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THURSDAY, August 29th, 2002, AT 8:30 PM, PT
IKF NORTH
AMERICAN
AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIPS
IKF South Carolina Press Staff
Well fight fans we are at it again. For those of you that attended the 2002 IKF USA National Amateur Championships in beautiful Davenport, Iowa you were able to experience the country's ONLY national kickboxing TOURNAMENT. The IKF has been hosting a national tournament for the last four years and each year it gets bigger AND most importantly BETTER. The IKF crew along with the many promoters, trainers, fighters AND fans have made this THE event to compete in. Now we are stepping it up a knotch in that we are promoting the FIRST IKF North American Championships. This event will be in the mens "full contact rules" division. We are planning the International and Muay Thai Rules N. Am Championships for early next year.
Earlier this year promoter Ray Thompson (Left) from Simpsonville, South Carolina, USA was approached by IKF President Steve Fossum to see if they could work together, develop and promote the first North American Championships. They started brainstorming and planning and finally it is to come to pass on November 16th in Simpsonville, South Carolina, USA.
Why Simpsonville? It's really quite simple. It is the stomping grounds of the FIRST promoter that was willing to step up to the challenge issued by the IKF President and give it a go so that the fighters can again "Walk the Walk" but this time at a higher level and for a bigger prize, the coveted IKF North American Title. Simpsonville is a small town with a "Small Town" feel. If you are looking for bright lights and tall buildings then you WILL be disappointed (and your sights are on the wrong subject) but if you are looking for a beautiful venue with two gymnasiums connected by a common foyer that can hold two separate events simultaneously then you WON'T be disappointed . If you are looking for friendly people Simpsonville is the place. If you are looking for a promoter that has connections with the largest cable company in the country, Charter Cable, and is having his event filmed and aired than you have found him.
Simpsonville is located in what is called "The Upstate" which is where our title sponsor is located, Foothills Ford. Foothills Ford is owned and operated by Mr. Mike Kennedy who is a big fan and supporter of the martial arts. Without his sponsorship this event WOULD NOT be possible. A special thanks to Mike and the Foothills Ford Team!!
Simpsonville is also home of Ray Thompson, owner of one of the largest martial arts schools in the south east and trainer of Stephen "Wonderboy" Thompson, (Right) three time National IKF Champion. Ray is hoping to bring the same skills to the tournament that helped him build a martial arts school and business that accommodates over 650 ACTIVE students studying seven different arts in a community of only 16,000 residents. That takes skill and Ray is planning on using that skill to promote an event we all will be proud to say we were a part of. Along with the IKF Staff this event will sure to be the best one yet. Of course it will be NOTHING without the warriors that are willing to "Walk the Walk" for THE title of IKF North American Champion.
Now trainers, fighters and fans mark Nov. 16th on your calender and make preparations for the FIRST ever IKF North American Championships. Come be a part of IKF history for we're sure this one will go down in the books as one of the Great ones!!! Anyone wanting to find out about registration can go to the "upcoming events" page and scroll down to the "November" calender and find the info and registration Registration Link on the ad for the event.
To all our friends from Canada and Mexico, you are a very important part of this event. This event needs to have representatives from your countries that are willing to step up to the challenge and "Walk the Walk". See you on Nov 16th.
USA Fighters Who Won The 2002 IKF USA National Championships and REGISTER FOR THIS EVENT Will be the Automatic Number 1 Seed and Automatically placed in the FINAL Bout at this event. All second place finisher of the 2002 IKF USA National Championships may REGISTER FOR THIS EVENT with all other REGISTER Fighters. If the Second place finisher of the 2002 IKF USA National Championships Chooses Not To attend this event, The third place finisher may REGISTER To Attend Instead....If not him, we go to number 4, etc. They will be placed in the tournament fight brackets to determine the opponent of the 2002 IKF USA National Championships For the IKF North American Amateur Title.
MORE NEWS OF 8-29-02
POSTED AT
11:20 AM,
PT
"MAYHEM IN
MIDTOWN"
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, USA
A
Round By Round Review By IKF Event Representative
Brooks Mason.
Mayhem in Midtown was one hell of an event. The venue featured amphitheater type seating with a great view from every seat. Excellent lighting and sound system along with the obligatory smoke entrance for the fighters gave the night the kind of professional look Kickboxing needs. Sukotai did a bang up job on preparation. Over 40 volunteers came out to support and assist at the event, catering to every necessity as the fights ran flawlessly. This was truly one of the best run shows I have been to in years. The Kickboxing community thanks you for a job well done. Pros and amateurs alike came packing for the event and what an event it was. Here's a full rundown of the nights action. Fights are numbered as to the bout of the night. The missing numbers were ISCF Mixed Martial Arts Bouts. ISCF Event Representative Matthew Waller has registered those results in an article earlier in the week below.
I am sure there are lots more to thank but that's all I
have to say. |
TUESDAY, August 27th, 2002, AT 11:25 AM, PT
FALL
BRAWL
2002
IKF AND
ISCF MMA
ACTION TO RETURN TO AUGUSTA, GEORGIA, USA
2001 IKF Promoters of the Year, Mike and Elizabeth Carlson announce "Fall Brawl 2002," an IKF and ISCF sanctioned martial sports event to be held on Saturday, September 21, 2002, in Augusta, Georgia. The event will feature nighttime IKF kickboxing bouts and ISCF mixed martial arts matches. This will follow a daytime shootsparring and grappling tournament. Fall Brawl 2002 will be held in Fort Gordon's Gym One, which has served as a popular and successful venue for numerous martial sports competitions. Elizabeth Carlson is pleased to be able to bring her promotion team back to the home of the U.S. Army Signal Corps, "After September 11, we were unsure about the future use of the venue. But the great folks at the Fort have welcomed us back, and we are excited about coming back and supporting our armed services by putting on our card at Gym One. People can get in and out of the Fort easily, it's safe, and we will be giving a discount to the soldiers coming to the fights. They deserve it!" For information, contact Elizabeth Carlson at Augusta Martial Arts Academy via E-mail at amaa@prodigy.net telephone at (706) 855-5269 or FAX at (706) 855-7119. Bouts are still being matches so those interested in competing should contact Mrs. Carlson "post haste!"
MONDAY,
August 26th, 2002, AT 7:00 PM,
PT
Leo
Wins Title By Decision
While Hudson
Loses His To Hall At
"MAYHEM IN MIDTOWN"
Here are
the Quick Event Results from Georgia Associate Matthew
Waller (Right)
FULL STORY COMING LATER THIS WEEK... From
IKF Event Representative
Brooks Mason.
SUNDAY, August 25th, 2002, AT 7:00 PM, PT
The
LION, Madigan ROARS!
While
Rawlings CHOPS Down Nesbitt!
|
At age 14 Ryan Madigan of Cuyahoga Falls Ohio, USA started karate lessons. At 17 he entered the ring for the first time to compete in his first kickboxing bout. After an impressive amateur career of 18 wins and only 2 loses with 7 wins coming by TKO/KO, Madigan made the move to Pro status. Like many Pro Kickboxers, once there he found the fight offers few, but what opportunities that have come his way, he's made the best of them winning all 3 of his bouts without a loss. Since his phone wasn't ringing off the hook for fight offers, Madigan felt like many pro kickboxers, "If you really want something, sometimes you have to go get it yourself." What he wanted was an IKF Pro Title! So together with his partner Mark Gerberich (With Madigan below right) of Paramount Sports Marketing and his wife Allison (Both at right after Ryan's victory Saturday night) and the Madigan's company, Lion Enterprises, they hosted their first event, FISTS and FEET of FURY. The event was held at the Pinnacle Sports Complex in Akron, Ohio. The complex is a dynamic 70,000 plus square feet indoor soccer stadium. As many first time promotions go the crowd wasn't to capacity but it was full enough to offer plenty of roar for all the bouts. After a full undercard of 9 bouts (See below for reviews and results) of which 2 were exhibitions, it was time for the number 3 Ranked Ryan "The Lion" Madigan show! Madigan's good friend Dan Rawlings had just dismantled well known full contact rules fighter Keith Nesbitt in a single round (See details below) and Madigan was looking to do the same to his opponent, Kevin Hobbs of Phelps, New York. The bout was for the vacant IKF Pro MTR Super Middleweight East Coast Title. Hobbs entered the ring uneventfully (Below Left) with a pro record of 2-1 and an amateur record of 7-3. However when it was time for "The Lion" to enter the ring, he took full advantage of the moment as every fighter in a title match should. The crowd came to their feet as the music started and Madigan took his time as he walked, posed and danced his way with confidence for the hometown crowd to the ring. This kind of showmanship is what we need more in this sport. Once in the ring, the Lion dropped his elaborate fight robe (Another thing all fighters should have.) to unveil a chiselled fighting machine. Once the ring talk by referee Dan Stell was given the bell rang and the action started. Madigan started strong landing several strong kicks to Hobbs' neck. One dropped him (right) and when Hobbs didn't get up quickly (In MuayThai Rules, if a fighter stands quickly after a flash knockdown he isn't given a standing 8 count) referee Dan Stell started his 8 count. Once recovered The Lion went back to work landing several strong combinations as Hobbs failed to answer back with anything of any threat to Madigan. When round 1 came to an end, Referee Dan Stell checked on Hobbs in the corner. After asking him several times, Hobbs came up with the same answer, "No, I can't continue!" As Stell waived his arms to call the bout the hometown crowd went wild as Ryan "The Lion" Madigan became the new IKF Pro MTR Super Middleweight East Coast Champion with a win by TKO! The win puts Madigan in position to strive for yet another level in the MuayThai Super Middleweight division such as a shot at the vacant IKF USA or North American Title. Here's the results of all the nights action below. |
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For more event info, please contact Paramount Sports at (330) 928-5495 or by e-mail by clicking HERE!
