HESDY GERGES survived an epic fightback to beat Daniel Ghita on unanimous points in the main event of
IT’S SHOWTIME’S action-packed season opener, organised in conjunction with Fighting Stars at Amsterdam Sporthallen
Zuid.
The IT’S SHOWTIME heavyweight champion had a turbulent preparation
for the non-title match but put his personal problems behind him to come through in a gruelling struggle with the rugged Romanian.
Ghita predicted that the sell-out crowd would “hear some bones crushing”
in his pre-fight interview and the pair stood in front of each other and traded for the full three rounds as they put maximum
power into every shot.
Gerges forged ahead in the first two rounds thanks to his
extra speed and sharpness, spraying Ghita with low kicks and dropping him with what initially looked a borderline knee for
an eight count in the second after the former bodyguard had dropped his hands and gifted him three or four free punches.
But the Egyptian had to show true grit to weather a final round body bombardment
as Ghita battered his left side with hooks and middle kicks which ground Gerges to a standstill.
Gerges has beaten the likes of Badr Hari and Ruslan Karaev and twice been the distance with four-time K-1 World Grand
Prix winner Semmy Schilt, but admitted Ghita had been his toughest test.
“He
is strong and heavy and is a hell of a fighter - it was my hardest fight,” he said.
“He caught me with some good shots but I’m not the kind of fighter who goes down quick.
“I also hurt my left knee in the second round when he gave me an inside low kick, but when I go down I only
stop when I’m dead!”
Andy Souwer showed what K-1 Max missed in 2010
as the two-time champion shot down rising star Lhoucine ‘Áussie’ Ouzgni to win on unanimous points in the
chief supporting contest.
Ouzgni towered over Souwer but boiling down to 70 kilograms
proved a bridge too far as he looked skeletal at the weigh-in and faded after the first round.
The 6ft 3in Moroccan used his range to keep Souwer at bay to win the opening session behind long front kicks and
straight punches, but Souwer took over after landing a left hook high on the head for a flash knockdown at the start of the
second round and closed the show with blistering hand combinations and low kicks which forced Ouzgni back.
Ouzgni, who wiped out Nieky Holzken in less than a minute at super middleweight when he last fought at the same arena,
admitted afterwards that he will never fight at 70 kilos again after feeling dead at the weight.
“It was an experience to fight against Andy Souwer at this weight but I’m never going to do it again,”
he said.
“I wasn’t explosive, I wasn’t fast and I wasn’t
myself. When I fight at 76 or 77 I feel strong but I was empty even in the first round.”
Artur Kyshenko has been reinvigorated by moving to Amsterdam to train with Mike’s Gym and impressed as he gave
fellow K-1 Max star Gago Drago a steady beating, applying intelligent pressure on the way to another unanimous points win.
The Ukrainian fought as a southpaw throughout and hurt Drago with right hands in
the second and third rounds as he used his longer reach to land combinations before smartly stepping off to the side.
Game Drago always puts on a good show and landed some hard low kicks which badly reddened
Kyshenko’s lead leg.
But the Armenian handful had to work overtime just
to reach the final bell and said he was well beaten in the end.
“I did my best
but he was better,” he said before walking back to the dressing room to a well-earned round of applause.
Youth got the better of experience as Danyo Ilunga won the vacant IT’S SHOWTIME 95kg MAX title with a wide
unanimous win against tough trier Wendell Roche.
Trained by Remy Bonjasky in Almere,
Ilunga displayed some of his mentor’s movement and technique as he used speed and angles to overcome the tough but more
one-paced Roche.
A come-forward brawler who throws punches in bunches but rarely
kicks, Dutchman Roche usually throws non-stop leather and climbs all over his opponents, but he was rarely able to pin Ilunga
down for long despite going for the knockout he needed in the last round as the Congolese-German – 17 years his junior
at 24 – coasted home despite a few awkward moments.
All five judges went
the more rounded Ilunga’s way, by two scores each of 50-46 and 50-47 and one 49-46 mark.
William Diender did a grudge match double over arch rival Rachid Belaini, who lived up to his Man of Steel nickname
as he refused to buckle in a back and forth firefight which had the crowd hooked.
The pair waged a five round war in Rotterdam three years ago, with Diender suffering a broken jaw on the way to a points
victory which left Belaini feeling hard done by.
Diender had promised to repay
the Moroccan in facial damage as the pair swapped insults before their return, but although he was unable to cause any fractures
he had the edge in power and landed frequent nasty uppercuts which snapped Belaini’s head back.
Belaini had to give ground as he was forced back in the second and third rounds but planted his feet to land some
corking blows of his own, including a left hook which knocked Diender’s gumshield out.
An equally intense middleweight scrap saw two fighters who specialise in constant rolling aggression treat each other
like heavy bags as they teed off on each other.
Robin van Roosmalen and Chahid
Oulad El Hadj went strike for strike in centre ring, with van Roosmalen getting a 4-1 judges’ decision.
Chahid, who played his part in an unforgettable 2010 Fight of the Year against Mike Zambidis,
made a more patient start than usual but more than held his own in the exchanges as both gradually went through the gears.
Van Roosmalen had the superior speed and defence however as he made it two Sporthallen
Zuid wins in a row having folded Diender in half with a lethal body shot last September.
While all six fights on the closing part of the main programme went to unanimous decisions, four of the six in an
entertaining part one of the show were decided by stoppage.
Warren Stevelmans
produced his best performance in recent memory as he cut down hot prospect Mohamed Medhar with a third round left low kick
in their 72.5kg match.
South Africa-born Stevelmans looked sharp from the start
as he peppered Medhar’s legs and cut him on the forehead.
The 19-year-old
Moroccan who holds an upset win over Gago Drago came roaring back in a much more even second round but was unable to continue
after he just about beat the count when Stevelmans floored him.
A belting first
round right high kick from Ricardo van den Bos condemned Raymond Bonte to his first knockout defeat in their clash of tattoeed
super heavyweights, with elated van den Bos celebrating with an agile handspring.
Also
at heavyweight, Antwerp, Belgium’s Jamal Ben Saddik, caused a minor upset in his first A-class fight as the 20-year-old
sent touted Rico Verhoeven crashing flat on his back with a diamond right hand on the way to a second round stoppage victory.
In a middleweight match which was over practically before it started, Mo Ben Nasser
knocked out Romano Morjoner with a perfectly timed left knee to the chin.
Leroy
Kaestner, like Stevelmans a former K-1 Max Netherlands champion, roughed up Ramzi Tamaditi with knees on the inside and did
the cleaner work at long range to win a scrappy but deserved unanimous decision.
Marc
de Bonte followed the pre-programme bouts with a unanimous defeat of lacklustre Morad Salhi in an all-Belgian super middleweight
battle.
