|
|
CURRENT
IKF KICKBOXING / MUAY THAI
|
| ||||
|
"Bring It On" & "Lets Do THIS" Are Both Fight Sport Trademark of IKF & ISCF Fight Sports! | ||||||
|
|
__ |
|
|
|
___ |
|
|
HOME - NEWS - EVENTS - RANKINGS - SANCTIONING - JOINING - RULES & REGULATIONS - MERCHANDISE - ISCF - MMA | ||||||
Today's Quote...
"Many
times, in life, you have opportunities and options, but not control. And when
you are lucky the illusion of control is given to you; this is when you make
symphonies."
Lamine
Pearlheart
QUESTIONS? E-MAIL THE IKF AT main@ikfkickboxing.com OR CALL US AT (916) 663-2467
THURSDAY, December 12th, 2019, AT 2:40 PM/ PST
THROWBACK THURSDAY
Don "The Dragon" Wilson
vs Dennis "The Terminator" Alexio.
WKA **Super Light Heavyweight World Title Hollywood,
Florida / USA March 29th, 1994.
|
BACK STORY 1... (**) Wilson was flown to Tokyo, Japan and had a signed contract with the WKA to defend his WKA "Light Heavyweight" title at 175 lbs he had won in October of 1980. This was to be Wilson's 7th defense of this title. However, for unknown reasons, Smith came in at 190 lbs. apparently thinking he was defending "His" WKA World title at 190 lbs. The Japanese promoters were as shocked as Wilson was about Smith's weight and feared the bout would be cancelled. However Wilson, always looking out for the greater good of the sport and a desire to save the show for the promoters agreed to move forward with the bout. Keep in mind, there was no athletic commission or country fight sport regulatory body to regulate the weight spread between the fighters weight {which was a max spread of 7 lbs - using the weight of the lightest fighter} Only Howard Hanson of the WKA who ignored the 15lb + weight spread between the fighters in exchange for a good fight. When all was said and done Wilson defeated Smith by decision and won the WKA Cruiserweight World Title. This was a Leg Kick Bout - Like the IKF International Rule Style - WKA just called it Full Contact Rules at the time since this was when some of the martial arts tournaments were still semi contact vs "Full" Contact fighting in a boxing ring. Directly after the bout, Wilson vacated the title because he had no plan of ever fighting at 190 lbs. again since he could not make that weight. His fight weight at the time was around 175-180. BACK STORY 2... Realizing the two were not at the same weight, then WKA President Howard Hanson made up a new weightclass so the two could still fight, which was called the WKA Super Light Heavyweight World Title which was a heavier weightclass that Alexio could make. { Like the Smith bout, this was a Leg Kick bout - like the IKF International Rule Style} Still, like in the Smith bout, at the lowest weight of 173, the maximum weight spread for these two should have been 7 lbs. However instead, with Wilson at 173 and Alexio at 182, the spread was now 9 lbs. Keep in mind there was no state athletic commission in Florida at the time to oversee fighter weight spreads, only WKA Sanctioning body President Howard Hanson. BACK STORY 3...
Sickness... Under these WKA Rules, even though it was a "Leg Kick" bout, there was still a required minimum of 8 Kicks landed above the waist by each fighter in each round. If a fighter didn't make their 8 kicks in a round, they lost points when they did not get their 8 kicks in. Sadly for Alexio, it seemed his strategy was more so to get inside and box Wilson toe to toe, which was a big reason he missed his minimum kicks which cost him points in those rounds and ultimately the decision of the bout. Watch when the fighters come to center ring for the pre-fight talk with the referee. The guy entering to the right is our very own good friend and IKF World Ambassador, Brooks Mason, who was don's trainer at the time... In October that same year, Wilson vacated the WKA Super Light Heavyweight World Title he won against Alexio since like in the Smith victory, he had no desire to fight above 180 lbs. to defend the title. When 1984 came to an end Wilson was awarded "Fighter of the Year" by Black Belt Magazine. Unlike today when everyone is giving out belts and awards like candy, Black Belt Magazine was "THE" expert of such awards back then, That year Wilson fought and defeated 3 World Champions under three different rule styles in a span of 9 months that included;
Black Belt magazines decision to award Wilson "Fighter of the Year" in 1984 was not just based on marketing or politics. It was based on pure facts of his accomplishments.
Wilson went on to successfully defend his WKA title 3 more times. His kickboxing career spanned 4-decades; his first fight with Bill Knoblok in 1974 and his last fight {so far anyways...} a 10th-round knockout victory over Eddie Butcher on July 19, 2002 in Atlantic City, New Jersey. He defeated among others, World Champions Branko Cikatic, James Warring, Dennis Alexio, and Maurice Smith, and as noted above, should have been given the win over legend Jean-Yves Thériault. After their bout Wilson added in additional World titles from the STAR, ISKA, IKF and an organization called the PKO. In today's world, when some fighter's win a title once and defend it once, they tend to call themselves a 2 time World Champion. Not Wilson. Each title only counts once, no matter how many times he defended it. In the end he had become an 11 Time World Champion and fought in over 30 World title bouts, defending one title (WKA) 9 times and only losing 2 of his World Title bouts. In 2008 he was awarded into the European Martial Arts Hall of Fame and in 2010 he was awarded into the World Kickboxing Hall of Fame At the age of 65, the "Dragon" still looks and moves like he did in his fighting days and although he will never say he's retired, his fight record currently stands at 72 wins, 5 loses and 2 draws with 48 of his wins coming by KO / TKO. He also had a Pro Boxing record of 6 wins and 3 loses with 4 wins coming by KO / TKO. As if all that wasn't enough Wilson made the move to Hollywood where he has starred in over 50 Movies that include leading roles and other roles in Bloodfist 1-8, Ring of Fire 1, 2 & 3, Out for Blood, Operation Cobra, Blackbelt, Cyber Tracker 1 & 2, Terminal Rush, Redemption, Say Anything... Capitol Conspiracy, The Scorpion King 4, and Batman Forever just to name a few. It would be a pretty safe bet to say the odds are against any fighter who has any such desire to accomplish what Wilson did in his career let alone that 9 months in 1984, but if you think you can, even "The Dragon" would say, "Bring it ON!" Enjoy the bout... For more about "The Dragon" Click |
|
TUESDAY, December 10th, 2019, AT 10:10 AM/ PST
|
| ||
|
|
2020
Get Ready To
2020
IKF World Classic
Hyatt Regency Orlando SEE YOU IN ORLANDO! |
|
|
| ||
| ||