Posted AT 9:40 AM, PT
ON
FRIDAY NIGHT...
From
Atlanta...
Leo Takes The Title By Decision At
"MAYHEM IN MIDTOWN"
FULL
STORY
COMING LATER
THIS WEEK...
From IKF Event
Representative Brooks Mason.
THURSDAY, August 22nd, 2002, AT 12:20 AM, PT
THIS
WEEKENDS IKF ACTION...
"MAYHEM IN MIDTOWN"
Copeland Vs
Leo and Hudson Vs
Hall Go For The Brass!
Atlanta Georgia, USA
IKF and ISCF Promoters Sukotai Corp will host yet another exciting event packed with both IKF Kickboxing and ISCF Mixed Martial Arts. This Friday nights event, "MAYHEM IN MIDTOWN", is scheduled at Earthlink Live in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
The main event will be for the vacant IKF Pro Full Contact Rules Super Heavyweight East Coast Title with number 4 ranked Ronnie Copeland (Right) of High Point, North Carolina, USA ( PKB: 21-3/17, AMKB: 10-3-1/2, PBX: 7-1/6, 6'4", 220) Vs number 9 ranked Kelly "The Lion" Leo (Left) of Atlanta Georgia USA (18-5-1, 6', 216)
The semi main event will be an IKF East Coast FCR Title *Defense for well known IKF Fighter *Shannon "TNT" Hudson. Hudson, (Below) of Lyman, South Carolina, USA (9-4/4) made it to the finals of this years 2002 IKF USA National Amateur Tournament but came up short against Kevin Engel of St Louis, Missouri, USA (14-3/8) losing by unanimous decision 29-28, 30-27 & 30-27 in one of the most exciting bouts of the Tournament. He'll be defending his South East Regional title against Steve Hall.
Along with the 2 IKF Title Bouts will be plenty of ISCF Mixed Martial Arts Action and even MORE IKF Kickboxing!
For more info, please contact Sukotai by e-mail at: sukotaiinc@hotmail.com.
MORE
IKF ACTION THIS WEEKEND...
The Lion &
Doc
Meet In Akron, Ohio, USA!
This weekend IKF Promoters Paramount Sports will host some exciting MuayThai action in Akron Ohio, USA! The Main Event will be the quest for the vacant IKF Pro MTR Super Middleweight East Coast Title between number 3 Ranked Ryan "The Lion" Madigan of Akron, Ohio, USA (Pro: 3-0/2, AM: 18-2) and a new fighter to the IKF, Kevin "Doc" Hobbs.
Also on the card will be more Pro MuayThai when number 5 ranked Lightweight Dan "Tanis" Rawlings (Right) of Euclid, Ohio, USA (5-0/2, AM: 16-3/7) takes on IKF number 2 IKF Full Contact Ranked Keith "The Hammer" Nesbitt.
Nesbitt (Left) of Rochester, New York, USA (PRO KB: 27-6/12, AM KB: 28-5, ) has had a lot of full contact style experience so it will be interesting to see how he does in the ring against a well versed Muaythai fighter like Rawlings.
Rawlings is a past winner of the IKF USA National Amateur Tournament. He defeated Chris Brammer of Omaha Nebraska by TKO at 1:56 of round 1 to win the 1999 IKF/RINGSIDE USA MTR Super Lightweight Title.
Also on the card will be the always exciting Ben Yelle of Gwinn, Michigan, USA. Yelle (8-1/1) is the 2002 IKF USA National Amateur MTR: Light Middleweight Champion. Yelle fought 3 bouts at the Nationals this year and in the final he defeated Philip Botha of Atlanta, GA, USA (9-5/4) by split decision 29-28, 29-28 & 28-29. Yelle will face Jeff Coyle of Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, USA in a 3 round Amateur MuayThai bout. There are also 2 Woman's bouts scheduled, Ann Martin of Dayton Ohio vs. Tony Kotkowski of Medina Ohio and Sara Shoup of Athens Ohio vs Melissa Carlson of Mentor Ohio. In addition the card will feature 3 fighters of Iron City Gym of Pittsburgh Pennsylvania ran by Mark "The Shark" Miller. They include Jerry Matthews, Chris Allshouse, and Alex Beck. Rounding out the nights action will be one junior Full Contact Rules Bout with the tough Jason Dent of Griffonrawl gym ran by Danny Rawlings against his 6 foot 3 opponent Ethan Minor of Athens Ohio at 170 lbs.
For more event info, please contact Paramount Sports at (330) 928-5495 or by e-mail by clicking HERE!
WEDNESDAY, August 21st, 2002, AT 9:30 AM, PT
WORLD &
EUROPEAN
CHAMPIONSHIP FIGHT NIGHT
Karen Harding Becomes New
IKF
WOMAN'S WORLD CHAMPION!
Report Written By IKF
Europe
Sunday August 18th,
Reading, England: The build up to the three championship fights
could not have been better. Here's how the nights action unfolded;
From Mr. Alby Bimpson,
IKF European Director:
The
promoter of the show was Andre Mcintyre, who seems to lack communication
skills and diplomacy, as it was only for Ralph Beale that made this show
possible. A special thank you to Ralph Beale for his help and
cooperation from all the IKF Europe Team.
I also feel I should point out that officials and trainers seemed to be looked
down on by certain people, as they seem to think that they have nothing to do
than turn up at shows for the money. When in reality all these people "officials/trainers"
have a history that goes back before the promoters and co-promoters of today
existed, being fighters, trainers, managers and most importantly promoters
themselves. These people understand the difficulties in promoting international
shows and they will do anything in their power to ease the burden on the
promoter. But some promoters of today think they can do everything, which only
concludes in destroying their own reputation and the sport. It is the first time
I have seen a promoter loose control of his mouth and insult the people who have
bent over backwards to help him. Helping him with to name just a few:
I could go on, but I think enough has been said, and I would like to finally say that the "Penny Has Dropped", but up to date we have received no apologies. Once again a special thank you to Ralph Beale. For more info on this event please contact IKF Europe Director Mr. Alby Bimpson at Phone/ Fax: 44 174 473 9043 or by e-mail by clicking HERE!
MORE NEWS OF 8-21-02
MASS DESTRUCTION!
Video Now Available To Help Pay Fight Purses
It was billed to be "The Greatest Night In Kickboxing" and for most part, maybe it was. It headlined in the PPV Viewers Guide as "Mass Destruction" and featured 5 Pro IKF World Titles and 1 Pro IKF U.S. Title and was without a doubt a great night of Kickboxing. Only a few things kept it from being "The Greatest". One of them was the marketing of the event by the promoters. Instead of calling it "KICKBOXING" and featuring WHO was fighting on the event, in the PPV schedule they elected to just call it "Mass Destruction" instead. Of course, few knew what Mass Destruction was and the PPV numbers were terrible, (as has been with nearly every Kickboxing PPV event in the history of the sport due to poor marketing & advertising)
However, the balls dropped with other people on this event as well such as the Viewers Choice PPV People themselves who somehow failed to place all the "Photo" ads into the PPV Viewers Guide the week of the event. Their response... a simple "Sorry..." This of course didn't help in the viewership numbers either. However, Mass Destruction will best be remembered for just one thing. Not the titles won or the fighters on it but the failure of the Promoters to fulfill the their financial obligations in paying the fighters purses. It marked a changing point in the IKF where now we demand ALL Pro Fighter Purses to be paid directly to the IKF BEFORE the Fight starts or to the overseeing State Athletic Commission.
The idea for this event had come from 2 people (No need to mention who they were in this story.) but as the date drew closer, one of the main partners pulled out of the event taking much needed funds with him. Enter a man named Phil Malonson who didn't know anything about the sport of kickboxing let alone who fighters like Rick Roufus or Don Wilson were. Malonson was asked to step in prior to the other partner leaving as a financial backer for the event. Malonson had put in a lot of money prior to fight time which included paying out the highest fight purse in kickboxing history, $150,000.00 to Don Wilson. Malonson (who we stress, knew nothing of the promotional business before this event) was told by his associates that the event ticket sales that night would provide the money needed to pay all the remaining event purses (Remaining purse amounts vary from verification between $150,000.00 to over $200,000.00) and the million or so he would make off the PPV would pay him back and pay all the other event expenses as well. However in the end, Malonson was left with only a few thousand dollars which he paid out to a couple of fighters and a major debt.
Since the event, Malonson has been working with the IKF to create a way to make good on all those fight purses. Everyone else involved with the event has jumped ship, leaving Malonson as the only one to pay all the event debts. Unlike the others involved, Malonson's been in constant contact with the IKF ever since the event.
