described Moxon strength was amazing, though, and both strength was amazing, though, and fighters both fightersthe beginning of theof new kickboxing in the beginning theera newofera of kickboxing in finished strongly.

Graham was awarded the win, finished strongly.

Graham was awarded the win,Australia, whichwhich is highispraise indeed.

Australia, high praise indeed. but was gracious to his to opponent.

“It “It butsuitably was suitably gracious his opponent.

FaragFarag Rghis Rghis had ahad big areach advantage over over big reach advantage was awas friggen hard day the at office,” he said. a friggen hardatday the office,” he said. Sio Asipeli and used to great advantage in the in the Sio Asipeli and itused it to great advantage “George is definitely a champion and made that thatearly rounds.

“George is definitely a champion and made His opponent startedstarted to counter early rounds.

His opponent to counter very hard very work.” hard work.” well with excellent flurriesflurries as theas fight wellsome with some excellent the fight It wasItclear opening bell that was from clear the from the opening bellSteve that Steve progressed, but couldn’t put him Rghis Rghis progressed, but couldn’t putdown. him down.

Moxon wouldwould have his hands full. Valin was was didn’tdidn’t Moxon have his hands full. Valin look atlook all comfortable beingbeing hit, buthit, still at all comfortable but still in great shapeshape and his kicks in great and his were kicks deceptively were deceptively maintained his reach advantage with awith consistent maintained his reach advantage a consistent effective against his shorter opponent.

Moxon effective against his shorter opponent.

Moxon jab. The calledcalled a draw – jab.fight Thewas fighteventually was eventually a draw – was characteristically aggressive and when he he whichwhich was characteristically aggressive and when seemed an accurate conclusion. seemed an accurate conclusion. got inside Valin’sValin’s rangerange he made him pay got inside he made himwith pay with viciousvicious striking combos. striking combos.

Trueman Robb Robb lookedlooked to be to thebe more technical Trueman the more technical The middle roundsrounds were action packed.

Moxon The middle were action packed.

Moxon and relaxed boxerboxer from the get-go, but Danny and relaxed from the get-go, but Danny landed some some thunderous body body shots on Valin, landed thunderous shots on Valin, Kennedy wasn’twasn’t goinggoing to dieto wondering.

Kennedy die wondering. and Valin gave Moxon some some brutalbrutal chin-music and Valin gave Moxon chin-music Kennedy’s work rate and landed Kennedy’s workwas rateimpressive was impressive and landed with his kicks.

Moxon was the more aggressive with his kicks.

Moxon was the more aggressive some some excellent shots on Robb.

The high-energy excellent shots on Robb.

The high-energy fighterfighter however, and landed an excellent jumping however, and landed an excellent jumpingencounter finished with both looking very very encounter finished with fighters both fighters looking knee to finish roundround four. four. knee to finish even. even.

The win to Trueman Robb Robb Thewas wingiven was given to Trueman

www.cornerman.com.au 21 21 www.cornerman.com.au

SEPTEMBER 2012

Dennis Hogan on the attack.

THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES The late Michael Dann was a great man and a big personality within the boxing circuit.

Gary Mason shares some special memories and how he best remembers the man.

I

REMEMBER hosting a corporate box at the Sydney Kings Basketball and inviting Michael to the box (which was located directly behind the players bench) Michael declined as he did not want to embarrass Graeme his son (a star player at The Kings) by sitting directly behind him during the game.

I turned up to the game and wanting to get into the spirit of the game I invested in a Kings cap. I had invited a good mate of mine to the box who had brought along Alex his 8 yr. old grandson. Alex was so excited to be at the game and located so close to the players. Michael came over said hello and then said “Gary just give me that cap” I, slightly disgruntled handed over the cap and he disappeared. The lights dimmed and out came the Sydney kings. Alex’s eyes were the size of saucers and you could have peeled him off the ceiling when Graeme Dann ran over to Alex and said “ Alex on behalf of The Sydney Kings I would like to present you with this cap signed by all the players”.

At the next home game I bought my second cap, at the end of the game Michael dashed past and said “Gary, just give me that cap” the

next thing I see Michael taking a young mentally disabled boy in a wheel chair into the changing rooms for photo’s with the players. And yes, you guessed it he was wearing my cap.

Michael Dann’s influence in my life was disproportionate to both the amount of time we knew each other and the amount of time we spent together. Having said that we did spend a fair bit of time together in the 5 short years I knew him.

I was introduced to Michael by the guys at Betezy, one of the partners in the firm said “Gary, you should meet Michael Dann. You two would get on like a house on fire” We did.

I was immediately drawn to Michael’s larger than life personality, his warmth, his roguish sense of humor but most of all his kindness.

I could tell Michael Dann stories for hours and I am sure many of you will have your own, but I wish I could have another year with Michael Dann for every time I heard him say; To the mother that came up to place a bet at the boxing with her daughter “ now will you be placing the same bet as your younger sister?”

Or to the 50 yr. old woman looking to place a

bet, “ quick, quick, someone call the police. This young girl is clearly not old enough to be in here. She’s underage” Or to the young waitress serving some pretty average food at the boxing “ excuse me, would you mind asking the chefs to go easy on the mornay sauce on my lobster” Michael Dann is dearly missed by all who knew him. I know he is never far from my thoughts.

VS

Full-Time Talent and Boxa Promotions will be promoting “ Thanks for the memories” a night of boxing to celebrate the life of Michael Dann and his contribution to Australian Boxing.

Wednesday 24th October. It will be an annual event. Tickets from Souths Juniors, or gary@ fulltimetalent.com.au or 0411 122 069

J

In combat sports there are good fighters and there are great fighters

“Stone Cold” Steve Moxon…...the most exciting, explosive and entertaining fighter to emerge from Australia in a decade, yet the most humble, dedicated and focused achiever. Always considered the underdog, Moxon has been tearing through the fighting world, taking on the best, dominating the ring and dispatching his opponents on his way to World Championship success and international recognition.

Moxon’s career, popularity and rankings have exploded in the last 12 months, setting him up on course to unify the World Middleweight division and become a multi-title World Champion in 2012.

As the reigning WKF middleweight world champion, Steve is scheduled to challenge reigning WKA middleweight world champion Fadi Merza in a unification super-fight scheduled for Oct 20th 2012 in his hometown of Melbourne, Australia.

Moxon launched his official website earlier this year, not only keeping fans updated on his latest accomplishments, upcoming plans and official branded merchandise, but also carrying an expanding range of innovative training, fitness, and health products hand picked, tried, and tested by Moxon himself. If you’re looking to train better or harder, achieve the muscular or athletic fighter’s definition and strength or just improve your overall health and well being, visit www.stevemoxon.com and view his range of available products.

Thinking big and setting his goals sky-high means you can be sure to see this tenacious young Australian country boy become a multi-title World Champion before the end of the year.

There are many different types of athletes but they are all in search of the same thing. The power of winning and the rewards they have worked for their whole life. MC2 Management is a leading sports, entertainment, and media company carrying diverse global expertise most notably in professional sports marketing, licensing, and media rights. In order to build the complete athlete we bring as much passion and dedication as the athlete does, constantly seeking new opportunities for our clients as emerging trends reshape the sporting, entertainment, and media landscapes.

We put all our passion into branding, marketing, and securing the athlete accordingly in all of his or her business dealings, and through our innovative marketing concepts we provide athletes with opportunities deserved.

Whether it be reigning World Champion Steve Moxon or top upcoming prospect, the undefeated IKBF Middleweight Victorian Champion, Cobie Brigham; we are committed to building a team of world class winners and getting them the representation they deserve, if you think you have what it takes to be a world champion contact: enquires@2mc2.com.au

NI Promotions, in conjunction with Full Talent Management, staged another successful event with their “Ireland vs Australia” promotion. Local and interstate Irish talent showcased their skills against their Aussie rivals, winning three of four boxing contests on a card that totaled six boxing fights and four MMA and Muay Thai fights. Streamed live on the internet, the night was watched by Irish boxing fans around the globe.

The first fight saw middleweights Craig McGrory and Jeong Jing Park, in a fight scheduled for four 2-minute rounds. Glaswegian McGrory, on his pro debut, was the better boxer and wanted to establish his jab from round one.

Park looked awkward, moving his head side to side, leaning forward and attacking with wild hooks and overhands. He missed a lot but managed to land enough, with one that sent McGrory to the canvas in the opening round.

With 70 amateur fights, McGory had the

experience but didn’t use it to turn the fight his way. Getting caught with bombs for the duration of the fight, he handed a point victory to Jeong Jin Park from Redfern PCYC. Next up was New Zealander Eddie Lenart, fighting his professional debut against local talent, Ben McCulloch. It wasn’t much of a contest, with Lenart fronting up in a pair of kickboxing shorts, tennis shoes and a Mohawk.

McCulloch, who was in the Australian Contender series, kept the jab going, threw his first cross-left hook combination and sent Lenart down and out in the first round. McCulloch’s record improves to 9F, 9W, 6KO Also on a debut was Danny Kennedy who outpointed Jacques Hendrisson, in a four round contest. Kennedy, who was a polished amateur, used his footwork and moved around well, controlling the fight all the way.

Undefeated Irishman, Dennis Hogan, from Fortitude Boxing, faced his tenth fight against journeyman, Aswin Cabuy, whose record showed 46 fights. Hogan couldn’t find his rhythm during the opening round, with Cabuy able to connect with several hooks. However, Hogan stepped up over the next round, pushing the pace and squaring up in close distance.

Cabuy didn’t like the pressure -falling to the ground, wrestling and just trying to survive, but found that in the ring, there is nowhere to hide.

Hogan was winning all the way, but must surely have felt frustrated as the referee who let Cabuy play his ‘holding and tripping’ theatre.

Hogan didn’t have the knockout punch but comfortably won on points over six rounds to remain undefeated.

Andy Wallace, originally from Belfast and

now training out of Sting Gym in Melbourne, had too much class and experience for Nunz Wati, a kickboxer from New Zealand making his boxing debut. With his kickboxing background, Wati had no answers for the style Wallace brought to the ring. Wati missed shots with his wild haymakers and certainly looked overwhelmed when Wallace stepped the pace up and began doubling on body shots. Referee Charlie Lucas had seen enough after Wati took some punishment and stayed covered in the corner in round two.

Undefeated Dennis Hogan from Fortitude Boxing was versing a journeyman Aswin Cabuy who’s record shows 46 fights on his resume.

Hogan in his ninth fight couldn’t find his rhythm from the opening round as Cabuy was able to hit him with some hooks on his own. Hogan stepped up the pace over the next round pushing the pace but squaring up in close distance.

Cabuy didn’t like the pressure and kept falling to the ground, wrestling and just trying to survive the rounds, but there is nowhere to hide in the ring. Hogan was winning all the way, but must have felt frustrated as the referee Will Soulos let Cabuy to do his holding and tripping theatre.

Hogan didn’t have the knockout punch but comfortably won on points over not easy 6 rounds.

Chris Potter was no match for a very classy Terry TJ Doheny, in the last fight of the night.

Irish-born Doheny won his debut with a first round stoppage and this contest - his second - was no different, taking only 30 seconds to knock Potter down and out. We’d like to see Doheny fight some better and more credible opponents in the future.

www.cornerman.com.au 23

SEPTEMBER 2012

iwu

Leroy Brown vs Friday Nwa

CONTROLLED

1 N O I S S E R G G A

26th May 2012

L

EROY “The Narooma Booma” Brown, has been a very busy boxer lately but not with the best results a boxer can ask for. The previous month saw Brown take a decision win against light heavyweight Damien Smith, on the back of two losses at his more natural middleweight range. Tonight, is an eight round fight against super middleweight Friday Nwaiwu which should be a true test of his skill and experience.

They squared up in the first round and tested the waters with cautious jabs. Although the fighters carried a similar build, matching each other in speed and power, the different boxing styles were apparent; Brown with high hands and a tight defence to the more relaxed and open stance of Nigerian-born Nwaiwu. It was hard to judge the first round as both boxers scored points with some nice jab-cross combos.

The third round opened tit for tat but with Brown’s punches finding their mark, it was starting to fall into place for him. His head movement was superb, slipping from side to side and countering from above and below. Nwaiwu really had to dig deep to earn his keep. By the end of the fifth round, his corner needed to give him little pep talk: “You’re letting this fight slip mate. You’re letting it slip!”, his cornerman said.

