|
 Hundreds, literally hundreds of people showed up the debut of the King of the Beach promotion. It may have been a quieter introduction than the promoters had planned for, but it was a night crammed full of lively fights and fresh-faced prospects making their introductions, so let’s get into the recap.
New York City’s PJ McDermott (1-0) flew in and got the promotion started with a dominating performance against the Turk, Inci Yarakos (1-2). Yarakos made the first move, attempting to grapple with McDermott. After a stuffed takedown, he made the mistake of moving into the clinch with the talented American. From there, McDermott crushed Yarakos with punches to the head and body, crumpling him to the cage for the referee stoppage.
Brazilian Lucas Campos (1-0) then smashed Walood Kassab (1-1) in the second fight of the night with crisp, devastating punch combinations. Kassab never had a chance to get anything going, as Campos delivered the final KO punch just fifteen seconds into the fight, securing a tasty $5,000 ‘KO of the night’ bonus check, as well as his spot in the Grassroots Welterweight Tournament finals against McDermott.
The only decision on the card doubled as the ‘fight of the night,’ as Rio’s own James Diaz (2-0) outlasted the Frenchman Marc Du Vale (0-2) over the course of fifteen minutes. The light heavyweights engaged in three similar, yet close rounds, with Diaz thwarting Du Vale’s standup attack with a strong clinch game, while managing to repeatedly bring the fight to the mat by pulling guard. In the end it was enough for the judges who scored the fight 29-28, 29-28 and 30-27.
The only middleweight fight on the card saw Denver blue-chipper Thatcher Halverson (1-0) take out Cuban export Jacare Romero (1-2) with a first round guillotine. The 17-year-old Halverson was quick to take things to the mat, only to see the 19-year-old Romero quickly sweep to the top position. This didn’t slow down Halverson, however, as he attacked with submission after submission until Romero finally tapped at the 2:58 mark of round one.
In the final preliminary fight on the card, previously top-ranked KOTB light heavyweight Shaun Hale (3-3) was quickly submitted by the previously winless Bulgarian, Papas Kanamun (1-2). Hale had all kinds of trouble at the weigh-ins, taking the full two hours to get his weight at a suitable level. This seemed to take a lot out of the Welshman who looked to take things to the floor early, only to see himself tapping to an armbar in under a minute.
The opening of the main card saw a minor bit of controversy, as our second Cuban competitor Jorge Soler (0-1) took a hard kick to the groin early in his fight against the kickboxer Don Wilson (4-1). Soler seemed unfazed as he dove for a few more takedowns, but Wilson saw it coming, shrugged them all off and put his shin all over Soler, who was saved by the referee in under two minutes.
The opening match of the 8-man super heavyweight tournament saw 18-year-olds Mirko Vukovic (1-0) & Neon Uno (0-1) both make their professional debuts. The Croatian Vukovic looked to take things to the mat early and often. After a stalemate on the first attempt, the referee stood the fighters up. However, Vukovic was determined to bring things back to the ground and had much more success the second time around, mounting the Floridian, Uno, and opening up a nasty cut in the process. The doctor waved things off at the 3:53 mark, giving the young Croatian his first professional victory.
Next up we had undefeated Caribbean muay thai specialist Bruce Zimbardo (3-0) take on Polish export Gregor Barnett (1-2). Barnett, who gave up almost a foot of height, 40 pounds in weight and eight years in age, tried his best to keep things competitive. After unsuccessfully trying to clinch, Barnett cracked Zimbardo with a couple combinations and even opened a cut on the larger man, but in the end Zimbardo was way too much, cruising to a late first round victory with his third stoppage by head kicks.
In the co-main event, the smallest SHW competitor Ezekiel Puchowski (4-0) clobbered the much larger grappler Skyfirge Bunga. The Polish prospect Puchowski put his hands on display, punishing the Belize grappler with constant pressure before turning the lights out at the 2:32 mark. It was an impressive display from the former highly touted amateur boxing prospect.
Finally, the main event saw a grappling masterpiece, as Thiagus Davaru Silva (3-0) took on hometown favorite Gabriel Santos Silva (1-1). Thiagus took the early lead with a top-heavy attack in the first round while aggressively attacking with submissions. Gabriel was happy to oblige, attacking with a few submissions of his own, and even taking top control in the second round. Thiagus was unfazed, however, and managed to snag a nasty guillotine choke from the bottom, putting the brown belt out cold on top of him. It was a beautiful display by Thiagus, who earned the ‘submission of the night’ bonus for his efforts.
Article views:
100
» Donate to this author |