A little over a year ago Malonson teamed up with Victor Theriault (Seen interviewing Rick Roufus at left and Don Wilson at Right) of Vic Theriault Productions in Canada. Theriault was an essential part of Mass Destruction being in the right place at the right time. The day of Production, the PPV Production Coordinator quit on the spot. Because of this, instead of being a part of the "On Air" commentating crew for part of the event as well as doing other scheduled IKF duties, IKF President Steve Fossum instead had to team up with the remaining PPV Production crew in getting several pre-event projects completed such as fighters names and stats for the on air graphics, camera positioning, audio placement checks and a host of other things. When Fossum saw Theriault at the event (Knowing him from a previous event) he asked him if he could be their "On Air" interviewer which he agreed to do. Theriault matched up well and made a dual Theriault team as his World Kickboxing Champion brother Jean-Yves Theriault was teamed up with lead commentator Phil Stone at Ringside.
When Theriault and Malonson got together the two put together a finished product video of the event. Last year it went into release in Canada and just recently, the video has been put on the USA Market. "The proceeds of the video will go into paying all the fighters back." said Malonson in a phone interview today. "I'm the only one left here who's still trying to make good on this event."
The video features 4 of the 5 IKF
Pro World Titles
Rick Roufus Vs Stan Longinidis
Don
Wilson Vs
Dick Kimber
Mike Labree Vs Kevin Rosier
and Paul
Biafore Vs Bernard Robinson
and
as an extra bonus, it also includes
Jean-Yves
Theriault vs Reed.
The final production is 118 minutes of kickboxing action and
at
ONLY $8.49 for
VHS and $12.99 DVD
You can't beat
the price for the action!
To order the video go to the Lions Gate site by clicking
HERE
Or call 1 866 397-9455.
The IKF does Not Receive Any Portion of Fees from the sales of this video.
MONDAY, August 19th 2002, AT 7:00 PM, PT
Girl Gets A Kick Out of Sport!
By JEFF KOLKEY
The Northwest Herald:
Sarah Ross rips a jab-cross-hook combination into her trainer's
punch mitts. A distinct crack accompanies the impact of each blow as she
circles the Carpentersville (Illinois, USA) gym's ring. The 11-year-old
Algonquin (Illinois) girl lands a head-high roundhouse kick with
surprising force for a 105-pounder. She prefers straight punches to looping
ones, and the results speak for her.
Ross is the reigning International Kickboxing
Federation junior girls light atomweight champion after recently
winning an amateur national tournament in Iowa.
It was her official kickboxing debut. "Actually, we probably have one of the toughest 11-year-old girls on the planet," said Rob Zbilski, Ross' trainer and owner of Z's Martial Arts Academy. "She is really exceptional. She is really the cream of the crop of our students." Chatting with fellow students, Ross looks like a pretty girl with braces. It is hard to imagine her as a pugilist. But then she straps on the headgear, pulls on the gloves and steps into the ring. She is all business.
Her well-defined shoulder muscles look big for her frame. She moves with athletic ease, and as she snaps her punches, there is no doubt that she is ready for a fight. Her father, Bill Ross, a former martial-arts student, signed his daughter up for karate lessons at Zbilski's Lake in the Hills school about four years ago. "You can put any kid in it (the martial arts), and they will progress at their own rate," he said. "Even if a kid doesn't have physical skills, martial arts is still a place for that kid because they are not forced to perform at a certain level in order to keep performing. But we never envisioned kickboxing for her. She loved the contact, and that is how she happened to evolve toward it. If you've got it, why not go for it?" Bill Ross said.
He said the more she point-sparred, the more it became apparent that she thrived on the harder contact for which kickboxing is known. "It's fun," Sarah Ross said. "I like a lot of contact. I think it's a test of my abilities." She appears to be a natural. Trainers are hard-pressed to force even professional boxers to consistently perform some nuances in the ring that she has learned during the past year of kickboxing training and three years of karate. Ross sits down on her punches, turning her hips and placing her body weight behind each blow. Her jabs look sharp. She holds her hands high for protection and where they are ready to unleash punches of her own. Her kicks have good form, and they land with power.
"She is ahead of her time," said Ross' mother, Sharon. "She has fun, and she drives herself. We've never had to drag her. While most kids are home waiting for the ice-cream truck, she is here working out. She is not in the sport to hurt somebody. It is not to be a bully. This is a sport. She is there to score points and go home with a belt." The Algonquin girl beat two 12-year-old girls during the National IKF tournament in Iowa to earn her title. "The first one was a pretty easy, but the second was pretty tough," Sarah Ross said. Before fight time, Ross spotted her first opponent in an elevator. The Dixon girl's baseball cap was on backward, and her hair was cut short. She looked like a rugged opponent, and she intimidated Ross. But Ross turned her fear into an advantage. She outclassed the girl from Dixon and scored a technical knockout in about 45 seconds. She backed the girl into the ropes and threw repeated left jab-right cross combinations, prompting the referee to stop the fight.
"I just have a lot of strength," Ross said. "She kept going up on the ropes, so I kept hitting her with straight punches. A few did the job. (Being intimidated) gave me energy to go harder." Her title fight was no cakewalk. Ross faced Brittany Anic, the 101-pound Pacific, Missouri, USA., girl who won the 2001 IKF National junior girls tournament in the light heavyweight class. She had a 6-1 record with six knockouts before the fight. Ross' camp thought she was a true threat. Anic is known for her aggression and experience not only in kickboxing, but also in amateur boxing. "Sarah was the aggressor, though," Bill Ross said. Ross won a unanimous decision after the match went the full three, 1 1/2 -minute rounds. She used her 3-inch height advantage and love of straight punches to control the action.
"I just go in, and I brawl," Ross said. "I got clocked a few times with some pretty good punches. I just did whatever I could to get her back." Bill Ross said Sarah kept her opponent at bay with well-placed front and side kicks while keeping the hooks and haymakers to a minimum. "Sarah kicks like a horse, and she took it," Bill Ross said. "So she was pretty tough, too." The Rosses have at times worried about their daughter taking part in full-contact tournaments. Bill Ross said he saw a boy land a hard kick to his daughter's stomach during training. The incident left him pondering her future in kickboxing for days afterward. "I talked to her and asked her if she wanted to continue," Bill Ross said. "I told her that maybe this is not what we got into. She never looked back. She took it and shrugged it off. At this age level and with the equipment, it is sufficient. I realize with 16-year-old boys those guys have some contact going on. Right now, the protection is adequate."
If she continues to train with this intensity, Zbilski said she could achieve the highest honors in the sport and perhaps become a professional kickboxer or boxer. Inside the ring, Ross displays a single-minded determination to win. "I haven't been hurt yet," Ross said. "I don't really get hurt, no matter what. In the ring, I know what I have to do, and I'll do it. I just go in there and get all the points I can."
Special Thanks to Mr. Jeff Kolkey of the
Northwest Herald
Newspapers For This Article on Miss Ross.
Crystal Lake,
Illinois, (815) 459-4040, Subscription (815) 459-8118 or (800) 589-9363
MORE NEWS OF 8-19-02
BELOW POSTED AT 10:00 AM, PT
Karen Harding Becomes New
IKF
WOMAN'S WORLD CHAMPION!
Report
Written By IKF Headquarters (USA) News Staff
The latest news from England is that England fighter Karen Harding (At Right in a win earlier this year) has defeated Gulzara Azizova of Kazakhstan to win the vacant IKF Woman's MuayThai Rules Bantamweight (120.1 - 124 Lbs. or 54.6 Kg - 56.3 Kg) WORLD Title. No details yet on the win but a full report is due to follow later in the week.
Now that Harding has won, the question asked by many who have been watching the Woman's Kickboxing scene is "Why wasn't she matched up against 3 Time IKF World Champion Holly Ferneley of Australia?"
Of course it's not Harding's call as we all know, (Matchmaking) but the question is still there.
Ferneley (Left) has made it clear that she would fight any woman anywhere at any time. She holds the IKF Bantamweight (120.1 lbs. - 124 lbs. 54.6 kg - 56.4 kg) World titles in both Full Contact Rules and International Rules and also holds the IKF Featherweight (124.1 lbs. - 128 lbs. 56.5 kg - 58.2 kg) MuayThai Rules World Title.
REVISED 8-21-02: According to Ferneley's trainer Robert Wilesmith, they WERE contacted for the Harding match but the promoters never booked her. WHY they bypast Ferneley is still unknown and even IKF Headquarters would like to know. As many have already said, this fight needs to happen to determine who truly is the best female fighter at and around this weightclass.
Harding becomes only the 3rd woman to ever win an IKF Pro World Title. We'll see what the future brings for a Harding Vs Ferneley match-up and we'll keep you posted as well.
Also on the same event, the new IKF Pro European Super Welterweight MuayThai Rules Champion is Steve Wakeling of London England who defeated Junior Herbert of Bedford England and in the special IKF MuayThai Rules European Eliminator bout at 52kg, Kamal Suvazov of Kazakhstan defeated Paulo Silver of Crowley England to be put forward as one of the top contenders for the IKF --- European Title held currently by Imaran Shah.
A full event report is soon to follow. For more info on this event please contact IKF Europe Director Mr. Alby Bimpson at Phone/ Fax: 44 174 473 9043 or by e-mail by clicking HERE!