“If you wanna win this fight, you have to make a stand brother! You have to make a stand!”

Nwaiwu came out in the sixth round like a raging bull. His overeagerness almost resulted in a cut to the forehead in a head clash but luckily no one damaged themselves. Nwaiwu then

moved back a gear and wasted that new-found energy against Brown’s relentless, quick jabs.

The last two rounds probably saw Leroy’s best performance. Nwaiwu’s right eye started to swell and his corner gave him instructions leading into the final round: “It’s do or die brother!”.

It didn’t seem to make a difference; it was clear that “The Narooma Boomer” had this in the bag. The judges scored it a split decision, to the crowd’s displeasure: someone screamed back “Unanimous!”. The judges score points were 7478 to Nwaiwu, then 79-73 and 77-75 to Leroy.

There were many other great fights and it was hard to choose which one to write about. It was a nice surprise to see Chris “Sniper” Johnson on the cards. The Sniper is better known in the kickboxing circuit and has only seven previous boxing fights to his credit. Tonight he took on Chris Fox in a light heavyweight boxing bout.

Sniper looked very comfortable at the 79.4kg weight class but lost the reach advantage to his taller opponent. These guys meant business; witnessed by some heavy hands being launched by both parties in the first round. It wasn’t too long before one side of Fox’s face was red raw.

It was hard to tell whether it was from a cut or from a bruise. The Sniper ended the round with a superman punch which fortunately for Fox, just missed its target.

Fox’s best punch came in the second round when he slipped inside of Sniper’s jab and came over the top with a cross. It hit Sniper right on the honker and immediately caused it to trickle with blood. By the third round though, it was Fox’s face getting more and more red. It looked like his face was on fire and someone had put it out with a ball pin hammer. That didn’t stop The Sniper

from beating it down some more.

In the final round, Sniper gave his opponent a great big hug to show his respects, not to mention his softer side. It was then back to business, with both fighters aimlessly swinging to find that elusive KO punch. This was a great way to watch these heavy hitters finish the fight. Sniper clearly could have played it safe and danced around the ring as he was up on points, but no; he matched each and every swing of Chris Fox. The round ended and the fight went to Sniper by way of split decision 40-36, 37-39, 39-37.

Finally, also worth a mention, is the bout between Anthony Brownlie and Brendan Batty.

Brownlie, who hasn’t been as busy as in former years, displayed some great pugilism. He has advanced his skill and persona a great deal since I last seen him box. His whole game has changed and there now appears to be a better Anthony Brownlie. I couldn’t help notice his waistband displaying what must be his new fight name: “Badnews”.It was exactly that for Brendan Batty. Anthony came in-and-out with his footwork, working the jab from the distance, then releasing a body shot when in close. It all ended for Brendan in the third round, as Anthony landed a series of body shots, knocking him down. Batty stayed down after a second knockdown ending his fight.

Brownlie’s new form must be a result of Lincoln Hudson’s guidance as a trainer. Lincoln Hudson has helped form some great boxers like Wild Will Tomlinson and Dominic Vea just to name a couple. After seeing the product of Hudson’s training, I can’t wait to see Brownlie in the ring again.

By Sakan Saglam

www.cornerman.com.au 25

SEPTEMBER 2012

LEROY’S BACK TO GAIN RESPECT

Mark De Mori connects a solid right

Mark ‘Ziggy’ Zielinski always loved the boxing game. After his professional boxing career he moved to Narooma where he opened a boxing gym. He saw kids come and go but one kid really stood out. He was a 15 years old boy named Leroy Brown.

CONTROLLED

2 N O I S S E R G AG

“If you wanna be the champ you’ve got to beat the champ!” Hakan Saglam reports on how The Chief, Peter Graham steals the show by calling out Western Australian Mark De Mori at St Mary’s Band Club.

15th June 2012

T

HE Chief grabbed the microphone after Mark finished his victory speech while he was on his way out of the ring. He called out Mark and passed the microphone over to hear his response. Mark accepted the challenge on the basis that it didn’t clash with any of his international fights. The Chief’s reply was “Why fight international fighters when there is so many good fighters in Australia?”

We were fortunate enough to catch up with The Chief later for an exclusive message to Mark.

His message was, “De Mori, if you wanna be the Champ, you have to beat the Champ. So far you haven’t come anywhere near it. So far you’ve just been fighting chumps. You’ve been spoon fed with one fight after another. If you want to fight a real fighter, you come fight me. You know who I am.

You got Foxtel, you’ve got the internet. Check it out. You wanna be the Champ? You want people to really respect you? Like you say you know you are? Then fight the Champ. Fight The Chief.”

The main event wasn’t the most exciting fight of the evening. It was one-sided all the way through.

Mark’s lighting fast jabs and the power of that right hand was way too much for the American, Troy Weida. In the third round Mark worked that jab bone dry and Troy just had no answer to it.

26 www.cornerman.com.au

He kept eating those jabs like a hungry little kid at a Sizzlers buffet restaurant. I think it was the 2nd or 3rd time Mark used his right in the midst of all those jabs during 3rd round when Troy buckled over. The referee called it over straight away because there was no point letting it continue.

Kenyan born, and The Australian Contender finalist, Kariz Kariuki cruised a win over Wollongong’s veteran boxer Joel Bourke. Kariz displayed some classy boxing against a brawler type boxer. Joel, on more than one occasion being warned for clinching Kariz, purposely tied him up to avoid the damage. The favourite combo of Kariz being the right uppercut, left hook, right cross worked a treat against Joel. Every time he threw this combo, it always met its target.

In the mid rounds the fight started to pick up. Joel decided to start working the body but changed his game when he exposed himself and subjected to an uppercut causing his nose to bleed. The best shot of the night was when Joel opened the fifth round with a smashing right overhand. He lined it up with a jab and just threw that right hand like there was no tomorrow. It landed square on Kariz. He was clearly stunned and was immediately on the back foot. Joel attempted the same principal on another two occasions. Why change something when it’s working right? Wrong. Kariz, not eager to make the same mistake, was clearly

concentrating on his defense and tried to win back the round.

The sixth and final round was the best round of the fight. Some great exchanges by both fighters.

Joel, still on the same strategy with the left-right combo, while Kariz was working the ring. A jab to the head then to the body by Kariz put Joel on the canvas. Unfazed by the knockdown, Joel quickly got up but you could see the disgust when the referee put the count on. Kariz won the fight by unanimous points 57-56, 59-56, 58-56.

In my opinion, the best fight of the evening was between light welterweights Joel Brubaker and Queensland’s Mark Sarracino. These guys came out swinging straight from the first round. A head clash in the second rounded resulted in a cut over Brubaker’s right eye. The doctor’s inspection didn’t require the fight to be stopped. Brubaker eager to make Sarracino pay for the head clash connected with some strong blows to the head made the 2nd round his best of the fight.

Sarracino, trying to avoig to this fight slipping away, pressed on in the third but was eating what Brubaker served up. Some great footwork gained from a vast and successful amateur boxing career helped Brubaker find those angles to stick it to Sarracino. A number of unanswered right hands sealed yet another round by Brubaker which eventually tallied up to a unanimous win for him, scoring 39-37, 39-37, 39-37.

“H

E walked into the gym wanting to learn to fight, as he wanted to get even with a local fella who had been picking on him and his younger brother. He soon learnt Boxing wasn’t about ‘getting even’ and has loved the sport from the very first day he walked through the door.”

What is your role in Leroy›s career?

These days, I travel a lot for work, so I only play a roll of guidance in his career as he now lives in Sydney. For the past five months, his Sponsor (BKH Group) have paid me to train him and get his career back on track, which has meant basing myself in Sydney and only returning home weekends. He is back on track now and improving and learning in every fight he has. We are more than happy with his progress.

Work will now push me away from training him and Lincoln Hudson has been helping us a lot. I will still carry on in the Trainer roll and continue guiding him, monitoring his progress, making sure he keeps on track with the goals we have set.

We have seen Leroy fighting quite a lot

in last few months. When can we see him fight again?

As we speak, I am in negotiations for him to fight Robbie Bryant over 12 rounds in December for his PABA & IBF Title in Perth. Bryant is 17/1/0, Leroy is very confident in this fight.

It’s a bit of a ‘grudge match’. They fought as amateurs in Perth 8 years ago. Bryant was a red hot favourite at 25 years of age and Leroy had just turned 17,, still very much a novice. Leroy beat him on points and it derailed Bryant’s motivation towards the Olympic selections.

It was a turning point in Leroy’s career, it was the fight that made him a man, the fight that made him realize that he can have a career in Boxing. He was a boy who just beat a seasoned respected man. And now he hopes to do the same with this fight, when he wins, he will pick up the two respected Titles and give his international ranking a real lift.

What weight is Leroy going to fight in as his last few fights been in Cruiserweight.

We have deliberately had him fighting up in weight, but our intensions have only been to fight at Super Middleweight. One of his injuries he has been carrying is a knee injury, which has restricted his road work. He also uses road work to control his weight. He could have still made Middleweight, but we didn’t see the need to place the extra pressure on him, plus we were working on some drastic style changes, so the heavier, slower boys suited our cause.

Against Bryant he will fight at Middleweight and we plan to fight at Jnr Middle in the new year.

What›s the goal for your team for next 12 months?

Well we have been working on some style changes as I said, that is our priority.

Unfortunately, he has 5 losses in his record book, but in reality, he should only have one loss. He has been fighting to close to his opponents, doing the work, but as he is to close, the judges just aren’t seeing his punches. This was evident in his fight against Bourke. Bourke was the busier fighter, throwing 576 punches to Leroy’s 438. Leroy has very good defense, Bourke only landed 90 of them 576 punches. Leroy on the other hand, landed a lot more, landing 161 of his 438 punches.

So before we can move on, this problem needs to be fixed and that is our immediate goal. Once that problem is rectified, I believe we will have a great boxer, then we will start to march through the Top 10 in Aus, moving up the ranking Internationaly.

PROMOTER’S CORNER Daniel Sheridan Age: 32 Promotions: Thunder Boxing Year Promoting: First year Sport: Boxing Contact Number: 0447 002 141 Email: thunderboxing@hotmail.com Favorite Fighter: Arturo Gatti Dream fight that you want to see on your show: Steve Moxon vs Rocky Jerkic How did you get into?boxing promotions?

I have been around the boxing scene on and off for the past 15 years, helping out with different fighters and it has always been my dream to become a promoter.

C: Youave put on tw2 great promotions so far, how happy were you with thet?

Thanks, both shows I really enjoyed and have learnt a lot from; they’ve given me a foot in the door.

C: Why “Controlled Aggression”?

I think it sums up what boxing is.

C: Weave already seen fighters like Brown, De Mori, Brownlie, Johnson, Wrotniak, Kariuki. Are they going to be featured on your upcoming shows?

Some will be Leroy Brown, Kariz Kariuki as well as Kurt Bahram, Aaron Lai and Jack Brubaker will all be on my next show.

C: It’s good to see such evenly matched fights. Who does your matchmaking?

I do most of the matchmaking on my shows.

C: How do you see the Australian boxing scene at the moment?

I think it’s the best we have had - a lot of great fighters coming through; I think it’s a credit to the quality of trainers we have.

C: Who do you think that public wants to see?

I think they just want to see exciting fighters and even match-ups.

C: What can we expect from Thunder Boxing for the rest of the year?

I have 2 shows left for the year: October 20 and November 24, so some good fights planned and more shows next year with a lot of exciting fights.

E

VERYONE loves a triumph against adversity story. Especially in boxing.

The story about the little guy who rises to the top against the greatest odds. The fundamental elements are always there – poverty, abuse, desperation, tragedies, let-downs. And then the inspirational highs – the fight back, the untold sacrifices, the dog-headed determination, the sweet triumph.

And when you add some Hollywood magic, you may get the Rocky style storyline that has inspired, and will continue to inspire, so many people.

But sometimes, just sometimes, even art cannot imitate life.

