CHRIS KNOWLES TO FIGHT ON

CHRIS KNOWLES has vowed to fight on following his knockout defeat to Hesdy Gerges.

Tough Londoner Knowles (pictured above left) suffered his first knockout loss in 46 fights after being laid out in the second round by It’s Showtime super heavyweight champion Gerges in Amsterdam.

But the 32-year-old insists he will continue with his career once he has spent some quality time with his family, having become a father for the third time recently.

"Me and the Mrs have just had a baby - little John, my first boy, named after my old man. I’ve got two little girls," he said.

"Maybe I will just spend a little time with the family, but there is always going to be a fighter in me. If I was to give it up now, maybe it would haunt me. I think I will push through until I’m too old to do it."

Highly respected on the UK thai boxing circuit, multiple muay thai champion Knowles did well to weather an early Gerges storm on his It’s Showtime kickboxing debut and was still in the fight before being sent sprawling by a destructive combination.

Knowles, who has also fought Maksym Neledva and Andrew Peck overseas, said: "I feel like I let all the guys at home down. I didn’t see the punch coming, but I felt alright in there.

"It happens. Maybe you start to relax and then get caught, I don’t know.

"He was awesome. I think maybe in between my good fights abroad I’ve had too long off, so maybe it was a little bit of a shock.

"I felt comfortable first round and then in the second round I just got caught. It happens, doesn’t it?"

Dutch-Egyptian Gerges finished Knowles a round quicker than Gokhan Saki, who stopped the resilient Brit with low kicks in a 2008 WFCA world title fight.

Asked who would win a contest between Gerges and Saki having been in with both, Knowles said Saki has the edge in leg power but he was otherwise unable to separate the two.

"Saki kicks harder. It would be a cracking fight," he added. "I don’t know who would win. I would love to see it though."