The only other IKF Pro Woman's World Champion was Ramona Gatto (Right). Gatto was the first fighter ever (Man or Woman) to win any IKF World Title when she KO'ed Debbie Page of Albq, New Mexico, USA in Honolulu Hawaii, USA on October 16th, 1992. She later successfully defended the title when she defeated Lapin Padilla of Albq. New Mexico, USA by TKO in the 9th round at Win-River Casino in Redding, CA, USA on February 18th, 1995. Gatto won a total of 3 IKF World Titles between 1992 and 1995, 9 World Titles overall if you count all the other organizations. However after a controversial loss to Olga Vlasour of Russia on May 13th, 1995 in San Jose, California, USA, she never fought again. Although the IKF reversed the obvious fixed match (The IKF had no judges on the bout which was co-sanctioned. This bout established some firm rules about IKF world Titles and the co-sanctioning of any IKF Event.) she still was devastated from the public embarrassment of the terrible decision. To read the full story of this bout "Ramona Gatto... The Breaking Of A Champion!" click HERE. In the end, Gatto made her retirement official in January of 2001.
MORE
NEWS OF 8-19-02
IKF NORTH
AMERICAN
AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP TOURNAMENT
OK Canada and Mexico, now is your chance to "Walk The Walk" and "Bring It ON!" You along with the top 2, 2002 IKF USA National Amateur Tournament contenders are invited to register to "Walk The Walk" at the first annual 2002 IKF North American Amateur Championship Tournament has tentatively been set for November 16th in South Carolina. This "First" Tournament will be for Full Contact Rules only. The Tournament date for International and MuayThai Rules is soon to be set as well so keep close watch here on the news page. Many have been asking how these tournaments will work so here's the basic rundown...
We will be posting more info on this event in the days to come. If any additional questions, please e-mail the IKF at Main@IKFKickboxing.com
MORE
NEWS OF 8-19-02
SEPTEMBER 11th...
September 11, 2002
is soon
approaching. On that day, please wear red, white and blue to work or school to
show your support for those who lost their lives on 9~11~01 and to honor the
heroes who worked to save them and the families left behind. At noon your time
on September 11, 2002, no matter where you are or what you are doing, stop, put
your hand on your heart, and say the Pledge of Allegiance out loud or to
yourself, remembering to include
"One Nation Under God,"
and say a prayer for our nation.
If all of us do this together
in every time zone around the world, we will have a powerful chain of thoughts
surrounding us. Please keep this going to your friends and family.
By September 11, 2002 hopefully enough people will have read
this and will join together in unity.
God Bless the U.S.A.
SUNDAY, August 18th 2002, AT 4:00 PM, PT
THE ROXY RAGED
AT
INAUGURAL CARD
IKF/ISCF
South/East News Source
Carney Wins Rematch with Miller as
Ortiz Looks On
Khunpon Successful in first Bout in Years
Atlanta, Georgia,
USA
It wasn't just the Roxy in Atlanta that rocked on
Friday, August 16, 2002, it was the IKF
Kickboxing and
ISCF
mixed martial arts action that took center stage. First time promoters Mimi
Sancho and Sherri Thompson brought martial sports action to the
epicenter of "the Big A's," upscale nightlife, and all in attendance
seemed to appreciate their efforts.
The IKF and ISCF Southeastern team was in full force and effect to support the event. Mike and Elizabeth Carlson were present in ISCF and IKF representative capacities. Legendary trainer Gary Brown served as Kickboxing and MuayThai referee. ISCF US Champion Cam McHargue was the "third man in the ring" for the ISCF bout of the night. Veteran MMA stand out George Allen judged, along with martial sports scribe and parliamentarian Cal Cooper. Rounding out the judges' tables was Athens based fight enthusiast Tripp Owings.
This was just the start. Noteworthy martial sports figures from the Southeast and beyond, too many to mention, were everywhere at the venue. A few include the following. ISCF ECUS Champion Steve Headden was present, along with in the ring MMA rivals Kevin Brooks and Kent Hensley. LA Boxing's Chris Stolzman, who was a catalyst for the successful event, was busily volunteering his time and support for the promoters, fighters and the IKF/ISCF. Trainer Dennis Palmer lent his "golden throat" to the singing of the National Anthem. UFC champion, Tito Ortiz was at the Roxy, and cornered his fighter Jason Miller. ISCF and IKF promoter Matthew "Mr. Shush" Waller was, as always, "in the house," and lending numerous hands to the effort. Up and coming heavyweight FCR kickboxer, Mark Selbee, was also in attendance, pulling for various members of the LA Boxing fight team. "Word on the street" is that Selbee and his handlers are focusing their fighter's efforts towards a possible fight with IKF US Heavyweight Champion, Kevin "Hurricane" Hudson. Stay tuned to the IKF News Page for more on this story as it develops!
Once the action started, the enthusiastic crowd got more than its money's worth. Here is a brief overview of those bouts.
For more event info please contact K.A. Productions, Inc. Mimi Sancho at (404) 245-0799 or Ms Sherri Thompson at (404) 843-0079 or by e-mail by clicking HERE!
MORE NEWS OF 8-18-02
IKFKickboxing.com
Records
Best Internet Rating Yet!
It's no surprise the IKF website today recorded it's highest Internet Rating to date with a new record of 110,994 among the Millions of Internet Web Sites.
These are not "Hits". This is a ranking among the millions of world wide web sites. Like in Golf, the lower the number, the better the rating. For example, Yahoo.com is the number 1 rated site in the world. The rating is confirmed by the world's only independent Web Tracking service, Alexa.com. Two weeks ago, the site set a major record two days after this years 2002 IKF USA National Amateur Championships. On august 6th, 2002 the site received 100,177 Hits. For a comparison example as to where the IKF web site ranks among other sanctioning bodies, the closest two competitors as of today, August 18th, 2002 are the ISKA at 426,005, the USMTA at 483,019. Other organizations rank even far lower on the scale such as since the IKF started tracking the site back in April of this year, there has never been any Sanctioning body site within 300,000 ranks of the IKF Site.
Other Fight related sights will give you even a better idea of how much more popular the IKF web site is around the world. Some of these include;
How does the IKF site compare to sites like the NFL, NBA, Chuck Norris or Bill Wallace? See for yourself by going to our Fight Site Tracker page by clicking HERE. Or check out these sites for yourself by going to Alexa.com Remember, the lower the number, the higher the site traffic rating...
MORE NEWS OF
8-18-02
Michael McDonald
Wins
Another K-1 Trophy!
Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
He's been an IKF Favorite ever since
we saw him lose out in a decision against Maurice Smith that we thought
he won on last years May, K-1
in Las Vegas However now, after attaining his second straight K-1 Las
Vegas Trophy,
Michael
McDonald (Right with K-1 Promoter Scott Coker)
seems to be
everyone's favorite.
McDonald
took home his second Las Vegas K-1 Trophy last night when
he defeated Pavel Majer, who had
won his way here by winning the Czech Grand Prix Tournament.
Majer stepped directly into the heel of one of
McDonald's
front kicks landed on his neck. As McDonald (Trained by
Vincent Jauncey
out of Surrey, British Columbia, Canada) prepared to advance, Majer
turned and indicated to the referee that he was done. The win earned
McDonald
a trip to Saitama, Japan for the October 5 second stage of the semifinals, where
the 2002 final eight will be decided.
On one of the undercard bouts of the night, it was made clear that Vegas is not a lucky place for former IKF Pro MuayThai Super Heavyweight World Champion Duke Roufus. Roufus was back in the ring against unknown Martin Eastman. However, after this bout, many wondered who he is. Eastman unleashed a wild jumping knee attack on Roufus and put him down for the count in the third round. It was a surprise ending to what was looking like an exciting bout. In the bout, Roufus re-injured his ankle again which now puts question into his fight future.
REVISED 8-21-02: Since returning to the ring after a previous retirement Roufus has had 5 fights. At the May 2001 K-1 in Las Vegas Roufus soundly defeated Tomas Kucharcski who he defeated by TKO in the first round in the opening round of match-ups but lost to Michael McDonald 29.5 to 28, 30 to 28 and 29.5 to 28.5 in the second round. due to other fighters dropping out due to injuries, Roufus was selected to fight in the August 2001 K-1. Although he accepted the opportunity, the sad fact was that he didn't have much time to prepare, being asked to fill the card only weeks prior to the event. It showed when he lost his opening round bout to eventual champion, Stephan Leko who dropped him with an uppercut winning at 2:34 of the 2nd round. The next month (September of 2001) in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, he fought and defeated Pedro Fernandez when Fernandez didn't answer the bell after the break between rounds 3 and 4. Due to injuries, Roufus was unable to fight in the May 2002 K-1 in Las Vegas but was secected as an undercard bout at the August event where he fought Easman
Despite the loss, Roufus is scheduled to fight for another organizations World title in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in October against another fighter who has seen little K-1 success, Paul Lalonde of Canada. In his defense, LaLonde "SHOULD" be that other organizations World Champion right now. Lalonde had fought former retired Champion Jean Claude Leuyer in San Jose, CA, USA earlier this year and had Leuyer against the ropes ready to go. He had already beaten Leuyer in a previous match-up at K-1 and this one looked to have the same outcome. However, Leuyer's corner brought him back to life after the 3rd round by using smelling salts (Illegal to use in the ring). The revived Leuyer came back and defeated Lelonde. Although the container was found by the California State Athletic Commission and they disqualified Leuyer, the sanctioning organization ruled the bout a No Contest... (Memories of the Alexio Vs Longinidis decision come to mind which these guys did as well) After the bout, Leuyer retired, making the title vacant for Roufus and LaLande to fight for. It would be great to see the winner matched up later against the IKF Pro MuayThai Super Heavyweight World Champion Matt Skelton of England in October, but who knows what the future may bring.