Because an individual’s life – in its most raw and base form – can seem too unbelievable for fiction: born Friday the 13th, orphaned at eight years of age when his mother was murdered, father unknown, abused as a child, twice wins the National Golden Gloves title, rooms with Mike Tyson at the Junior Olympic training camp,

promoted by Don King, suffers decades long battle with depression, suicide and bipolar disorder, finds boxing, gives up boxing, battles a drug and alcohol addiction, is haunted by his tragic past, is declared clinically dead five times, banned from boxing for 3 years, wins 5 championships in three different weight classes with a professional record of 59-5-2 (including 30 knockouts), and wins his the last IBF Featherweight title at age 36.

This is no Hollywood script. This is the actual story of Johnny Tapia’s crazy life.

If you ask a fighter to recall his first fight, he or she may look into the distance and recount an amateur event, a makeshift ring at a local RSL, fluorescent lighting, and their rollercoaster emotions that night – the fear, elation, panic, adrenaline.

They may recall the words of their trainer, remember the eyes of their opponent piercing through the headgear, describe the feeling deep in their stomachs.

But Tapia’s story about the first time he “fought”

lacks such formalities. There is no ring, no headgear, no opening song. Rather, it is just another Friday night during the summer of 1975.

A nine year old Tapia is at the local Wells Park Community Centre with his uncles and cousins.

Also there that night are some boys from a ghetto gang from Martinez Town. Tapia’s uncles and cousins volunteer Tapia to fight one of the “big guys” from the Martinez gang for “5 bucks”. The guy is two feet taller than Johnny, has a shaved head and tattoos on his arms and “looks stoned and mad and ready”.

The nine year old takes off his shirt, the crowd circle around the two street fighters. According to Tapia, “I don’t hear nothing no more. I don’t see nothing, I don’t feel nothing, nothing except this superpower growing inside, this feeling like I’m going to die anyway so there’s nothing left to lose”. Johnny recalls punching and kicking and biting with such speed and ferocity that before long “the whole thing is over and the Martinez guys

MI VIDA LOCA

By Sarah Ngo

ADDICTED TO LOVE: THE CRAZY LIFE OF JOHNNY TAPIA 1979-2012

are shaking their heads and counting out five one dollar bills”. At aged nine, he has nothing to lose.

And from that Friday night onwards, his uncles would take Johnny to Wells Park or some other street corner and put him up to fight anybody who would care to wager. Often, he would return to his grandparents’ house bruised and bleeding. He became a “circus act” for his uncles, but Johnny craved his uncles’ and grandfather’s favourable attention because “feeling their hands on my shoulders... I never felt so good”. If he won, Johnny received a dollar and a pat on the back.

If he lost, his uncles beat him up till he bled. Soon enough, the young Tapia realises that it isn’t worth losing anymore.

Following his mother’s murder, Tapia was sent to live with his grandparents and 15 other kids in a house with one bedroom and one bathroom.

Johnny was the “runt” of the Tapia kids and “drew beatings like a magnet” from his grandfather, uncles and cousins. His grandfather took pride in cracking his head against the wall until he bled, his uncles would spray paint and glue on a sock and force him to inhale it until he collapsed, and he would be beaten for crying and kicked until he got off the floor.

Johnny learnt that the beatings would not stop.

So each time he was hit and kicked by his family, he learnt to not back down – “They had to kill me and I didn’t care if they did. It didn’t matter anymore. My mom was in heaven waiting for me”. And eventually, a monster was born. A monster who knew that “if there’s nothing left for

28 www.cornerman.com.au

them to take, they don’t have any more power”.

The one dollar bill Tapia received for each fight he won gave him more than the power to buy sweets and Dr. Pepper. It gave him something he so desperately craved following the death of his mother – love from his grandfather.

Seeing his grandson’s potential, Grandpa Miguel taught the young Johnny how to box.

Every morning at 4:45am, the pair would run in the high mountains by the Rio Grande. He would hit the bag everyday behind the shed with his grandfather watching him. After school, Johnny would go to the Convention Centre where his grandfather worked as a janitor to help him clean the urinals and mop the floors. And on Friday nights, they would stay late and watch the wrestling show from the top of the bleachers. With boxing, Johnny had gone from “the runt of the house.... to the one favoured by grandpa”.

On the week Johnny turns eleven, his Grandfather takes him to a fight at a local high school gym. There are ten guys fighting and Johnny picks the “biggest guy in the room”. His grandfather signs Johnny up, loads his pockets with rolls of quarters so he can make the weight. The fight begins and Tapia wins with a KO in under a minute. He is eleven years of age.

And so it began. Every weekend, Johnny and his grandfather would drive, first around New Mexico, and later out of the state to compete in regionals, to compete in fights. One night, as they are driving home in his grandfather’s yellow truck after a fight, his grandfather says to him “You’re

a champ, hito. Just like your old grandpa”. As Johnny later recalls, this was “one of the happiest moments I can remember”.

Mike Tyson describes Tapia as one of the greatest fighters ever. But for Johnny, fighting was the easy part. The real fight always began once the scheduled fight was over.

“It’s the silence. And the letdown. It’s the fact that it’s over. It’s just hitting a low that makes me restless and moody. I feel trapped all of a sudden.

The training is over, the focus is ended, and all my demons are calling me.”

Growing up, drugs were always a part of Johnny’s life. From helping his uncle’s shoot up in their family home to, a few years later as a professional boxer, taking the $66,000 purse from his fight against super flyweight Arthur Johnson on a cocaine binge. A few days following this binge, his wife is called to the Presbyterian Hospital to identify his body. This was one of the few times where Johnny was declared DOA but pulled through. And each time, he would leave hospital, go home, and get onto another cocaine binge.

If Tapia battled addiction, Johnny’s wife, Teresa, battled it with him. On their wedding day, Tapia dumps his new bride at a cheap motel near “party town”, takes the wedding cash and goes to a drug house where people were “doing speedballs”. The day after the wedding, Tapia’s body was found dumped in front of a fire station and Teresa was called to identify his body. He was revived after being declared DOA, and this would be the first of at least five times this happened. During their

marriage, he would train, win a fight and then disappear with the fight purse for weeks on end on drug binges. Teresa was left “home alone, not knowing if I was dead or alive”.

Drug addiction was not Johnny’s only battle. He suffered from depression and bipolar disorder.

He felt the highs of being a successful boxer as deeply as the lows – “I’d soak up all the love of the crowd, my arms raised in the ring, and then I’d go home and crash deep into darkness, a darkness I can barely describe. Pain and emptiness and depression”.

Virginia Tapia – Johnny’s mother – was the other significant woman in his life. The pain from losing his mother forcefully drives and shapes Tapia’s life story. As an eight year old, Tapia witnessed his mother chained and screaming in the back of a blue and green pick-up truck. His grandparents dismissed the child as having “bad dreams”. Two days later, his mother’s body was found. She had been raped and stabbed 33 times with a screwdriver and a pair of scissors.

Johnny remembers his mother with an overwhelming feeling of love, loss and guilt – of a beautiful woman who loved dancing in the kitchen, who spoiled him and told him he was special.

They were poor, but because she loved him and gave him “all her hugs and kisses”, he was a “rich boy”. When she died, his life “meant nothing”.

And for the next 37 years of his life, he was plagued by the loss of his mother’s love, by “fury and hate” against the men who murdered her, and by the guilt of “being alive when my mom is not”.

His mother’s death was a “daily thought”. The fury and the hate fuelled his fights and he envisioned every opponent that he faced to be his mother’s killer. And indeed, this fury is palpable in many of Tapia’s fights.

This fury was perhaps most evident in his 1999 fight with Paulie Ayala for the WBA title. It was a big fight for Tapia, who was headlining Showtime PPV and training with Freddie Roach. Two weeks before the fight, Tapia receives a call from the police that would unleash all his years of bottled up rage and leave him desolate – the police had discovered the man who murdered Johnny’s mother. And that man was dead.

“There’s no word to describe how I felt except blackness....all those years, all that rage coming up inside me. All those memories, all that focus on what I would do someday when I found the killer.

It was all gone. My mother was dead. In that moment, she was really dead”.

Tapia fell into a deep depression for the two weeks before the Ayala fight. He locked himself in his room and stopped all training. The fight went ahead as scheduled, and after two weeks alone in his dark room, Tapia emerged, wanting to “hurt somebody”. It was a hard fight that lasted the twelve rounds. Tapia suffered his first lost in his 48-bout career that night, but The Ring Magazine voted it the “Fight of the Year”. Post fight, Ayala would later say that he had never seen so much hatred in anyone’s eyes.

The death of Johnny Tapia on 27 May 2012 was, like his life, something of a dichotomy. For

many, it was no surprise – he had come so close to death so many times before. For others, it came as a shock – he had always pulled through and 45 was just too young.

Some of the events in Tapia’s life paints him as a selfish drug addict, yet a description that has featured in many of obituaries of, and tributes to, Johnny Tapia written by those who knew him, describe him as a kind man with a big heart.

According to Dan Rafael, the ESPN boxing writer and television commentator, “you could not meet a sweeter, gentler soul than Tapia”. A few years ago, Rafael was at a barbeque in Las Vegas, talking to HBO presenter, Max Kellerman. When Tapia arrived at the barbeque, he approached the two guests and hugged them both at the same time.

Recalling that memory, Rafael says, “It’s moments like those that I won’t forget”.

And this man with a big heart was what drew 6,800 fans to his memorial service on 3 May 2012. Boxing gave Tapia the love that he so desperately craved following his mother’s death.

In his words, “I was just the guy looking for love wherever I could find it. Boxing gave me that love from the beginning. From the dollar bill and the pat on the back from my brothers, to my first trophy, and all the time I spent with my grandpa”.

And ultimately, at his death, thousands of people came to express their love for, and pay their respect to, the boxer. Fittingly, Tapia’s memorial service was held at the Albuquerque stadium where Tapia won his first world championship in 1994.

It was reported to be one of the biggest memorial services in New Mexico.

www.cornerman.com.au 29

SEPTEMBER 2012

CLAW

LOOKING TO K C A B Y A W S I H

If you are setting up a gym or would like information on how to increase your income through merchandising, please call SMAI for the most competitive quote.

Lenny Zappavigna at his best

Two years ago Sydney slugger Lenny Zappavigna was on the cusp of climbing to the top of the boxing mountain.

Sean Castle writes.

F

IGHTING as the main support bout to Daniel Geale on the “Judgment Day” card at Sydney’s State Sport Centre, the man they call “Zappa” destroyed the highly credentialed South Korean Ji-Hoon Kim within one round in an IBF Lightweight title eliminator. Kim was coming of a decision loss to IBF World Champion Miguel Vazquez in a title bout and was looking to rebound before coming across a then red hot 22year old hailing from Sydney’s greater west.

Propelled into a IBF world title shot against the tough Mexican world champion Vazquez, Zappavigna was convincingly beaten but far from disgraced in going the distance at the great boxing venue, the MGM Grand in Las Vegas in a fight that was televised to millions as the main lead up bout on American cable TV featuring two boxing superstars, Miguel Cotto and Ricardo Mayorga.

The brash Aussie looked to quickly return to the winners list and took on Panama’s Ammeth Diaz, a tough Latino regional belt holder in another world title eliminator. Unprepared and

lacking focus, Zappavigna suffered the first knockout loss of his career with referee Robert Byrd stopping the fight in the 5th round leaving the Melbourne audience stunned.

In the 2 years that have passed, Zappavigna has had to watch two other Sydney-based fighters in Daniel “The Real Deal” Geale and Billy “The Kid” Dib win and defend IBF World Middleweight and Featherweight titles respectively as he has sought to rebuild his once promising career. The long haul back started with an easy win over the limited New Zealander Brad Milner back in April of this year before another victory over Filipino Joel Dela Cruz, the former IBO Asia-Pacific lightweight champion that went the full 10 rounds.

Zappavigna, who turns 25 in late October, is still young enough to turn his career around. He could do worse than follow the example of Dib, who went back and rebuilt his career after an unconvincing world title loss to Steve Luevano by working on his weaknesses and beating every fighter that stood between him and another world title shot. Trainer Tommy Mercury has wisely

directed his fighter up to the Junior Welterweight division (63.5kgs). “Trying to make the weight at lightweight was almost killing Lenny and zapping his strength and power. In that knockout loss to Diaz Lenny wasn’t focused. He hadn’t gotten over his world title loss to Vazquez and in hindsight we should’ve held off. But he has learnt a heap from his mistakes and is determined to get another shot” Mercury commented.

