Saturday night amateur fights a mixed success!
The saturday night fights, April 27, at the Crown Plaza Hotel in Addison, Texas were a mixed success. From a fighter’s perspective, the fights were a combination of good ideas and mediocre execution. (… Click on Read More for the full article)
Saturday night amateur fights a mixed success!
The saturday night fights, April 27, at the Crown Plaza Hotel in Addison, Texas were a mixed success. From a fighter’s perspective, the fights were a combination of good ideas and mediocre execution. The location and setting were above what is normally encountered in the sport at this level of competition. The fights were held in the ballroom of an elegant hotel in Addison, Texas which made for an interesting assortment of people and scenery ranging from the wedding reception down the hall with people dressed in tailored clothing to fighters in sweat pants warming up before their fight. The ring was typical of the sport, however, having loose boards and the hardest center line I have encountered to date, but was adequate for the event. Steve Armstrong, the promoter, was plagued when it came to the card, however. Several fighters did not show and Steve was forced to improvise on the card, which lead to some fighters not getting to fight, and others fighting that had not planned on fighting, myself included, in order to fill the card. The level of competition went from true amatures to professional level fighters and everything in between. Several local fight celebraties were in attendance including Guy Mezger, Saekson Janjira, and Travis Lutter. I had the opportunity to speak with all of these fighters and they were all outstanding individuals and were more than cordial. I left with invititations to come and train with all of them, anytime, and I certainly plan on doing so. The fights themselves were fairly straight forward, with fine performances by both of Guy’s students Buddy Clinton and Hiro. I fought Hiro in an exhibition match in order to help fill out the card, and lost quickly to a very well technically executed rear naked choke, to top off a very lousy performance on my part. Buddy fought a first time fighter and won with a strong cross body armbar tearing the fighter’s tendons in the process. Probably the most exciting match of the night came with the 100 pound female kickboxing match, which went the distance and was filled with great spirit and enthusiasm.
On the flip side, the announcers were a bit excessive in commentary and the DJ was poor, which took away from the overall ambiance and made the event feel like it was definately amature. The layout of the ring, tables, and spectator’s chairs made it difficult for the fighters in the red corner to get to the ring as well. Other than that and a few other small issues, typical of events like this, it was a good fight night and I, for one, will gladly go back and fight there or work the corner.