ADDITION ADDED ON 8-21-02:
According
to an E-mail sent from the Team Roufus Camp
today, this World Title bout will not happen now due to the loss to Eastman
as well as Roufus re-injuring his ankle.
FRIDAY, August 16th 2002, AT 10:15 AM, PT
This
Weekends
IKF Action...
IKF
&
ISCF
In Atlanta Georgia USA!
Tonight, August 16th, the IKF will welcome yet another new Event Promoter to the IKF Team. K.A. Productions, Inc. (KAP) headed by Ms Mimi Sancho and Ms Sherri Thompson will present their first IKF and ISCF Sanctioned event in at the "ROXY" in Atlanta, Georgia. This will be KAP's first try at promoting kickboxing and Mixed Martial Arts. They will join other successful IKF Georgia promoters such as the The Carlson's, Valdosta Martial Arts, Sukotai and Gauntlet Productions just to name a few.
Although there will be plenty of exciting IKF Kickboxing action on the event the main event will feature a special ISCF (International Sport Combat Federation) Pro bout between Jason Miller who now lives in Hunnington Beach, CA, USA Vs Todd Carney of Moundsville, West Virginia. Although no titles will be on the line tonight there's sure to be plenty of exciting action. For more event info please contact K.A. Productions, Inc. Mimi Sancho at (404) 245-0799 or Ms Sherri Thompson at (404) 843-0079 or by e-mail by clicking HERE! The IKF & ISCF Event Representatives for this event will be Mike & Elizabeth Carlson. The IKF event Referees will be Gary Brown and Scott Hicks. The ISCF event Referee Cam McCargue.
MORE
NEWS OF 8-16-02
IKF
WOMAN'S WORLD
TITLE Up For The Taking In
England!
This Sunday night, August 18th in Reading England two European Women will face off in the ring for the vacant IKF Woman's MTR Bantamweight (120.1 - 124 Lbs. or 54.6 Kg - 56.3 Kg) World Title. Well known England fighter Karen Harding (Left) of England will meet Gulzara Azizova of Kazakhstan in what will be a thrilling 5 round MuayThai War between 2 exciting women fighters. As an amateur Azizova won a European version of an Amateur World Title from another organization which was followed by winning an Asian Thai boxing Title. she currently has a "PRO" fight record of 5 wins and 1 loss.
Yulia Khalturina of Kaliningrad, Russia is the current IKF European Champion at the Bantamweight class however after several repeated attempts to contact her trainer Youri Belousov by IKF Europe Director Mr. Alby Bimpson (Left) the IKF Europe division was forced to bypass her when Harding challenged for the vacant World Title.
On the same event will be a special European title eliminator bout with the winner to fight for the title held by Imaran Shah (10-1) of London, England in October. Kamal Suvazov (8-2) of Kazakhstan will face off against Paulo Silver (6-3) of Crowley England. Silver already had his shot at Shah when he lost the bout and the chance to win the vacant title. If he wins Sunday we may see a rematch of the two again unless someone else steps in the picture.
There are others that come to mind here too. All 3 in mind are all from Belarus and trained by Evgeny Kotelnikov (Left) who already has 3 Great IKF Champions, IKF MTR Intercontinental Welterweight and Super Welterweight MTR World Champion Dmitry Shakuta, IKF Pro MTR Lightweight World Champion Visily "Torrero" Shish and IKF Pro MTR Intercontinental Champion, Alexey "The Diamond" Pekarchik. The 3 Atomweight (117 or 53 kg & Below) contenders include fighters Georgy Beradze (31-6/8), Dmitry Koren (25-6) and Sergey Tsibulski (38-6/8). All 3 have impressive records and if they are anything like Kotelnikov's current three IKF Champions, we'd like to see them as top contenders for the vacant IKF MTR Atomweight World Title.
Suvazov is no second rate fighter though so don't let his 10 fight record fool you. He was a runner-up for the Thai boxing world amateur championship and he recently won the 2002 Prince Cup in Thailand. However, he may be short of the needed PRO Experience to go for a European let alone an IKF World Title.
Also on the Sunday card will be the quest for the vacant IKF MTR European Super Welterweight (147.1 lbs. - 153 lbs. or 66.9 Kg - 69.5 Kg) Title. Number 4 IKF Ranked Steve Wakeling of London England (8-1) has won plenty of other organizations titles as an amateur and pro but this will be his first shot at an IKF Title when he takes on Junior Herbert of Bedford England with an overall kickboxing record of 13-9. Obviously the question comes up if the record of the number 6 IKF Ranked Herbert is valid for a Pro Continental Title? His proven ability over has last several fights has brought him to be such a contender, as per example, his rank among the European fighters in this weightclass.
There has been a lot of problems with opponents falling out on this event as well as problems attaining fighters Visa's. Something many promoters are having difficulty with around the World since the tragic September 11th terrorist attack in the USA. The promoters of the September 28th, Butler Pennsylvania, USA Event are having the same problem. The challenger Jimmy Stewart of Butler, PA, USA is of course ready and waiting for his shot at the IKF Super Welterweight World Title. However getting the Champion Vladimir Avtamonov over to the USA from Omsk, Siberia, Russia to face him has not been a cakewalk. Still at this moment the Visa's for Avtamonov and his team have yet to be approved.
For more info on this Sunday's England event please contact IKF Europe Director Mr. Alby Bimpson at Phone/ Fax: 44 174 473 9043 or by e-mail by clicking HERE!
MORE
NEWS OF 8-16-02
New WebSite For K-1
Star
Mike McDonald!
In this sport, MARKETING is EVERYTHING! The associates of K-1 Star Michael McDonald (Right) went all out on a GREAT WEB SITE for him! Lots of GREAT Pictures both in and out of the ring, full bio, history, press-kit, media info, booking info. You name it, the McDonald Team thought of it!
This is a site EVERY fighter who
is as serious about his or her career as Mr. McDonald is should have...
Get busy everyone...
It's time to step up to the plate
and "MARKET" Yourself!
Check it out at www.blacksniper.com
THURSDAY, August 15th 2002, AT 10:15 AM, PT
Finney's
St. Louis RESULTS!
August 6th, 2002
After winning 42002 IKF USA National Titles from their 6 fighters at the 2002 IKF USA National Amateur Championships the Finney Kickboxing Team stepped back into the ring to host another Exciting Kickboxing event only 2 days after the National Amateur Championships. IKF Promoter and trainer Jesse Finney and his Finney Kickboxing Team featured more amateur kickboxing at Lucky's Nightclub On The Landing in St. Louis, Missouri, USA. This event was obviously harder to get fighters due to the National Tournament. However the crowd was about the same as previous "Tuesday Night Fights" that Finney's promote.
Here's the nights results;
For more event info, please contact Mr. Jesse Finney at (314) 351-5226 or by e-mail at finneys@finneyskickboxing.com or see their website at...
WEDNESDAY, August 14th 2002, AT 12:10 PM, PT
Bartanalli
World Title Defense Is OFF!
It's breaking news so we're posting it as soon as possible. About an hour ago the IKF was informed that IKF Pro Light Middleweight World Champion Anthony Bartanalli (Right) of Phoenix Arizona, USA will not be able to defend his World Title against challenger Larry Jarrett of Bradenton, Florida, USA at the end of this month at the Win-River Casino in Redding, CA, USA. (August 31st).
According to Bartanalli's trainer, Anthony was hit by a drunk driver about a week ago. Although he is out of the hospital, the doctor's won't release him for the fight due to injuries he sustained during the accident. This late notice now leaves promoters scrambling to try and find a replacement for Jarrett so he can at least make it to California for a fight. Although the World Title won't be up for grabs, there may be another title available for him. We'll keep you posted on this as more info comes in.
MORE
NEWS OF 8-14-02
SAN
SHOU WORLD TITLE
OTT
Vs MARINOBLE!
On the same card as above, at the Win-River Casino in Redding, CA, USA (August 31st) IKF Pro Middleweight World Champion Dave Marinoble (Left) will venture into unchartered territory as he walks into his first San Shou match of his life to challenge #1 contender Rudy Ott (Right) for the vacant IKF Pro San Shou Middleweight World Title. "A fighter who NEVER fought San Shou is fighting for a WORLD TITLE??? Yes, we too had our doubts of this however, as many know, San Shou opponents are not easy to come by as proven in many past San Shou Title Bouts of the past.
Marinoble was selected for 2 reasons, 1: Because he actually made the call to the IKF asking for the shot against Ott and 2: Because of his background in Both Sport JuJitsu and Mixed Martial Arts, not to mention his impressive undefeated kickboxing record and holder of 2 IKF Pro titles (IKF Super Middleweight FCR North American and IKF World FCR Middleweight Title).
