Saturday, February 13, 2010
Liveblog: NY Showdown Part 5
M-1 Thai Boxing's Preston Baptiste and the Wat's Nick Vaughan are up, with the venerable Kru Phil Nurse in Vaughan's corner ready to infuse his ward with the power of a thousand years of Thai warrior spirit. Or something like that. Anyway, this one is close, with each man waiting for the other to move so they can counter and explode, and if midway through the bout Baptiste is ahead, it's by a fraction of a point. Yet Vaughan clearly takes Round 4 when he traps Baptiste in a corner and unloads, and he keeps it up in the fifth. All three judges give it to Vaughan, but it was close as hell. Next: Mohawk Muay Thai rep Chris Minor, sporting a punky Mohawk, against 5 Points Academy rep Eddie Martinez. This one doesn't last too long. Martinez is clearly the superior fighter, and after dropping Minor in the second round, he follows it up with a right high-kick that knocks the Mohawk Muay Thai rep out. Last up is Rami Ibrahim against Dutchman Dave Duyn. How big of a hometown star is Ibrahim? The dude's got his own rap song for his entrance music. Despite a reach advantage and a pretty tight and seamless game, Duyn is exceedingly wary of Ibrahim, practically freezing when the Palistinian shifts his weight or changes his stance. Duyn does land, though, as does Ibrahim with his sharper hands, so it's most certainly competitive. That is, until late in the fifth round, when Ibrahim is feeding Duyn punch after punch and Duyn is doing nothing to stop it. This prompts the ref to step in, giving Ibrahim the TKO win. And that's all she wrote...
Liveblog: NY Showdown Part 4
Another Canadian takes to the ring, this one Tony Manohran of M-1 Thai Boxing. His opponent: Eric Ruiz of Sitan/Progressive Martial Arts. They're both doing that full Thai pre-bout routine, complete with music and head pieces, and then they're fighting in what is far and away the most technical bout of the night so far. Seriously, these guys could be filming a demo. It's pretty even in Round 1, but Manohran's jab starts to penetrate Ruiz's defenses, leading to openings that the M-1 Thai Boxing rep is able to capitalize on. By Round 4 Ruiz is cut and covering up more than he's throwing, and though he's still game, the doctor waives off the bout early in the fifth, giving Manohran the win. Texas-based Javier Vongphet of Vongphet Muay Thai steps up to take on Sitan's Jay Matias. With a fantastic sense of range and the ability to fire off kicks with the full torque of his swiveling hips, Matias dissects Vongphet like he's a frog in science class. Vongphet - clearly a hard-headed brawler - does his best to fight back, but as Matias' spinning back-kick in Round 5 indicates, it ain't nearly enough. Matias gets the decision, plus an "A" in Biology.
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