Friday Night Fights

I've been a fight fan since I'm a kid and used to box and kickbox as well as a slew of other Martial Arts. I've been to a few Boxing fights but I finally got to go to my first Muay Thai event this weekend @ Friday Night Fights at The Hall at St. Paul’s in New York.

The announcer alone was worth the price of admission. David Diamante the Master of Ceremonies was a site to see with giant dreadlocks tied to the back of his head and decked out in a suit and tie with handkerchief and all. It was surprising to hear the booming ring announcer voice come from this colorful character but it all added to the atmosphere and entertainment of the night.

Most of the fun came from my friends Andy "Polska" Michalski and James "Johnny Rebel" Sprayberry and I placing friendly bets on each fighter at the start of each round and screaming for them. That and the cheap beer led to me waking up sounding like I had gargled with gravel all night. But it was all worth it.

The first pro fight of the night was Kevin Horowitz, whose friends we happened to be sitting with and Mervin Rodriguez. Horowitz got fancy trying to land a few crescent kicks but looked like he was lumbering a bit early on. Rodriguez clearly preferred to fight in the clinch, but was unable to successfully tie up Horowitz who it turns out is an MMA fighter and was doing this for fun. The judges scored this fight for Horowitz by unanimous decision which I think we all agreed with.

Amatuer fighters Josh Fitzsimmons and Phil LeGrand was another great fight and the crowd went bananas for LeGrand, rightly so because he was from Brooklyn. This was a great matchup and was really hard to judge with lots of points going to Fitzsimmons  but more power punches going to LeGrand as well as some pretty fancy foot work. Fitzsimmons was the aggressor but LeGrand was a hard target to hit. The judges and I think the crowd were split on this and LeGrand won it by Split Decision (so I'm hoping for a rematch).

There were some other great fights, including a "Girl Fight", in their somewhere but the names of the fighters escape me... I'll have to update this if and when I find my beer soaked program.

The big fight of the night was the main event with Turan Hasanov and Villi Bello. The bout was non-stop action from start to finish because both fighter came out aggressive but Hasanov seemed to be hungrier. Hasanov's leg kicks slapped Bello repeatedly in the ribs there was no real power behind them but the sound they made resulted in many shouts of "Oh!" from inexperienced fight watchers. It went to the judges and despite Bello turning it on and winning a few rounds (on my imaginary scorecard) the fight awarded to Hasanov by unanimous decision.

Lots of excitement from a standing room only crowd and I'm looking forward to going back in January!