Possible opponents include the credible South African fighter Jason Bedemen, a WBA PanAfrican and IBO All African title winner who has a very respectable record of only the one loss in 20 fights. Also on the horizon are title fights with the WBF with their President Mick Croucher a fan. “Lenny is a great young fighter who can go all the way. Many fighters lose and go onto greater things. Kostya Tszyu lost in the 63.5kg division before going on to dominate it for years.

Lenny and his trainer know that we are willing to help give him a shot if he’s interested.

It will be interesting to see the path that Zappavigna and his team take. Here’s hoping they make the right call.

www.cornerman.com.au 31

wallposter Photo:

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GARTH WOOD VS SAM SOLIMAN

Michael Badato doesn’t leave it for the judges

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Ben Burrage sw

on the rise ROCKY JERKIC • Fast hands • Exciting to watch Age: 24 Division: Middleweight Stance: Orthodox Amateur fights: 104 Pro record: 5F 5W 3KO Aussie rating: 13 (boxrec) Trainer: George Reno Favorite boxer: Bernard Hopkins, Tommy Hearns 12 month plan: Keep busy, gain experience as a pro

34 www.cornerman.com.au

tic

by Sreten Mile

South

Asia P

acific C

REVIVAL SURVIVAL

Bonnyrigg’s Serbian Club filled with a local crowd during the chilly month of August as spectators piled in to witness some spectacular boxing and kickboxing action. Anja Stridsman gives us a real time account of the professional fights on the evening.

Leroy Brown vs. Joel Bourke Professional Boxing With 10 rounds of fighting ahead, round 1 and 2 are tentative, showing both fighters feeling each other out, looking for weaknesses.

Bourke keeps relentlessly driving in with the double and triple jab, pushing Brown toward the ropes.

Brown, in return, throws mostly singles, throwing out a snappy jab here and there, but he doesn’t seem to have the confidence yet to commit to his punches, and often finds Bourke just outside of his reach.

In round 3 and 4, Bourke continues to launch forward with his jab, but now Brown seems to have found his feet. He’s showing some nice defensive moves. Light on his feet, he skillfully evades the ever charging Bourke, with tight slips and pivots. He’s now catching Bourke on the way in not only with the jab, but also with that overhand right. Bourke starts to show some frustration at not being able to connect.

In round 5 both fighters are showing a little bit of fatigue as they begin holding on the inside. Although Brown is the better boxer, his power is not enough to deter Bourke from coming forward.

Brown finds his rhythm again in round 6 and manages to mostly stay out of Bourke’s way. Bourke

is leaving his left hand hanging out, vying for that strong right hand.

Round 9 and 10 are tumultuous as last rounds tend to be, fluctuating between good boxing, a bit of brawling and a whole lot of holding. The crowd cheers for Leroy Brown, while Bourke’s corner shows a bit of frustration at their fighter disregarding their instructions and getting caught for holding .

With quite an even last round the bell rings and we go to the judges scorecard, rewarding it, surprisingly, to Bourke with a split decision of 98-94, 94-97 and 95-97 Michael Badato vs Amir Randajar Full Thai Rules Michael Badato puts his mark on the fight right away in the first round, attacking aggressively and really committing with kicks, punches and elbows.

Badato’s aggressive style forces Randajar onto his back foot, making him, not surprisingly, a bit apprehensive whenever Badato shows any signs of moving forward.

But if we thought that Badato started out aggressively, there was surely more to come. He starts to charge in on Randajar, actually running

in for the kicks and knees and at one point a jumping elbow.

Randajar starts to show a bit of frustration as he throws a knee in the clinch even after the referee has told them to stop.

Badato continues to attack fearlessly until the referee stops the fight after noticing a cut on Randajar’s cheek, awarding Michael Badato with a TKO victory.

into the fight he opens up for another one of Miletic’s powerful overhands and goes down on the mat again for the second 8 count of the fight.

After this Burrage almost seems to be running into Miletic’s punches, going straight into his left hand, sliding down the ropes as Miletic keeps pummeling him with punches to the head, and the referee decides to stop the fight, declaring Miletic the new South Asia Pacific Muay Thai Champion.

Sreten Miletic vs. Ben Burrage Kickboxing

Valentine Borg vs. Kane Buckley Professional Boxing

Sreten Miletic is the fighter in charge from the start of the fight. He keeps countering, ducking under Burrage’s left hand, searching for that overhand, when he leaves it out just a little bit too long. He starts out with an aggressive counter fighting style, prepared to engage in the clinch when he gets in too close.

Both of the fighters are a little bit awkward in the clinch, not quite getting the knees in where you want them, nor that control of their opponent, although Miletic gets a nice sweep in after catching Burrage’s leg in the first round.

In the second round, Miletic doesn’t wait for Burrage to initiate but opens him up by getting him off balance with a left inside leg kick and quickly follows up, using his gained momentum to keep the pressure on, eventually connecting beautifully on the side of Burrages head with that sought-after overhand right. Burrage goes down and gets an 8 count after Miletic has effectively followed up with a flurry of punches never letting him get his balance back.

With Burrage desperately trying to get back

Val Borg enters the ring of his pro debut looking fit, pumped and cocky. He looks the part, wearing a sleeveless hoodie embroidered on the back with the text ‘Bring it Borg’. Much unlike the more demure Kane Buckley who enters unadorned and relaxed, not looking nearly as fit as Borg, but looks can be deceiving, and he is the more experienced fighter stepping into this fight (albeit coming from a record of 1-2-19).

Borg quickly shows that he’s the hungrier fighter, and not afraid of Buckley’s experience.

He hits hard and straight with that long jab penetrating Buckley’s guard on several occasions to push his head back, stopping him in his tracks.

Borg is simply MORE than Buckley.

He’s faster, fitter, stronger. He jabs more, moves more and throws more than 3 times as many punches as Buckley. Borg hits the gloves, hits the body, hits hard and long, keeping Buckley off balance, constantly the first one to engage.

Borg clearly outclasses Buckley with his speed, work-rate and power. Really, the only time Buckley gets anything in on Borg is when Borg gets a bit

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z

complacent, stepping in with his hands down.

At the end of round 4 Borg is rewarded with a unanimous point decision of 40-36. A good solid start to his pro boxing career.

amateur bouts fight 1

Hani Telefoni VS Kosta Balabanov

KO (Rnd 1)

fight 2

Kane Stevenson VS Toplica Spasojevic

Winner (Pts)

fight 3 Julie Davis VS Lydia Rizza

TKO (Rnd 2)

fight 4

Blake Curtis VS Tas Iambroglou

Winner (Pts)

fight 5

Andrew Arreza VS Anhony Zdon

Winner (Pts)

fight 6

David Limbu VS Nathan Saliva

Winner (Pts)

fight 7

Keith Bath VS Josh Nguyen

Winner (Pts)

fight 9 David Fonua VS Daniel Fawles

Winner (Pts)

www.cornerman.com.au 35

SEPTEMBER 2012

It was then back to the stand up with a rematch between Josh Tonna and Cheyne Rees under full Thai rules. The first 2 rounds saw both fighters actively clinching and throwing elbows. Things stepped up in the 3rd when Rees rocked Tonna with a left hook. Tonna was slowed but worked hard to recover and keep the pace high.

The final 2 rounds saw the bad intentions come out as both started throwing high kicks and mean elbows. After 5 fast and exciting rounds Josh Tonna came away with the decision.

The ISKA 100 kg modified Thai title was on the line for Brani Zec and Leon NTG and the fight was almost over in the first when Zec was dropped by a body kick. After an 8 count he managed to continue the fight and kept his hands active. NTG had clear clinch and knee intentions.

Those intentions were rewarded in round 3 when he landed a huge knee to Zec which saw him cut on the eyebrow and wobble cartoonishly to the floor. The tough Zec got back up and punched his way back into the fight while Leon continued to fish for knees.

The final rounds became a punch and knee war with both men pushing their limits of fitness. After all was said and done Leon NTG became the new titleholder via a split decision.

The main event was Paul Slowinski vs Doug Viney, and after rocking Slowinski with a right hand early in round 1 the rest was down hill for Viney. The champ (Slowinski) recovered well and pushed forward, hard swinging for the kill and dropped Viney just before the bell in round 1.

As everyone expected, round 2 saw Slowinski go on the hunt, and with a left hook that shook the auditorium Slowinski put Viney down again. Being tough, Viney got back up but was clearly not in the fight. And after being unable to stop the oncoming barrage of punches from Slowinski, the ref stopped the fight midway through round 2.

It was somewhat of an anticlimax to the nights tough fights, however Slowinski still took the time to call out Ben Edwards in his post fight speech. Promoter Nick Boutzos added that he wants to make the fight happen in Canberra, too. So, we’ll definitely be interested in Capital Punishment 7 when it Josh Tonna vs comes around.

TERRITORIAL RIGHTS Capital Punishment 6 goes off with a bang!

C

APITAL Punishment 6 fired up the crowd in Canberra with some great fights in kickboxing, modified Thai, full Thai rules, and MMA. Heavyweight champ Paul Slowinski headlined the show against Doug Viney (after Ben Edwards pulled out due to back injury) and the supporting act was filled with some exciting fighters from the likes of Duke Didier, Josh Tonna, Brani Zec, and Warwick Harrington to name a few.

The night started off with amateur kickboxing

and saw Chris Peters earn a TKO in the 3rd round with leg kicks against southpaw Chris Georgiani.

Oriental rules were next and showcased some fine clinch work as Jayne Snowden out pointed Tom Newcome for a unanimous decision. The night was off to a great start.

The first knock out of the night was up next under K1 rules. Ben Reid and Eden McGrath were standoffish at first with Reid fishing for body shots and leg kicks. Almost at the very end of the first round Eden McGrath managed to hit a big

overhand right and put Ben Reid down for the count. After the fight Ben said “He stepped up and knocked the shit out of me”.

The only MMA fight came from Canberra local Duke Didier taking on Sam Dei in the 100kg division. Didier being the 2011 Australian judo champ rushed straight in for the take down and after getting and taking the full mount, he moved straight into an arm bar. Kei was tough enough to not tap, but in the interest of safety the referee stopped the fight 56 seconds into the first round.

Brani Zec

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Cheyne Rees

making hi

s way to th

e ring.

www.cornerman.com.au 37

war

THE NEXT GENERATION

ON THE

NORTH SHORE 19

on Olympics, On the tail end of the 2012 Lond ow at North Nick Stone promoted his 19th sh m writes Sydney Leagues Club. Hakan Sagla

Step aside for the next generation as our journo, Hakan Saglam, reports how a 16 year old boy from the Central Coast fulfilled his dream to become a kickboxing champion.

results fight 1

XXXXX

Sam Jenkins VS Nick Martin

fight 2

Jehic Ramos VS Linton Wooton

I

If you were glued to the TV watching the Olympics like I was, particularly Olympic boxing, then you would have witnessed some poor judging outrageous decisions ever made in Olympic boxing. One example was with a judge bypassing an eight count when a fighter was clearly knocked down about 6 times in 1 round. On the flip side, these same judges seem to give the most pathetic warnings for the slight menial foul.

Unlike the Olympic Boxing and one thing you can count on at a Nick Stone show is a no-nonsense show as far as scoring and judging is concerned.

Paul Grima, the veteran Judge at War On The North Shore bouts keeps a tight ship. He is a hard and fair man who has first hand experience in the ring. He will give any fighter the appropriate time and opportunity to prove that they are in control, especially when they are in dire straits. He does this of course without jeopardising fighter safety as this is paramount in any fight game. And if at any time during the show the fight ever gets out of hand, I’m sure he’d be capable of keeping the fighters in line - or the crowd for that matter.

The main event tonight was for the East Coast 63.5kg title between Junya Ishida (Bulldog Manly) and Harry Gardener (Look Puen).

The first round started with the guys feeling each other out with leg and push kicks. Half way through the round Harry’s kick fell a bit short and landed right on Junya’s family jewels.

Woosaaahhh!

Junya took the mandatory time to shake it off. It seemed that the kick to the groin displeased Junya somewhat as he picked up the pace and ended the round with an impressive spinning reverse kick

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missing his opponent by a few millimeters.

Round 2 was a better round with both guys coming out of their corners hard with bad intentions. There were a lot of knees being executed by both parties but Junya was looking strong. Harry could not match Junya’s strength and was hitting the canvas every time Junya pushed his weight around.