Marinoble's background is as equal to if not more than past San Shou title contender Shoni Carter of Chicago, Illinois, USA who lost his quest to an IKF San Shou World Title to IKF World Champion Cung Le (Below Right) back on December 15th, 2001 in San Jose California, USA. Carter's throwing background, if any, came from mixed martial arts as a UFC fighter. However he never even came close to throwing Le in their bout which was due in part to Le's greatness as a San Shou fighter as well as Carter's lack of skill in San Shou style fighting.
Originally Ott was to fight a fighter from Russia, however after a background check was done the IKF discovered the challenger only had 1 Pro fight and had no experience in any throwing styles at all. More information was asked to be sent to the IKF by his trainer but as the weeks went by, nothing was ever received.
The outcome between Marinoble and Ott is really unknown to all of us. However on paper, it's clear Ott will have the obvious advantage. We say this because everything Marinoble is good at, Ott will be able to counter with his throwing skills. If we were Marinoble's manager, we'd tell him not to take the fight, but it was Marinoble who approached the IKF "asking" for the fight, the IKF didn't ask him. The promoters of the event were surprised Marinoble stepped up as well. As a Full Contact Rules World Champion with an undefeated record he has only his ego to lose. A win will surprise many but a loss may never be questioned since he's venturing into an unchartered style for him. Some may call him brave while others will call him crazy. On the other side of the ring though, of Ott wins, some may question his opponent and his skill as a San Shou fighter. If he loses, Ott will be questioned even more. However the fact is, Ott is an "Excellent" San Shou fighter and whether it's Marinoble in the ring with him or anyone else, Ott will come to fight as well as put on a SHOW!
One thing to question is if Marinoble is not realizing Ott's skill level as a San Shou fighter? We've seen Ott improve tremendously over the last few years and there's no question he's "THE" top contender for this World Title in the minds of the IKF! If Marinoble is overlooking his skill, Ott may give Marinoble a lesson in San Shou he will never forget, and Ott has the ability to do it. But who knows what Marinoble (Ring name, The Madman) will come to the ring with. He may have just enough knowledge and skill in throwing and defense of throwing to hang with Ott. If so, we're sure to see a war. If not, it may be a wake-up call for any other fighter who is so eager and ready to change rule styles in the future just to get a fight. Whatever happens, a precedence will be set from it...
MORE
NEWS OF 8-14-02
POSTED AT 11:30 PM, PT
Delayed Post...
"Butler's
Stewart Wins 10 Round Battle!
IKF Sanctioned Butler Pennsylvania, USA - July 20th,
2002
JOHN ENRIETTO Eagle Sports Editor - BUTLER TWP
Jimmy Stewart (Right) says his time is now. And his timing was right Saturday night, July 20th, 2002. Stewart held off a hard-charging Bernard "Swiftkick" Robinson (Right) to win a 10 round unanimous decision at Skate Castle and improve his professional kickboxing record to 15-0 with 9 KO's. Stewart controlled the first five rounds of the fight by keeping Robinson against the ropes and landing combinations of punches. "I had to keep him on the ropes," Stewart said. "He has that nickname for a reason. Bernard is a deadly kicker and I had to cut down on the space between us." In the final three rounds, Robinson opened up and had Stewart on the defensive. Just before the end of the final round, he drove Stewart into the ropes by landing a combination, then got off a kick to the face. The bell sounded as Stewart bounced off the ropes. Neither fighter scored a knockdown in the bout. "Believe me, I was concerned." Stewart said. "I couldn't get the angle on him and he was getting the angle on me. I was aware the entire fight that he could take me out with one connected kick. Mr. Robinson came here to compete and so did I. It was a great fight, an entertaining fight. I have the utmost respect for him. I'm glad it ended when it did. He was coming on, picking up momentum. The same thing happened in our last fight." Stewart added. Stewart won a decision over Robinson in a 10 round bout last year as well. Saturday's loss dropped Robinson to 47-9 overall. He has 31 knockouts. Robinson said he will not fight Stewart a third time. The judge's scorecards were 96-94, 98-92, 98-92 for Stewart. "The decision was fair. I wasn't busy enough in this fight," Robinson said. "I got started too late. He did a good job of keeping me along the ropes in the first few rounds. I moved up to middleweight for this fight. It was tough. That and the heat in the building tonight I thought we'd be fighting in an air-conditioned arena. These conditions were rough, but we slugged it out." said Robinson. "It felt like it was 110 degrees in there," Stewart admitted. Robinson plans to move back down to welterweight for his next few fights. "I can dominate there," he said. "But if this fight had gone another two rounds, I think I had him." On the under-card Saturday, Chris Hill of Butler improved his amateur record to 16-2 with a three-round unanimous decision over Chris Fisher of Meadville. Hill,16, has been an amateur kickboxer for five years. "I want to turn pro after another year and get to work on being a world champion like Mr. Jimmy Stewart," Hill said. Hill said he's dedicating all of his victories to his best friend, Adam Parkes, who drowned at Lake Arthur June 20. "Adam used to come to my fights and his memory motivates me even more," Hill said. In the other under-card bouts:
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MORE
NEWS OF 8-14-02
"The Beast"
Wins
AGAIN!
Submitted
by Outside Source to the IKF
On July 27th, former 2001 IKF USA National Amateur MTR Super Heavyweight Champion Carter "The Beast" Williams (Right) once again amazed onlookers with his skills as he entered a tournament style event in Columbia, South Carolina. With the likes of Jeff "The Big Diesel" Ford (Undefeated UFC, K-1 Veteran and Pro Boxer), Kurt Hasley (2000 IKF USA National Amateur IR Super Heavyweight Champion), Ramaz Kikalishvili and 4 local qualifiers this looked to be quite a show. But alas some things are to good to be true ... The 4 local guys had problems with blood work papers and the commission would not let them fight, so the promoter changed the venue to a 4 man single elimination tournament with 5x2 min rounds.
With $5000.00 first prize on the line these guys were hungry. The first fight was Ford Vs Hasley which was a battle from beginning till the end, with Hasley refusing to come out in the 5th. Williams and Kikalishvili went to it right at the start, apparently the Russian thought he could handle Williams well placed killer kicks to the legs but instead, was dropped in the second losing by TKO, from a leg kick. Now it was down to The Diesel and The Beast and the action was totally amazing. A strong 5 rounds of action from 2 great Super Heavyweights giving the folks in South Carolina a great show. Toe to toe for 5 intensely hot rounds with Williams taking a unanimous decision and the $5000.00 cash victory. Having increased his endurance and skills and trimming down to 240 lbs has brought Williams into a string of victories since his so-so August 2001 showing in a K-1 appearance as an undercard bout. His last appearance on an IKF event was in February of this year which was a K-1 Qualifier event.
