(Richardson, Texas) With a string of exciting events having been held at The Texas Fightatorium in it’s initial year in 2002, it was hard to imagine that 2003 would be the advent of a “jump” in anticipation for still more excitement at the arena here. Whatwith the newly formed alliance between Richardson-based NACSO and The IKF, the stage was set for a historic night of kickboxing, and fans were not disappointed.
Click READ MORE to see the full rundown of this event.A capacity crowd at the newly-expanded Fightatorium took-in the 5-fight card, which delivered action from “bell to gong”. After 2 preliminary exhibition bouts, the first-ever IKF-sanctioned Texas bout featured 152lb “Marvelous” Martin Deanda (1-1) from Abilene versus 151lb “Spicy” Chris Currie (0-0) from Dallas. In a classic 3-round matchup that pitted Curries’ lanky reach vs Deanda’s brawn and strength, the landmark contest was decided by a single point on a judges’ score-card, which gave the narrowest of victories to Deanda.
The Currie/Deanda match was followed by a “battle of the Smiths”….Cody (5-4, 135lbs) versus Chris (1-1, 133lbs). While the 2 competitors are not related to one-another, they scrapped like a couple of young brothers vying for the hand of a ‘fair-maiden’. In the end it was “Sunshine” Chris Smith from Carrollton Martial Arts prevailing mainly by virtue of being the “busier” fighter throught the 3-round contest.
The feature-event of the night was a “dandy” middleweight match, pitting 17-year-old John “The Greek” Vakidis (5-1 / 2 KO’s) against Nathan “Gangsta” Bagby (3-1-1) . In a crowd-pleasing 4-rounds of action, it was Vakidis prevailing with a unanimous decision, although he took lumps of his own to out-point the very game Bagby. Look for a rematch in the not-too-distant future.
With that, The world’s largest sanctioning kickboxing organization (IKF) had ‘officially’ made a successful foray into The Lone Star State. The next event at The Texas fightatorium will be on Saturday, February 22nd at 8pm. With IKF Sanctioning, NACSO is now matching International Rules (leg-kicks), Muy-Thai, as well as regular Full-Contact rules contests. For more information, contact Chuck Best at (972)889-0129, or send email inquiries to sirkikman@juno.com