Junya opened the 3rd round with a superman punch which sprayed sweat and tears across the ring. He stuck with boxing combos and was really wearing Harry down. The final seconds of the round was really intense with both fighters exchanging some massive blows. Paul Grima had to step in between the two to stop them from continuing after the bell. No love lost here!

Harry fearing that he is falling behind in points started the 4th round with some unconventional kicks. He was throwing kicks from all sorts of angles to score some desperate points. It’s clear that he is getting frustrated and potentially can lose this fight.

The last round was a clear decider which proved Junya to be the winner. Harry unfortunately not could find his beat on this night and gave the win to Junya on points.

The semi-main events consisted of 2 bouts for both men and women. For our female counterparts, it was brief fight for the East Coast title fight in the 52kg division. Jenny Lau cleaned up Lorryn Williams in the 1st round. The majority of the round was in the clinch and it was clear that Lorryn was out of Jenny’s league. In the last 10 seconds Lorryn’s corner threw in the towel just as Paul Grima was about to step in to call it quits.

Winner (Pts)

Winner (Pts)

fight 3

Kieran Matheison VS Marcus Rameriz

Winner (Pts)

fight 4

Nathan Robson VS Jason Tonkin

Winner (TKO)

fight 5

Sean Notley VS Danny Kim

Winner (Pts)

fight 6

Nick Clark VS Mark Greenaway

Winner (Pts)

fight 7

Jarrad “NDP” Yan VS Ken Lersang

Winner (Pts)

fight 9

Terry “Turbo” Kounsavat VS Michael Hoang

Winner (Pts)

fight 10

Ryan Bartlett VS Tommuaythairestaurant

Winner (Pts)

fight 11

Storm Wheatley VS Shelley Dobel

Winner (Pts)

The winner by TKO and the East Coast Title holder, Jenny Lau. The men’s semi main event was between Henry Culque Vs Sam McDowell. Sam’s reach proved too much for Henry. Henry seemed to be put off

by Sam’s southpaw stance and just could not overcome this throughout all rounds. The points went to Sam.

B

LAINE Malony is not your average kid. He is a 16 yo boy who is dux at his school and aspires to be a doctor.

In addition to his academic ambitions, hes is a step away to fulfilling another dream: to become Australian kickboxing champion.

At the Next Generation Kickboxing & MMA show held at Niagara Park, he fought for the ISKA light welterweight championship against a more experienced Blake Edwards.

Blaine’s trainer and former world kickboxing champion, Tim Drury, knew he was onto a winner when he saw him in action.

“I have been training Blaine for two years”, Tim Drury said.

“He has come such a long way in such a short period of time. This would be due to his

level of commitment an& discipline. He puts his all into everything he does.”

Blaine, who obviously wanted to make a statement, came out sporting a flaring Mohawk and wearily eyed out his opponent.

The bell has rung and the beginning of a five round battle began as both fighters immediately clinched and started unleashing the traditional Muay Thai knees. The referee was eager to pull them apart and try to make this fight as exciting as possible for spectators. It wasn’t long before the fighters got the picture and they ended the round with some good exchanges. In the second and third round Blake’s game plan and experience prevailed as he was scoring some some valuable points in the clinch. Blaine had to keep him at a distance and be relentless with those leg kicks.

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SEPTEMBER 2012

on the way up XXXX

BLAINE MOLONY • Has power of a man • Can read and predict his opponents age: 16yrs division: 64.5kg stance: Orthodox record: 9F 9W 6KO trainer: Tim Drury gym: Fite 108 Muay Thai & Submission Grappling favorite fighter: my trainer 12month goal: To fight the best in the division - be well known in Australia Muay Thai & MMA , win Junior World K1 title in England on Oct 20th

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Round four, Blaine found himself on the canvas a number of times as Blake caught his kicks and threw him down like a bag of spuds.

Blake knew what was working for him and went straight into the clinch in the fifth and last round of the fight. Blaine knew he had to step it upknow and was really elusive to those clinches and countered with some heavy kicks and punches. This fight was close and each fighter coulo see that title belt in their grasp. They pushed it as much as they had and made it a very entertaining last round.

After five hard rounds of muay thai action, the judges scored a unanimous points victory and the ISKA light welterweight championship goes by way of Blaine Molony.

Tim Drury, was relieved and very proud of Blaine’s victory; “I am super proud of a tough performance by both boys for an Australian Title. And that’s how it should be for this title.”

The fight was pretty close tonight and when asked whether a rematch will be on the cards, Tim replied; “The judges awarded the decision to Blaine - so a rematch may come in the future.”

The semi main event was another cracker fight between Jade “Super Sonic” Thomson and Vanessa Taylor. This was for the ISKA InterState championship. These girls really brought it on. The first round was a high intensity, action packed round that went back and forth.

Jade found herself in the corner at the start of the second round as Vanessa took advantage and continuously threw punches at her target.

Jade eventually pivoted away and came back

J.N.I. NOT

with her own onslaught. The intensity started to settle in the second round until Jade caught her opponent with a textbook uppercut, which caused Vanessa’s nose to bleed.

Jade’s boxing skill served her well and she was scoring nicely until she found herself in the corner in the last 10 seconds of the third round.

Vanessa kept Jade in the corner and narrowly missed a well-executed knee to the head as the final bell rung. The fight was a close one.

In The fourth round, Vanessa came back with her clinch and knee combo as she once again cornered Jade. This fight had more twists than a Home & Away story plot.

The last round was an absolute battle. Jade started using her kicks a lot more to avoid Vanessa getting close and clinching. Jade connected with a superb head kick, which left Vanessa a little wobbly. The girls battled through right until the last minute. The judges scored the fight a split decision victory to Jade Thomson.

There is always some risk involved in this fight game with respect to injury. I witnessed an injury on this night that would send shivers down your spine. Chris Larkins broke his leg on this night. When his opponent blocked Chris’ leg kick, a very loud snap echoed through out the hall. You instantly knew this wasn’t good.

The Cornerman team would like to take this opportunity to wish Chris a speedy recovery and hopes he gets back into the ring in no time.

We love the fight game, we love to cover it, but this is one aspect that we clearly do not enjoy.

USER

FRIENDLY

“There is only one muay thai fighter in Sydney who comes out to the beat of the samba.

And that can only be Luis Regis, the Brazilian Braza! Hakan Saglam writes.

H

E was back after being out of action for a while and was once again headlining a JNI show at Hurstville’s Civic Centre.

His opponent was Ryan Crawford, a tall Queenslander who had come down all this way for one thing only: to take home the win.

If anyone has seen Luis in action, they can testify that his fighting skills are as exciting as his walkout to the ring. His takedowns are first rate and if you’ve seen his reverse spinning elbows, then you’ll know exactly what I mean.

The first round was a little rusty for Luis, as he found Ryan’s reach hard to adjust to. In the last 30 seconds he managed to find that samba beat though, and finished with good scoring combos.

Ryan came out in the second with some high velocity front kicks, using those long limbs to his advantage. He tried coming in over the top of Luis with a couple of overhead elbows, but Luis read the moves well. It wasn’t long before Luis was returning the elbows back to Ryan. At one stage even attempting that killer spinning elbow, which luckily for Ryan it did not find its mark. The round finished with a series of leg kicks by Luis.

In the third round Luis caught Ryan off balance with a leg kick, dropping him to the canvas. The confidence of the Brazilian was clearly growing and seconds later he attempted an off-target jumping elbow. Ryan tried to clinch with him to

play it safe but soon found himself on the floor again with Luis’ takedown. Luis finished the round head hunting with a series of punches and elbows, though Ryan’s evasive skills were up to scratch.

It wasn’t long into the fourth before Ryan met the wrath of Luis’ leg kicks and he found himself on the canvas a number of times. The damage Luis had done was obvious, with Ryan changing stance to Southpaw, but it couldn’t save him. Luis put him on the floor again with another kick and Ryan’s corner threw in the towel.

Luis’ corner were ecstatic and soon had him up on their shoulders! A good way to shake off the cobwebs for the Brazilian. Winner by TKO! Rowan Sangster almost had an early night by dropping Lex Hanagraaf in the first round of their much anticipated fight. Lex planned to stick around some more and recovered fairly quickly.

He was fighting from sheer instinct in the second round as he kept Rowan at a distance with his front kicks. During the third and fourth rounds Rowan increased the pace which forced Lex on the back foot. In the last round Lex looked for a scissor kick out of sheer desperation. He dug deep and was swinging for the fences looking for that KO punch. He wore Rowan’s spinning elbows back to back as he continued without hesitation.

Lex finished the final round really strong and was awarded the win by unanimous points. It was a

close fight in my books but I guess mine doesn’t count.

It wouldn’t be a JNI show if there weren’t any pro-boxing bouts. So, in the semi-main event, Leroy Brown fought Damien Smith. Damien looked like he could fight 1 or 2 weight divisions above Leroy, obviously the heavier of the two. In the early rounds Leroy was dominating his bigger opponent. In the second round it looked like it was going to be an early night for him as he had his opponent stuck in the red corner wearing his best shots. During the middle rounds Damien kept on finding himself in the dreaded red corner as Leroy continued with those big shots. Leroy connected a number of times but Damien would not budge.

While Damien was stuck in the corner, he was waving at Leroy, “C’mon, C’mon” for which Leroy obliged.

In the final rounds Damien kept on telling Leroy to give him his best shots. Leroy snuck in a few big hits but Damien wore them like they were nothing.

At times Damien even snuck in a few punches of his own. Leroy was relentless working the head then to the body and back up to the head again. Damien looked as if he was even enjoying getting hit. The fight was over and we didn’t even have to wait for the judges decisions because it was clear that Leroy won every round. The judges agreed and scored the fight 60-54, 60-54, 60-54 to Leroy Brown.

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SEPTEMBER 2012

Steve Moxon vs Kurt Bahram

Steve Moxon victorious

“

STONE COLD

“

also from Barbarian Gym. Sounds like a phenomenal year, so what’s next? What are your plans for the rest of the year into 2013?

As big as this year has already been, I feel like it’s only just begun, with my next scheduled fight being a World Title unification super-fight on October 20 in Melbourne on a Powerplay promotion.

That will be the WKA World Title against the very tough and experienced Fadi Merza from Austria.

After that there’s also something in the mix for another super-fight against the renowned Dzhabar Askerov. So I’ll be looking forward to that one and for 2013 I have a huge opportunity being finalised with a Tier 1 world-renowned organisation and global competition, which is a dream come true. So watch this space!

n o x o m e v e St T

here are many fighters who protect their fight record an there are ones who will fight anyone. We’ve talked to Steve Moxon who’s been mixing all the disciplines and who is not afraid to put it all on the line.

We’ve seen you go from strength to strength over the last few years. How’s 2012 been for you so far?

2012 has been amazing so far! After coming off big KO wins in 2011 against the likes of Avison and Preacher, I even had a crack in the Pro Boxing scene where I was 3-0 from 3 different weight divisions including my 1st round KO of Kurt Bahram.

I was keen to keep on the roll I had going in 2011 and that’s exactly what I ended up with; with fights against some of the best - Capper, Giorgi and my WKF Kickboxing World Title win against Expedito Valin from France. I travelled to the fight capital of the world “Las Vegas” to prepare for that title fight. All three fights and training camps were in the space of 10 weeks,

42 www.cornerman.com.au

Las Vegas is known as the fight capital of the world, what was that like for you?

Training and preparing for my world title fight in Vegas was amazing. Along with my great friend and business partner Carlos, we got to visit and train in some of the most renowned fight gyms, such as Mayweather Boxing club, House of RYU, Throwdown, EPIC, Drysdales, UNLV and even visited Wild Card Boxing club in LA. I was very privileged to experience and be with some of the great fighters and coaches and have the best trainers and pad holders getting me prepared in Coach Ron Frazier and Coach Gil Martinez.

And a lot of what I learnt on the Vegas training camp come in handy in my latest pro boxing fight in Brisbane where I won via a 5th round stoppage over Aswin Cabuy, a tough southpaw and 50 fight veteran.

which was a tough but exciting challenge.