TUESDAY, August 13th 2002, AT 5:40 PM, PT
Looking Back... | ||
Now that I have a moment, I'd like to look back with all of
you who attended this years This year, the addition of 3 Tanita Scales helped speed the weigh-ins as compared to last years "1 Scale" line. Adding to this was the longer 7 hour weigh-in/registration time (12 noon - 7:PM) as compared to the 2 hour time frame of last year (5:PM-7:PM). Although this helped speed things up, our addition of event badges/passes added a new challenge to the waiting of registration. Since not everyone provided a picture for their event passes/badges when they mailed in their registration, the picture taking and laminating of the badges brought the registration process to an unexpected slow crawl... To improve this we discussed having more cameras and laminators for next year. This of course would help, but the foundation of this problem was not having all the pictures ahead of time so they would already be done when each fighter and trainer arrives. This will be a mandatory requirement for next years registration, to have every fighter and trainer/cornerman include a picture with their nationals registration. The other thing that took too long were the physicals. A misunderstanding between our local contact as far as "When" we needed the nurses to do the physicals left us with 3 nurses less than we expected. This was an error that was out of our control but with the addition of the associates at the event that had medical training, we were able to speed this up a bit. One thing that came up with many trainers was the providing of cornerman passes to pretty much anyone who stood in the line to buy one. A lot of passes/badges were sold for the $5 cornerman fee to people who knew nothing about working corners let alone training fighters. These were sold to some of the fighters children, family and friends. Because of this, the fee structure will be changed for next year and as previously stated, "ALL" trainers and cornermen will be required to "Pre Register" before they come to the Nationals. This way we will be able to check out who these trainers are before we issue them a cornermans badge/pass. With their registration will be their picture which will avoid the 25 mile line the trainers had to stay in awaiting their event passes/badges as well... We're still learning, but we are improving. As in the previous 3 years of the Tournament, Ringside Inc. has sponsored this event by provided some great awards for the Champions. This year they once again gave away medals to the second place finishers and to the Champions, a pair of Autograph Gloves with the Tournament Logo on them and IKF "Bring It ON!" Jackets. They also supplied us with all the fight gloves as well and the IKF Officials Shirts for the event. In addition, they provided the IKF/RINGSIDE Ring Canvas on Ring 2 and the corner cushions for Ring 1. Their support for this great event continues today with the event front page link on their Ringside.com website. I'd like to bring special attention to our event officials. Each of them volunteering their valuable time to assist in making this years event a success for all of us. From kick counters to referees, timekeepers to glove runners, these officials did a GREAT JOB! Our IKF Midwest Representative Vicki Laegeler of Lake In The Hills Illinois ran the Full Contact ring all weekend long while IKF World Representative Brooks Mason of Omaha, Nebraska and IKF North Central Regional Director/Promoter Mike Mattox of Illinois ran things at the International & MuayThai Rules ring. IKF Head of Officials Dan Stell of Fairfield, California was in charge of all the event officials and also organized the officials team for the Full Contact ring. IKF Referee Mike Storm lead the team of officials in the International & MuayThai Rules ring. Speaking of referees, I would like to point out the tremendous safety record of our fighters at this years event. Only 1 fighter needed additional medical attention and that was for stitches from a cut. The focus on fighter safety was outstanding by our Tournament Referees, Dan Stell, Mike Storm, Vance Thompson, Marco Medina, Brooks Mason, Blaine Nichols and Chuck Wolfe. some of this safety is due in a large way to the donation of the Brain Pad by Wipss. Each year, Wipss donates Brain Pads to the tournament for all the fighters. If you don't know about this product, check out our special Fighters Safety Page by clicking HERE! This is a product every fighter should wear and every gym, school or club should carry to sell to their students. It has made the fight game and many other sports a lot more safer! As the case in many fighting events around the world there will always be a judges decision others won't agree with or a referees call that is questioned such as a slip or a knockdown, a standing 8 count or a call to end the bout. As in any sport where an individuals judgement call may vary because of various circumstances, the difference of opinions is as broad as the universe itself. As expected, we had some of these incidents over the course of the tournament. I stress "Some" because that was all there were... "SOME. Of the approximately 150 bouts fought there were 5 bouts where a fighters trainer complained of the decision gave. Unlike in years past, at the end of last years event many of the coaches and officials decided to not allow any bout protests since it caused too many delays in the event. Adding to this, in the first 3 years of the event of the over 300 bouts fought, only 1 decision was changed due to a protest from the extra deciding round that was fought. At this years event, of the 5 questionable decisions, after further review here at the IKF Headquarters only 2 (in our opinion) could justify a true protest. The other 3 were simply a toss of the coin. In other words, it came down to pure and simple judgement, which is what a "Judge" is instructed to do... JUDGE. As many trainers should know by now, judging is no cake walk, especially if you were judging around 50 to 75 bouts yourself on such an event in one weekend. Every year for this event we seem to always need more officials than what are available. As in every year as the weekend went, we asked several trainers (some who had questionable calls in their fighters fights) to step in as judges. Of them, only 4 stepped in. Of the 4, they only judges a combined total of 6 BOUTS. Why only 6? Although most of their judging was good, on one particular bout, one of the trainers of a losing fighter questioned the decision at ringside. After the discussion our trainer/judges stepped away for the rest of the event because they didn't like to be yelled at by another trainer... However, in the trainer/judges defense, their decision was correct as we saw it. With this example in mind, you can imagine the tremendous pressure of all of our judges and kick judges at ringside during the entire tournament weekend. This is something to keep in mind if you ever wish to question a decision as well. If your a trainer who can make a judgement as to whether one fighter should have won and another lost, we could have used you at ringside as an event judge. The breaks for our other judges would have been greatly welcomed and appreciated. I guess there is another way to look at it, as my coach always told me, "If you end it in the ring, it will never go to the cards... There will be no questions... Get the victory by Knockout!" One thing that we were very excited about that was added to the Tournament this year was Internet Radio. For those not able to attend the event around the world, Johnny Walls of AgressionTV.com provided the latest in Internet technology for the friends and family of fighters as well as all the fight fans around the world who couldn't make the trip.Walls of South Carolina teamed up mainly with IKF World Representative Brooks Mason in giving the daytime results as well as a full live commentary of the special Sunday night show. You can still access all 3 Internet Radio Broadcasts by going to AgressionTV.com. Be patient, the front page takes awhile to download but once it does, the rest is quick and well worth the wait. The Saturday and Sunday show feature mainly results, not play by play action of all the daytime bouts. The Sunday night show is a kick to listen to. Johnny and Brooks matched up great and they sounded like they were having a great time. I'm sure they made those listening live on Sunday night feel like they were right there in the RiverCenter. |
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In this writing, I feel this is a good time to make a public apology for the "Way TOOOOO Long" meeting Friday night. I can't speak for others but for me, I was just excited to be able to address all of the trainers, coaches, fighters, officials and associates of the event all at once. Last year I wasn't able to do this because we had a last second insurance issue that had to be delt with before 5 PM California time. A situation that was avoided this year by our new "Official IKF Event Insurance Provider, F. L. Dean and Associates. We'll have a full story on our partnership with them and IKF event insurance later on this news page. Going back to the long winded meeting... As for me, I wanted to take some time to make clear to everyone at this years event, know how "Important" they "ALL" were. It was my way to address all those in attendance to show my personal appreciation for their participation and my personal pride in those willing to "Walk The Walk and Bring It ON!" Someone told me over the weekend, "Thanks for building the stage so we could be the stars." The comment touched me greatly, but I also realized that although I played a part in the directing that stage, the stage of the USA Nationals is built every year by everyone that was there, not Steve Fossum. This event's success has ALWAYS been a TOTAL TEAM EFFORT! There were son many things I wanted to say Friday night, it's obvious I got carried away and again, I'd like to apologize for my long winded speech. It was inconsiderate of me not to think of all the fighters who only wanted to go back to their hotel rooms and rest. One thing to say though, as always, this will be improved for next years event. I will personally promise you all that next year, we will all be "VERY" Brief and get to the points of necessity for the weekend. Another thing that was brought to our attention was the choice of food locally. I was told Sunday night that no one had ever received the welcome packages the Quad Cities Visitors Center was suppose to hand out to everyone. If I would have been told sooner about this I would have personally taken care of this need for everyone visiting the Quad Cities for the National Tournament. There are a lot of great restaurants and other things close by that none of you ever knew about which was bad for you as well as the many local businesses in the area. Businesses such as local restaurants, sporting goods stores, movie theatres and other locations lost out on a sure visit from many of you. Because of the issue with the food, we have come to the conclusion that next year we will have a full "Fighters Style" (Healthy food for fighters, but available to everyone) buffet set up for Friday afternoon and into the evening. This way, everyone can be eating while the Friday night meeting is taking place instead of sitting there being hungry. For next years meeting we will be sure to review the weekend tournament rules, regulations, itinerary, special activities and more within a 30 minute time slot... Please... Hold me to that guys.... The cost for the dinner will be between $5 and $10 which will be determined by the event center catering it. Adding to this, we will also make sure the venue concession stand next year will offer a more healthy choice of food. Healthy foods like sandwiches along with energy bars, drinks etc. will make it more convenient for fighters who are forced to stay at the venue between fights or stay with their team. This was something we never even thought about but was brought up by many after the event. The most important thing about next year is that it will be the "5 Year Anniversary" for the tournament (1999-2003) so we will be planning a lot of extra things for the entire weekend. Some of the suggestions have been to have a small Pro card on Saturday night with 1 or 2 World Title Bouts on it, a special Saturday movie night at a local theatre, a special dinner banquet and several other things. All I can say is expect a lot of additional things at next years tournament weekend. If your not fighting, the event itself will have a lot of surrounding activities with it. If we decide to feature another Sunday night event we will have only 10 bouts max. The Sunday night 16 bout line-up was exciting but simply went too long into the night. Many of you have been e-mailing and calling asking for pictures and videos so I'll give you that info here. For event pictures, you can either call IKF Photographer Glenn Berg at Foster Graphics at (530) 888-6082 or you can simply e-mail him (Which will be easier) at Glenber@msn.com. Be patient with a response since he has a lot of orders to fill from this years event. Some have asked about Video's of this years event as well. For these you can contact Emerald Motion Productions, Inc. at (309) 496-1509 or toll free at (866) 523-9033. Their website address is www.emeraldmotion.com. On their site you can download a PDF file for an order form. In addition, you can order either Video Tapes or DVD which we thought was a great addition for everyone. Adding to this, the Video Tapes or DVD's are broken into weight classes so you don't have to buy several videos just to get all your fights as in the past. With this layout you can purchase the entire set of 4 videos (The entire event) for only $80 or DVD's for $100.00. This is a GREAT DEAL! If you have trouble downloading the order form, just give the guys at Emerald Motion Productions a call and they'll be happy to mail or fax you order forms. Next, some of you have been asking about purchasing duplicate National Championship Belts. As noted at the Sunday night event these are $200.00 each and a shipping fee of $15 each. Of the 7 we had left we only have 1 remaining. Three went to the Coopers crew out of Detroit Michigan for their 3 Champions on Sunday night and the others sold today to Diversified Martial Arts in Twin Falls Idaho to their 3 National Champions. Our trip back from the Nationals this year took us through Diversified Martial Arts country in Twin Falls, Idaho just this last Sunday. That canyon up there Brian (Higgins, Diversified Martial Arts Senior Instructor) is quite a wonder. The other belt we had left goes to someone who didn't get his belt at the Tournament, MuayThai Rules Light Cruiserweight National Champion Charles Pemble. Pemble's opponent dropped out the day before the Friday weigh-ins giving him a National Tournament Walkover win. Sorry about not presenting your belt to you at the event Champ but we'll get it out to you ASAP! As far as other orders, we will be making another order of 10 belts. These will be sold on a first come first serve basis so if you want one you need to send your $200 + $15 in quick and let us know what title belt we're duplicating. Send this to: IKF, P. O. Box 1205, Newcastle, CA, 95658. Other Stuff: Some have also inquired about purchasing 2002 National Tournament T-Shirts. As many know we sold out of all the event T-Shirts Sunday night. However, we do plan to make a small order of additional shirts. These will sell for $20 or 2 for $35, the same as the cost at the event. Please add $3.00 per every 2 shirts ordered. We will accept orders by mail up until next Wednesday, August 21st. At that time we will only re-order what we have orders for. We also have about 40 2002 National Tournament Event Programs left for those who didn't get one. These have all the fighters and trainers names in them so they are a great collectors item for all who "Walked The Walk!" These are $5 plus $1.50 shipping. Again, you can send these orders in to the IKF at, IKF, P. O. Box 1205, Newcastle, CA, 95658. Well, that should just about do it from here. Woops... It appears I was a bit long winded here as well. Sorry for all that reading everyone. In closing, I'd like to once again Thank all those involved that made this great event possible. From the regional Director/Promoters, all the regional and national Officials, (Dan Stell, Dave Smith, Mike Wood, Mike Storm, Brooks Mason, Mike Mattox, Vance Thompson, Yogi Felts, Tom Jensen, Matt Ahearn, Tony Storm, Josh Carmean, Beth Meyer, Craig Meyer, Jared Nab, Paul Wood, Chris Archuleta, Marco Medina, Vickie Laegeler, Blaine and Travis Nichols, Chuck Wolfe, Ray Thompson, Rob and Jim Zbilski and Glen Legus.) Who could forget our chief ring doctor who "Walked The Walk" both IN and OUT of the Ring, Doctor Tyson Cobb!! Radisson Hotel Staff, (Danny, Linda, Kathy, Debra, Becky both Dave's, Shane, Ken, Susie and many more) RiverCenter Staff, (Kate, Kaye, Chris and the many others) Quad Cities Convention and Visitors Bureau Staff (Cheryl, Ralene and the many others) All the Fighters and Trainers family and friends and OF COURSE, OUR SPONSORS: Quad Cities Convention and Visitors Bureau, - F. L. Dean and Associates, - Radisson Hotel, - RiverCenter, - Ringside, - Wipss, - Foster Graphics, - AgressionTV.com, - Tanita Scales, - Glenn Berg Photography, and Emerald Motion Productions, Inc., In addition, I'd also like to thank Davenport Mayor, the Honorable Charlie Brooke for welcoming us to his fine city at a great press conference organized by our IKF Marketing director Johnny Davis. Johnny had all 3 TV stations in town there and all 3 covered the event through the entire weekend. He also had all 3 main newspaper in the Quad Cities area there as well. Sean Moeller of the Quad Cities Times and Photographer Sarah Fackrell did an outstanding job of event coverage in their paper through the weekend as did all the other media sources. This was a very important thing to us for the support of the event and the fighters in the local media. There was something to read in several papers every day of the event and something on TV every night. This was OUTSTANDING coverage and we Truly Appreciate it! As always, this event was made possible through Great Desire, Passion and most important, TEAMWORK! I'm looking forward to "The SHOW" next year and I hope many of you are as well. If any of you have any feedback about this years location (Venue, Hotel) let us know. If you think we should return there again or if you have any other suggestions, we'd like to hear them. As far as I'm concerned, I feel we found a great home for the Nationals, but we'll see what happens. It appears a lot of other cities have caught wind of this National event and have been sending us proposals over the last 2 weeks. So far, we have about 15 other city proposals in. We hope to have next years date and location picked early this time, by November 1st, 2002 is our goal. I look forward to seeing you all again whereever it is. Well... I better get to answering about 400 e-mails now so if you sent me something and I haven't responded, be patient because I will. I, like a lot of others, have been busy "Walkin The Walk!" Goodnight TEAM! |
So... Where did the
64 2002
IKF
USA National Title
Belts Go? | ||||||||
TRAINER/GYM, Hometown, State |
# OF FIGHTERS |
TEAM WINS |
TEAM LOSES |
TEAM TITLES | ||||
TEAM Zbilski, Lake In The Hills, Illinois |
10 |
6 |
7 |
3 | ||||
TEAM Alcozer, Plainview, Texas |
9 |
7 |
5 |
4 | ||||
TEAM Doyle, Omaha, Nebraska |
8 |
3 |
5 |
3 | ||||
TEAM Craft, Cudaley, Wisconsin |
7 |
1 |
6 |
1 | ||||
TEAM Hess, Alexandria, Virginia |
6 |
10 |
2 |
4 | ||||
TEAM Finney, St Louis, Missouri |
6 |
7 |
2 |
4 | ||||
TEAM Voyles, Pacific, Missouri |
6 |
6 |
1 |
5 | ||||
TEAM Thatch, Denver, Colorado |
5 |
6 |
2 |
3 | ||||
TEAM Klauba, Chicago, Illinois |
5 |
2 |
4 |
1 | ||||
TEAM Lind, Mondovi, Wisconsin |
5 |
3 |
4 |
1 | ||||
TEAM Kingdom, Dallas, Texas |
5 |
9 |
2 |
3 | ||||
TEAM Higgins, Twin Falls, Idaho |
4 |
5 |
1 |
3 | ||||
TEAM Nurse, New York, New York |
4 |
4 |
1 |
3 | ||||
TEAM Cooper, Detroit, Michigan |
4 |
4 |
1 |
3 | ||||
TEAM Vierra, Phoenix, Arizona |
3 |
2 |
3 |
1 | ||||
TEAM Mincey, Norman, Oklahoma |
3 |
1 |
2 |
1 | ||||
TEAM Thompson, Simpsonville, South Carolina |
3 |
4 |
1 |
2 | ||||
TEAM Rosales, Belen, New Mexico |
3 |
2 |
2 |
1 | ||||
TEAM Monger, Roswell, Georgia |
3 |
5 |
1 |
2 | ||||
TEAM Koonnala, Gwinn, Michigan |
3 |
4 |
0 |
3 - 1 by Walkover | ||||
TEAM Hicks, Flowery Branch, Georgia |
3 |
2 |
2 |
1 | ||||
TEAM Bunkholt, Minniapolis, Minnesota |
2 |
2 |
1 |
1 | ||||
TEAM Labree, Cable, WIisconsin |
2 |
2 - 1/Forfeit |
1 |
1 | ||||
TEAM Lessei, Dubuque, Iowa |
2 |
3 |
0 |
2 | ||||
TEAM Roufus, Milwaukee, Wisconsin |
2 |
4 |
0 |
2 | ||||
TEAM Smith, Casper, Wyoming |
2 |
2 |
1 |
1 | ||||
TEAM Findley, Lawrence, Kansas |
2 |
1 - 1 by Walkover |
1 |
1 - 1 by Walkover | ||||
TEAM Marinoble, Roseville, California |
1 |
1 |
0 |
1 | ||||
TEAM Blackorby, Peoria, Illinois |
1 |
1 |
0 |
1 | ||||
TEAM Montano, Surprise, Arizona |
1 |
2 |
0 |
1 | ||||
TEAM Robinson, Altoona, Pennsylvania |
1 |
1 - 1 by Walkover |
0 |
1 - 1 by Walkover | ||||
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TUESDAY, August 6th 2002, AT 3:00 AM, PT
8,
9, 10
KNOCKOUT!
We won't spend too much time right now with the "MANY" words and stories about this years 2002 IKF USA National Amateur Championships at the RiverCenter (Below Left) in Davenport Iowa, USA.
Instead we will cut to the results so you all know them now.
Starting the week of August 12th, after our IKF Staff vacation, look for all the inside stories about this years event along with facts, stats and a ton of pictures.
Speaking of pictures, if you need to see some now and hear more about the tournament on Internet Radio, simply go to
www.AggressionTV.com where you'll hear our good friend Johnny Walls along with Brooks Mason, Mike Hess, Johnny Davis and other individuals discussing this years event. The special Sunday night show was action packed with 16 Championship bouts. The live broadcast of this event can be re-played to you through your computer right now by going to the AggressionTV website.
So without further waiting, here's the results of this years 2002 IKF USA National Amateur Kickboxing Championships and a factual list of who really "Walked The Walk" instead of just "Talked the Talk!"
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MORE
NEWS OF 8-6-02
Another Night Of IKF Promoter and trainer Jesse Finney and his Finney's Kickboxing Team just completed another successful run at the 2002 IKF USA National Championships. The Finney's Kickboxing Team won 4 National Titles from their 6 competing fighters. We'll have more on this story next week. Tonight they will re-focus their work on promoting yet another great amateur kickboxing event at Lucky's Nightclub On The Landing in St. Louis, Missouri, USA. As usual with a Finney Production, the event will feature some of the best fighters from Finney's Kickboxing Team. For more event info, please contact Mr. Jesse Finney at (314) 351-5226 or by e-mail at finneys@finneyskickboxing.com or see their website at... | |||
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