Just a couple of months ago my beautiful girlfriend Kellie and I decided to move back to country Victoria after spending the last 3 years in Sydney. It has been a big change but a breath of fresh air, we are now closer to family, have a much more relaxing lifestyle and I’m finding it much easier to focus on training alongside a determined team at my new gym Barbarian Muay Thai, owned by my great friends Dave and Sally Ashmore. I have even gone back to my old trade as a cabinet maker at H.Troon Ballarat which helps me keep a balanced life and switch off from always thinking about fighting.

I’m also lucky enough to be working with a new sports management company ”MC2” which have the dedication and contacts on an international level. This has opened up many doors for me, not only with fights but sponsors, partners and supporters too. MC2 also manage great up-and-comers such as the very tough and undefeated middleweight Cobie Brigham

www.cornerman.com.au 43

SEPTEMBER 2012

MEET THE He is the first at a show and the last one to leave. Tomas Vysokai asks Paul ‘Pitbull’ Grima what keeps him going.

Y

OU can see Paul Grima every weekend around the fight game, either with his ring hire business, as a judge, WKA referee or as a trainer. But not many people know, unless you’ve been around the game long enough, that Paul held numerous titles as a Kickboxer and has dedicated most of his life to the sport he loves.

How did you get your nickname Pitbull?

Pitbull comes from couple of things. A lot of the guys I used to spar with used to say it was like fighting a pitbull because they couldn’t hurt me.

Plus my Thai boxing trainer Ajarn Chai said a good thai boxer is like a pitbull.

What was the hardest fight you’ve had?

10 rounds with Tony Cobern was one of the hardest fights I’ve had, South Pacific Kickboxing Title, that was just 10 rounds of punching and kicking the shit out of each other. That’s the thing, no one fights 10 rounds anymore.

What was your best achievement in sport?

I think doing my best was the best. I won 9 amateur titles over different organizations and I won 4 pro titles. Probably the best achievement I’ve had was not turning my back on the sport and now I’m trying to do stuff for the sport. People that know me know it’s my passion, it’s not just

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about the money, it’s about putting something back into it. I’m always working on things to make the sport better. How many fighters stay with the sport after they finished fighting? I’ve been running a gym for 22 years now, I’ve been WKA ref for 15 years now, mate if I can still hold pads when I’m 70, I’ll be holding pads.

Why did you retire?

I had a 10 round fight with Kevin Selby, who was a pretty experienced boxer. After the fight I felt little bit sick so my wife and my mum rang my doctor, Dr. Lou Lewis to tell him I was really crook after the fight. He did some blood tests and he said I had Epstein Barr virus, which causes Glandular fever and its effects on the body are that of chronic fatigue. When the Dr. rang me and said ‘Mate I have no idea how you went 10 rounds with very bad case of Epstein Barr virus, you should have collapsed!’ My wife and my mum were pretty worried, so to rest their mind the Dr. sent me for a CT scan. It turned out I’ve been walking around for 4 and a half months with a brain hemorrhage and I actually fought with it!

The doctors are still scratching their heads as to why I’m alive. But I believe the sport I’ve done all my life has made me physically and mentally stronger and that’s why I didn’t drop dead. I was on a verge of some big fights, I had a fight that was being arranged in Hawaii for big money and I had a fight in Japan being sorted out

pitbull through my management for pretty good money.

So I had all these boxing fights lined up, people wanted me on their shows, plus the world title fight, but it all went to shit and I had to retire.

How has the sport evolved since you’ve started?

I remember the day of leg kicks, there used to be kick counts. When I first started fighting, you had to give a required amount of kicks for every 30 sec of competition. You had to do 2 kicks above the waist, so if you fought in a 1.5min round you had to do 6 legitimate attempts at kicking above the waist or you lost a point for every kick you didn’t do. If you fought 2 minute rounds, you had to do 8 kicks above the waist.

You look at that, for example you could actually beat the shit out of someone, drop 2 kicks and lose a round.

So do you think that was a good rule?

I think it’s a good rule for novice fighters. I think that’s one of the things people find spectacular about kick fighting is the high kicks and now lot of the novices just want to kick people in the legs, so it does make the fight little bit more spectacular.

What do you think about the amateur fighters wearing headgear?

Myself and Rob Murdoch have both met with two ministers, two different general managers of the department of sport and different people from the department of sport, most of them had an interest in boxing but not in any other style of fighting. They have no knowledge of combat sports whatsoever. Myself and Rob Murdoch, we both gave them a large amount of information that proves the dangers of headgear. I’ve given them the thing from British Medical Association that says the headgear in most cases causes more brain damage. It allows us to receive more blows to the head, which causes the damage.

Headgear was not introduced into boxing by government, it was introduced to boxing by AIBA and they didn’t even know, they have no knowledge of combat sports. AIBA is removing headgear next year. So headgear won’t be in amateur boxing anymore. What are they going to do then?

Doctors actually stated that what is far better then headgear is what they call the rest from play.

That means if the fighter gets knocked out he gets a medical suspension for 28 days and that’s what the legitimate organisations do.

If you don’t agree with headgear in combat sport you can join the facebook group against the headgear in Muay Thai and Kickboxing in NSW http://www.facebook.com/ ThoseAgainstKickboxingHeadgearInNSW

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Rober Whittaker vs Jesse Juarez

let up. Kafo again dominated in the second round and at 1min and 23 seconds he submitted Pham with a rare Twister submission.

“I felt like I had the edge in this fight,” said Kafo afterwards.

DAVE VERGERS VS. MANNY RODRIGUEZ This fight started with high level striking from both fighters. Rodriguez seemed to be getting the more meaningful shots on his opponent, but to the shock of many local fans Vergers caught him with a powerful combo which knocked the TP Gym fighter out cold. Very exciting and we hope to see Rodriguez bounce back soon.

DAN PAULING VS. COREY NELSON

C AGE IGHTING FHAMPIONSHIP2 1 C W

Sydney Olympic Park shakes with MMA action

ELTERWEIGHT champion Jesse Juarez out-toughed Aussie young gun Robert Whittaker on Friday night at Sydney Olympic Park to retain his belt. The fight went the distance and was a testament to the conditioning of the fighters and the quality of athletes the CFC has competing.

Cage Fighting Championship promoter Luke Pezzutti was pleased with how the event panned out.

“The CFC has matured from adolescent into an adult tonight. It’s only on the up and up.”

The rest of the event had high and low points, including some explosive knockouts, a 15 second glimpse of K-1 legend Bob Sapp and a rare Twister submission. And if nothing else, was an exciting night of entertainment for the fans.

ALBERT PATU VS. RAMI EL CHAOUFANI Patu came out strong, dictating the pace. He was

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the more aggressive striker with both his hands and feet, but when he went for a takedown he soon found himself in trouble. Chaoufani soon sunk in a rear naked choke which had Patu tapping at 3.22 into the first round.

Chaoufani had this to say afterwards, “He’s a big hitter, and I had to weather that storm to get the submission.”

RORY O’CONNELL VS. ROB LISTA This fight was one of the closest of the evening.

O’Connell came out strong in the first round and looked skillful and relaxed, but Listita seemed the stronger of the two when grappling. The second round was a dominant grappling display from Listita, and had his opponent quite bloodied as it ended. The third was a back and forth scrap which looked like it could have gone either way at any time.

Rob Listita was awarded the W and was stoked

with the result, “It was a big weight cut for me and I had to get the win.”

JON LEVEN VS. JAMES VAINIKOLO Both fighters wanted a stand-up affair and that’s what they gave the audience. Vainikolo was the more versatile striker and bothered Leven throughout the first and second rounds with slick combos, but didn’t really go in for the kill.

Leven was courageous, but as Vainikolo turned up the heat in the third round, he was taken down powerfully by the Team Tehuna fighter.

Vainikolo postured up on the deck and finished his opponent with heavy strikes.

SHABE KAFO VS. KIAN PHAM Kafo looked a little bigger of the two in this 57kg affair and controlled most of the action from the get-go in a fight spent mostly on the ground.

Pham looked good at times, but Kafo wouldn’t

Nelson came into this fight looking pumped and confident. Pauling seemed a bit spaced-out, which was soon to amplified massively. Nelson asserted his striking ability early and had Pauling backing up awkwardly. And at just 33 seconds into the first round Nelson caught Pauling with a massive straight right which knocked him senseless to the canvas.

Commenting on his opponent after the fight, Nelson quipped “He had a 9–0 record coming in here tonight. Now it’s 9–1.”

JEFF MONSON VS. JIM YORK MMA legend Jeff Monson walked into the cage looking every one of his 41 years. York was younger and more athletic, but the American soon had him on his back after shooting in for a singleleg. The fight progressed slowly through the second in much the same way. The wily old warrior used his wrestling experience the grind on York and rack up the points. Monson spent most of the third round on top of his opponent, too and justifiably got the decision at the end.

BOB SAPP VS. SOA PALELEI One of the largest men in combat sports entered the arena to massive applause, but after only 12 seconds with Palelei he was leaving to a chorus of boos. Palelei stormed in with heavy punches and Sapp retreated, fell over and was quickly finished with strikes via TKO. Not much of a fight, but it at least had people talking.

ROBERT WHITTAKER VS. JESSE JUAREZ This CFC welterweight world title was the fight everyone had been waiting for. Local boy Whittaker had a stadium of support against his American opponent. Round one was very close with Juarez looking the better grappler. Rounds two and three were much the same with Whittaker looking strong at times, but a few silly decisions cost him long spells on his back.

Round four was very close, with Juarez looking spent. The crowd got behind Robbie who began striking well and started fighting a more sensible fight off the floor. Robbie couldn’t maintain the pressure, though. Round five was the same with the Aussie looking like he could finish Juarez if he sustained the striking, but Juarez’s wrestling skills kept shutting him down.

Juarez was awarded a unanimous decision and had this to say, “He was tougher than I thought.

It took a lot of heart to get through those last two rounds.”

David Verges getting vital instructions

SEPTEMBER 2012

I’LL GIVE YOU ONE MORE ROUND

Every fight needs a good cutman. We speak to Mike Afanasiev, paramedic fire fighter and UFC cutman.

H

I Mike, can you tell us a little bit about your experience in combat sports?

I wrestled though high school in collegiate/folkstyle wrestling and then I wrestled free style for few years out of that, after this I practised amateur boxing, I trained with Jeff Mayweather for 6 years. I lacked speed and reflex, so it was time to move on to something else (laughs) How did you become a cut man for boxing and now in UFC? After I realised I wasn’t going anywhere with boxing, I wanted to stay around the sport and Jeff Mayweather introduced me with the legendary Jacob Stich Duran and after a few conversations with stich, I met up with him and he gave me he fundamentals of how to work a corner, he also taught me how to wrap hands and from there it was showing up and spending a lot of time in gyms wrapping fighters hands, introducing myself to different fighters and coaches. Then I have to give credit to Dewey Cooper, who’s a world champion kickboxer, K1 fighter, boxer and he also competes in MMA, he was the first fighter to give me the opportunity to work his corner with his other fighters, so I owe where I’m at now to Jeff Mayweather and Stich Duran and Dewey Cooper, they set the foundations for me.

What are your roles during a typical event?

I get to the event a little bit before hand and I would make sure of the essentials - ice, water, towels things like that. 90% of the time if I’m working in a boxing event I will wrap the fighter’s hands and as well as being responsible working the cuts.

How do you wrap fighter’s hands for MMA? When I first look at a fighter’s hand I ask him whether they have had any injuries, have they broken their hands before and how they like the gauze to feel, some fighters like it super tight, some like it loose and we have what I call the medium, which for 98% of the hands that I wrap this formula works really well. If the

fighter has had a broken hand before we put a bit more attention to that area, try to give it extra support with tape and gauze.

What are the differences between wrapping for boxing and for MMA? The main difference between boxing and MMA is the amount of padding on the knuckles. The MMA gloves are only 4oz gloves so you can’t have as thick a knuckle pad. In Boxing you fighting with anywhere from 8 – 10oz gloves which have a lot more room in the hand. Additionally we’ll start the hand wrap closer to the elbow for boxing than MMA. The reason for this that in MMA the gloves are so short and closer to the wrist. The fundamentals of the taping and application of the gauze itself are exactly the same, the knuckle pad is the only difference.

I’ve noticed on your business card it says” I’ll give you one more round” can you let us know the essentials of working the corner for cuts?

First thing is to stay calm and analyse the situation. You want to be the first person in the ring or octagon, start wiping the fighters face down, look where the cut is, 98% of the things can be taken care of with just basic first aid - direct pressure, clean off and prioritise.

If you’ve got cuts above the eye obviously that’s going to impact the fighters ability to continue, so you want to take care of that cut first. After that we apply vaseline, epinephrine or adrenalin mix over the cut and send the fighter out.

What do you feel are the most common mistakes cornermen make in your opinion?

I’m still new and learning and I make mistakes myself, you can analyse every cut I worked and there’s things I could have done different. I would just recommend that we work more in a sanitary environment, you see cut men with cue tips in their mouth and putting the bloody cue tip back in their ear and things like that, that’s not good for them or the fighter. The sanitary part we really need to improve on and just prioritizing and getting in there as quick as you can would be the best way that all of us can improve ourselves. The use of the enswell I think is probably the most common

mistake that people make. A lot of the old cutmen and this practice has been passed down, will take the enswell and they keep pushing it. They have a little bit of swelling and they think they can move the swelling to different location but you can’t. All you are doing is creating more trauma. The best practice is the application of direct pressure.

Do you have any memorable moments in your career as a cut man or in hand wrapping?

I would say working my first UFC pay per view event UFC 147. I was fortunate enough to work the very first pay per view fight. Standing out there when the lights go down and they play the song teenage wasteland and it’s got the video entourage of the highlights fights, standing there I’m here, wow, this is the biggest event I could possibly be a part of and to make it to that level it’s been an honor and a journey.

So Mike, is there any other advice you’d like to give to coaches or cornermen?

If you’re working with the fighter for the first time to wrap their hands before sparring that way you can know the exact formula that the fighter likes, so you’re prepared on game day/ fight day. Any aspiring coaches or cornermen that want to become cutmen should learn and take the advise of any elite cut men, learn from them and then practice, practice your trade at a gym, practice and get your face known out there, it just takes time, you’ve got to pay your dues and stay professional.

What are the essentials in your kit?

I carry epinephrine known as adrenaline and that’s what I use as vasoconstrictor to stop the bleeding. I make cue tips basically by unrolling cotton balls and re-rolling them onto cotton tips because I can’t find any cotton swabs that are that size. Enswell, zip lock bags for the ice to help with the swelling, scissors, medical gloves to protect the fighter and myself from any exposure to contaminants, Vaseline, Vaseline and epinephrine mixture that we apply to into the cut.

www.cornerman.com.au 49

torious

Tai Tuivasa vic

Jeff King vs Pik i Teringa

BEST IN THE WEST Elite Cage Championships 2 at St Marys Band Club was a night to remember!

T

HE ECC 2 card was an entertaining night for fans of MMA and a good gauge of some of the talent developing locally. The heavyweight headliner between Kiwi Damien Waenga vs Blacktown based Fellise ‘The FOB-father’ Lenui didn’t last long, but certainly made up for it with action.

Here’s how the evening transpired…

Joe Harrigan vs Sita Kaba The opening fight saw Sita Kaba show some impressive stand up skills. Kaba was the first to land when they exchanged punches in close, and soon scored a knock down. Harrigan did well to scramble and finish the round on his feet, but Kaba looked dominant. The second round began with the fighters trading kicks.

Harrigan was the first to score this time, but Kaba answered immediately dropping his opponent again and punching his way to a TKO win.

Shane Baker vs Hana Janan This fight was a grappling war. Baker came out looking to trade blows, but Janan was quick to clinch and soon scored a takedown. Baker scrambled well though and ended up getting on top for the remainder of the round. The second round was a back and forth grappling war where both men worked for a rear naked choke, with neither succeeding. The third was

50 www.cornerman.com.au

the same again with Janan maybe getting the better of the action. It could have gone either way, but Janan got the split decision.

Shaun Sulivan vs Mehdi Rahimi This was a classic striker vs grappler affair.

Sullivan looked to use his reach on the feet but Rahimi showed his strength with an early takedown. Sullivan defended well but Rahimitop game was impressive. Although Rahimi looked tired in the second round, he got another takedown and controlled the action. Sullivan looked fresh in the third and landed some nice strikes, but Rahimi showed an iron jaw and will and survived a late barrage and won by decision.

Dallas Vincent – Cayna Ongolea This fight featured the first submission of the night. Ongolea had some early success with his hands, despite giving away a lot of reach to the southpaw Vincent. When he rocked Vincent with some heavy punches, Vincent decided to clinch up and go for the takedown. When the fight hit the mat, Vincent showed his superiority and soon had the mount and then finished the fight with a tight arm triangle.

Bradley Fletcher vs Andrew Teni This was a stand up battle where Fletcher showed his dominance. Teni was first to move

forward after the bell but was forced to clinch when Fletcher started getting a few punches through his guard. When they separated Fletcher stepped up a gear and after a few nice head kicks and some heavy punches , Teni was knocked to the mat and the referee is forced to call a stop to the fight.

Paul Ranse vs Randall Rayment Ranse started well in this short bout but Rayment was too strong. After the initial onslaught from Ranse, Rayment found a takedown and quickly moved straight to mount. Ranse was forced to give his back and Rayment flattened him out and punched his way to a TKO victory.

Tai Tuivasa vs Simon Osbourne This was a display of dominance from the biggest heavyweight of the night. Osbourne looked small in comparison to his huge opponent, and the first glancing blows were enough to show Tuivasa had the power to back up his size. A powerful leg kick and some brutal punches were enough to knock Osbourne down and out cold before the referee could step in, giving Tuivasa an impressive 1st round KO victory.

Andrew Machin vs Tim Glanville This fight saw Glanville earn a tough points victory. Glanville started well, dropping Machin

with an uppercut and it looked like the fight might be over very quickly as Glanville worked to ground and pound his opponent. Machin battled well to get back to his feet and tried to get back in the fight, but Glanville landed more clean shots.

The second was a hard fought round but Glanville seemed to have more power and land more, giving him a majority points decision.

Fight 9 – Jeff King vs Piki Teringa This was an excellent fight where both fighters had periods of control. In the first round Teringa got a takedown but King managed to hold on and earn a stand up. King then achieved a late takedown and was working towards getting Teringa’s back when he ran out of time. In the second round Teringa got the first takedown but King ended up on top and again got his back. King flattened him out and seemed to be close to punching his way to a TKO but Teringa somehow managed to scramble and get on top. Teringa then brought the pain with his own ground and pound and attacks until the round ended. Teringa won my decision.

Daniel Peacock vs Jacob Pettit There was an excellent display of BJJ from Pettit in this fight. Both competitors showed good early defence on the feet until Pettit scored the first takedown. As Peacock got back to his feet, Pettit tried to take his back, but wound up on the bottom.

From here he put on a triangle and managed to control Peacock until the end of the round. In the

second round, Peacock started with a big left but Pettit ducked under to secure a takedown. Peacock found his way on top but Pettit again landed a triangle from his guard. After struggling to make Peacock tap from the choke, Pettit used his elbows from the triangle position to earn the TKO stoppage late in the round.

on the rise XXXX

JACOB PETTIT

• Good ground game

• Improving every fight Age: 23 Division: Lightweight Stance: Southpaw Pro Record: 11F 6W 1KO Submissions: 5 Best Fight: Ricky Rea at PWP4 Trainer: Magnus, Tiago Ferrera Gym: Magnus c.a and Gracie Central Coast Favorite MMA fighter: Nick Diaz 12 month goal: Able to fight overseas and make a living doing it

Damien Waenga vs Fellise Lenui The main event was as brief as it was action packed. Lenui looked very confident and showed early aggression landing some heavy punches and knees, dropping Waenga. Waenga somehow survived the ground and pound to get up and push Lenui against the cage. Both grappled for dominance, but after the break Lenui resumed his onslaught of devastating punches and knees that would easily finish a lesser opponent. Waenga showed great heart and durability, but after a Lenui takedown followed by increasingly bloody ground and pound, he tapped out. A dominant display from a local fighter who is quickly establishing himself as one of the most dangerous heavyweights in the country.

www.cornerman.com.au 51

SEPTEMBER 2012

STORM DAMAGE

full results Mick Bakavgas VS Chiefy Waihape

Australian MMA sweeps through the Capital and leaves no stones unturned. By Tomas Vysokai

Eddie Alba VS Harley Druem

Arm Bar (Rnd 1)

Dave Fowler VS Tuure Immonen

RNC (Rnd 1)

Rebecca Steward VS Michelle Peruzzi

TKO (Rnd 2)

Jordon Lowe VS Glen Johnson

RNC (Rnd 1)

Hugo Miller VS Simon Tippett

KO (Rnd 1)

Blair Dennett VS Richard Kemp Stephen Reeks VS Anthony Brancatisano

S

Storm Damage Welterweight Eliminator

Quarterfinals #1 Ali Kocak (Stockdale Canberra) vs Peter Cross (Storm MMA Canberra) Round one saw both fighters cautiously circling the cage throwing just an occasional kick.

Cross tried to close the distance and clinch, but the stronger Kocak ended up getting on top, pushed his opponent to the cage and tried to strike. Cross attempted a single leg take down and found himself falling over instead.

Ali Kocak then deftly caught a body kick and tripped Cross to the canvas. He then assumed side control, worked on his strikes and tried hard for a possible submission. The fight was scheduled for 3 x 3 minute rounds, but Cross soon surrended due to a knee injury, letting Ali

52 www.cornerman.com.au

Kocak progress into the semifinals.

Quarterfinals #2 Leo Diaz (Team Ballard Newcastle) vs Craig Martin (Freestyle Fighting Wollongong) Diaz went straight for single leg at the beginning of the first round. Martin had some good defense, but soon ended up in the half guard of Diaz who passed and then let the other fighter stand up.

Diaz pushed his opponent to the cage, trying for a trip. Both fighters slip and swung but missed. Diaz got a grip of Martin, lifted him in the air and threw him heavily to the floor. He not only established control of the fight, but got in a strong position and rained down strikes until the end of the round.

Both fighters started the second round striking and Diaz quickly shot in for a single leg again. He got him down into side control and soon into the full-mount. Martin defended well, sweeping Diaz, and both fighters were soon standing again. It was a good even fight.

Both fighters get more comfortable striking but once again Diaz closed the distance and executed a spectacular throw. He then moved

to the mount and was soon attempting an arm bar. Martin defended nicely with a strong guard, but he was behind too much on points to turn the tide. The winner was Leo Diaz.

Quarterfinals #3 Greg Wiltshire (28 Hundred Orange) vs Sean Godkin (Storm MMA Canberra) Both fighters went straight into the clinch. Wiltshire pulled guard and Godkin passed it well, started striking, and then expertly got the back and applied a rear naked choke. It was all over in 26 seconds with Sean Godkin seemingly having the advantage on the other semifinalists by miles.

After the adrenalin left the body, Novocastrian fighter Leo Diaz called it quits due to the injuries from his earlier fight and we can go straight to the finals.

Finals Ali Kocak (Stockdale Canberra) vs Sean Godkin (Storm MMA Canberra) Kocak once again started with good movement, running around the cage while Godkin went

straight for the clinch and attempt at for the take down. Both fighters soon ended up on the floor with Godkin on top in the dominant position. He pushed Kocak against the cage and struck effectively with short punches, then tried to get his back but just ran out of time.

Godkin’s game plan in the second round was clear – he didn’t want to punch on with Ali Kocak, but rather keep it on the ground. He pushed Kocak against the cage and kept holding his opponent’s leg in an attempt to take him down. He finally succeeded but got hit a lot in the face and side of his body in the process. It soon became obvious that Sean Godkin was almost out of gas.

Suddenly Ali Kocak connects with a beautiful knee to the chin, followed up with barrage of quick punches. The referee quickly steps in to protect the fighter and waves the fight over “I know my fitness and I’m ready to go all day every day no matter what!” said Ali in his final speech. He also thanked his uncle and his cousins for helping him get mentally ready after his previous KO loss.

Overall Storm Oysher put together a great production. He managed to not only bring a great crowd, but some great fights that won’t be soon forgotten. What more can a fight fan want on Saturday night?

Get yourself ready for Storm Damage 2 on February 2nd 2013.

TKO (Rnd 1)

Jacob Hatton VS Kane Toby

Brandon Sosoli VS Andrew Machin

TORM Oshyer’s fortieth birthday was celebrated in style. The trainer and promoter got his cake and 14 MMA fights – including a 6 man Welterweight eliminator – in the Canberra Southern Cross Basketball Stadium. It was all that he’d hoped for.

KO (Rnd 1)

Dec (Rnd 3)

TKO (Rnd 1) KO (Rnd 1)

Trainer and pr omoter Storm O ysher

www.cornerman.com.au 53

101

1 Igor pummels sarah into the cage

2 Igor pushes his hips back to loosens Sarah’s underhook, and then uses his thumb on her bicep to drive her arm down

h t i w

3

IGOR BREAKENBACK

4

Sarah leads Igors arm toward her overhook hand and establishes wrist control Sarah grabs Igor’s neck while still holding on to the overhook and wrist control

5 Sarah hip escapes against the fence and spins Igor around into the cage

6 Sarah uses her head to control Igor ‘s head position

IGOR BREAKENBACK

7 54 www.cornerman.com.au

Sarah pushes her hips into Igor still trapping both arms, and uses the free arm to strike towards his face

Igor Breakenback is a well-known martial artist and stunt actor. When not fighting on film sets, he regularly teaches his own unique style of MMA to UFC, MMA, BJJ and Thaiboxing Champions.

Igor founded I Go Ryu Jiu Jitsu over a 20-plus year competitive period in many different martial arts and over a thousand of fights all over the world. Igor, besides being undefeated in his MMA career, went on to win himself and with his students various tournaments regardless of style or rules on a national and international level, proving how unique I Go Ryu Jiu Jitsu is.

For more Info visit www.igormma.com

COASTAL CLASSIC

Total Havoc 5 brings MMA to the South Coast

T

HE Shoalhaven Entertainment Centre was the location for an excellent display of MMA in the way of Total Havoc 5 Cage Conquest on July 28.

A huge amount of work went into preparing for the event from the team at Southern Martial Arts and it all paid off. A huge crowd turned up to watch some of the best fighters from around the country, mix it up with each other for three actionpacked hours.

Winners on the night included Martin Nguyen, Abel Brites, Gerhard Voight, Jon Marco, Cameron Howes, Craig Martin, Philip Calleja, David Martin and Craig Stanton. All the competitors put in a great effort, though.

The only anomaly from the evening was the blue corner whitewash. The very vocal crowd proved that MMA is very popular in the region and left eager for the return of Total Havoc 6 in 2013.

one to watch XXXX

GIANCARLO EMBRADORA • Improving every fight • Likes to strike Age: 26 Division: Bantamweight Stance: Orthodox / Southpaw Pro record: 5F 3W Submission: 1 Trainer: Eddie Button / Larry Papadopoulos Gym: Boxing Works Favorite MMA fighter: Jose Aldo 12 month plan: to fight anyone, anywhere, anytime

www.cornerman.com.au 57

UFC Magazines’ strength and conditioning coach MATT SPOONER www.elitestrengthconditioning.com.au, mspooner@elitestrenghtconditioning.com.au

FUNCTIONAL STRENGTH &CONDITIONING GAINS USING RUSSIAN KETTLE BELLS THE MAN MAKER Another great functional strength & conditioning exercise is “The Man Maker” the great thing about this exercise is that it is actually multiple exercises linked together. It has an inverted row, an extended push up, a power clean, a full squat & a press. Pretty much hitting the majority of the major muscle groups in the human body. A great time efficient functional movement pattern that improve strength, power, flexibility & core stability.

The Man Maker can be performed using dumbells as well but the kettle bells make it a fair bit more

4

Now explode up with your hips & traps & “clean” the KBs to the “racked position” on your chest.

58 www.cornerman.com.au

The Turkish Get up has become very popular in the strength & conditioning world. It’s benefits are numerous & include strength, core stability, body awareness, agility, flexibility & balance gains.

This great “ Bang for your buck “exercise can be performed using numerous training tools as well including dumbells, barbells , medicine balls and

challenging due to their awkwardness & instability.

One of my favourite ways to perform Man makers is to perform 30 continuous reps (if possible) and time the reps so as you get a total score. Now you have accountability in your conditioning & you can try & beat your score ( or your training partner) next time.

Basically indestructible, cost effective , functional for strength , power conditioning & flexibility gains , the Kettle Bell is a great training tool to have at home our in your gym.

1

Assume a push up position on two KBs, now whilst balancing on one KB row the other Kb towards your ribs, now repeat on the other side.

THE TURKISH GET UP

even small children (You tube it) but arguably the most common version is performed using the Kettlebell.

The kettle bells go up in four kilogram increments & if you can perform “The Turkish getup” with a 32kg kettle bell for reps you are doing very well.

One often over looked benefit of the TGUP is that it is a unilateral exercise (performed on both sides of the body) this is a great way to show strength & co ordination balance between your right & left sides & gives the opportunity as a screening tool to help balance you out & help prevent injuries.

1

Lay on your back with the kettle bell locked out pressed towards the ceiling, have the same side knee up & that foot flat on the floor.

2

Now lower down into a deep pushup & then come back to the top.

5

Whilst keeping your weight in your heels & your lower back flat drop down into as deep a squat as your flexibility will allow.

SEPTEMBER 2012

2

Now raise up onto your hand while you heavily brace your core.

Now raise up onto the opposite ( outstretched) elbow.

3

4

5

Now whilst maintaining your grip on the KBs jump up & straddle the two kBs in a squat width.

Now lift your hips as high as possible towards the ceiling.

Keeping your eyes on the KB scoot your out stretched leg under your body, placing your knee on the floor ( now in a lunge position)

6

Once you hit the bottom of the squat explode back up to the top & continue to press the KBs towards the ceiling until they lock out over head.

7

Bring your feet under your hips & stand tall bracing your core.

3

8

6

Now stand up.

S key pE ISoIFinYOtU CAN’T COME

GO UP. EN RUL THE GOLD N SLOWLY DON’T H SIDE WITH DOW R N EAC -5 REPS O E WEIGHT AS YOU .

1 M R O F H S T E PER V E S O A R N IMP . INCRE 1-5 SETS & COORDINATIO NCTIONAL U H T F STRENG WHOLE BODY NT. A E M IS THIS H MOVE STRENGT

Now reverse the movement by stepping back & slowly descending step by step back to the start position. That’s one rep !

www.cornerman.com.au 59

directory NAME

SEPTEMBER 2012

BUSINESS

ADDRESS

CONTACT

WEBSITE/EMAIL

JAMES WHITE

Event MC

NSW

0415 641 190

MICHAEL PEDAVOLI

Event MC

PO Box 4500, Lakehaven NSW 2263

0414 484 270

MC2 MANAGEMENT

Fighter management and marketing

Suite 2 125 Oxford St, Bondi Junction

BOXING WORKS

Boxing, kickboxing and MMA gym

23 Pelican St, Darlinghurst, NSW

(02) 9267 7484

www.boxingworks.com.au

IGOR MMA

MMA Gym

32 Ebley St, Bondi Junction, NSW

(02) 9387 4446

www.igormma.com

ILLAWARRA KYOKUSHIN KARATE

Karate/ kickboxing gym

2/ 4–6 Third Avenue, Unandera, NSW

0421 284 825

www.illawarrakyokushin. com.au

KICKSTART BOXING & PT

Boxing/ kickboxing gym

1/12 Rickard Rd, Narrabeen, NSW

0409 077 623

NO CONTEST ACADEMY ST.MARYS

Boxing gym

5/6 Crana St, Blacktown, NSW

PITBULL GYM

Muay thai kickboxing gym

THE BOXING SHOP BULLDOG GYM BALMAIN

PAGE

EVENT MC Page 57 boxingringhire@gmail.com www.2mc2.com.au enquires@2mc2.com.au

Page 22

GYMS Page 48

BUSINESS directory NAME

BUSINESS

ADDRESS

CONTACT

WEBSITE/EMAIL

PAGE

PHOTOGRAPHY PHOTOGRAPHY

BY ROCKFINGRZ

Photography NSW

0414 466 360

photographybyrockfingrz@ gmail.com

SHADOW BOXOGRAPHY

Photography NSW

0400 815 001

shadowboxography@gmail. com

Inside Back Cover

SOUTHSIDE STUDIOS

Photography NSW

0408118860

www.southsidestudios.com.au

Back cover

MARTIAL ARTS SUPPLIES & MOUTH GUARDS ZETT

Combat sports equipment

5/38 Cantebury Rd, Bankstown, NSW

(02) 9793 8008

www.zettsport.com.au

http://kickstart.net.au

ZOE’S MARTIAL ARTS

Combat sports equipment

810 Princes Highway, Tempe NSW

1300 750 061

www.boxingsupplies.com.au

(02) 9623 3233

www.nocontestacademy.com.au

ARMOUR MOUTHGUARDS

Custom Mouthguards NSW

0414 585 827 0405 783 777

www.armourmouthguards. com.au

28a Hampden Rd, South Wentworthville, NSW

9688 3197 0417 446 438

www.pitbullkickboxing.com

RHINO MOUTHGUARDS

Custom Mouthguards

50 Burnie St, Clovelly, NSW

(02) 9664 9335

www.rhinomouthguards.com

Page 56

Boxing gym

170 Kessels Rd, Nathan, QLD

1300 66 00 17

www.theboxingshop.com.au

SMAI BOXING & MMA EQUIPMENT

Combat sports equipment

105-119 Jardine St, Fairy Meadow, NSW

(02) 4283 4363

www.smai.com.au

Page 32

Thaiboxing Gym

276 A Norton street Leichhardt, NSW

0404 037 060

bulldoggymbalmain.com Gyms

WEB SOLUTIONS SAW STUDIO

GYMS & PROMOTIONS BONDI BOXING & MUAY THAI GYM

Boxing and muay thai gym

284 Bondi Rd, Bondi, NSW

0402 622 662

www.bondimuaythai.com.au

BULLDOG GYM MANLY

Thaiboxing Gym

4 Hayes st, Balgowlah, NSW

(02) 9949 3533 0417 239 843

www.thaiboxing.com.au

EVOLUTION FITNESS CENTRE

Muay thai kickboxing gym

2/9 Mildron Rd, Tuggerah NSW

0414 807 957

FITE 108 MUAY THAI KICKBOXING

Muay thai kickboxing gym

5/10 Bluegum Close, Tuggerah, NSW

0414 611 097

www.fite108.com.au

FULL FORCE BLACKTOWN

Thaiboxing Gym

40 Third Avenue, Blacktown, NSW

42580 0297

fullforcegym.com.au/Gyms / Promotions

JOE’S BOXING

Boxing gym

20/118 Queens Rd, Five Dock, NSW

(02) 9715 2083

www.joesboxing.com.au

MURDOCH’S WORKSHOP

Muay thai kickboxing gym

58 Medcalf St, Warners Bay, NSW

0408 508 474

BODYPUNCH BOXING GYM

Boxing gym

3rd Floor, 71-75 Wangee Road, Lakemba, NSW

0415 600 448

Page 10

PROMOTIONS & RING HIRE CORPORATE FIGHTER

Corporate boxing NSW

FIRST FIGHT PROMOTIONS

Corporate boxing NSW

0417 468 828 0412 819 033

firstfightpromotions@gmail.com

JNI PROMOTIONS

Promotions

0418 475 901

jni@optusnet.com.au

Page 54

CKO BOXING RING HIRE

Ring hire NSW

0400 978 428 0421 339 625

stefanandmegs@hotmail.com

Page 12

DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT

Ring Hire

PO Box 4500, Lakehaven NSW 2263

0414 484 270

boxingringhire@gmail.com

NO BULL FITE NITE

Promotions/ring hire

28a Hampden Rd, South Wentworthville, NSW

(02) 9688 3197 0417 446 438

www.pitbullkickboxing.com

BLACK TIE BOXING

Corporate boxing NSW

www.blacktieboxing.com.au j.dooner@blacktieboxing. com.au

Web solutions Worldwide

spikee1@gmail.com www. sawstudio.com.au

SUPPLEMENTS

www.teamhussein.com

www.corporatefighter.com.au info@corporatefighter.com.au

Inside Front Cover

Page 18

ASN DARLINGHURST

Proteins

INTERNATIONAL PROTEIN

Proteins

79 Oxford st, Darlinghurst, NSW

02 9360 0222

www.australiansportsnutrition. com.au info@international-protein.com www.international-protein.com

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