Victoria, July 9th – Stan Peterec brought Kickboxing back to Victoria with the King of the Ring 2005 in what turned out to be one of the most entertaining events in recent Victoria history. With the main event still left to come, promoter Peterec leaned over to one of the commissioners and said, “The fans definitely go their moneys worth tonight.” You would expect a promoter to say nothing less but on this night he was not exaggerating in the least and echoed the sentiments of 1000 plus fans in the arena who jam packed the Victoria Curling Club in Victoria Canada. Originally scheduled to feature 8 fighters in a single elimination tournament, drop outs and injuries scuttled the tournament down to 6. In the end that was not enough to curb the action as an incredible Cinderella story saw one of the longest shots of the evening go on to take the King of the Ring title.

In the first tournament bout of the evening local Victoria product and part time MMA fighter Todd Steen face off against late entry Dave Cardinal in the first round of the “quarter finals” of the 6 man King of the Ring kickboxing tournament. Cardinal looked strong in the outset of the match lunging in with kicks and wild punches but Steen was methodical and waited for his opportunities where he could and find them he did. One punch signaled the beginning of the end and 3 knockdowns and three standing 8 counts later, Steen had won impressively by TKO at 1:50 of the first round and advanced to the second round of the tournament.

The second bout in the tournament saw another local Victoria fighter Yuri De Aquino take on Justin Jones in an entertaining three round affair that saw De Aquino take the split decision in a razor thin battle of wills. Round one saw De Aquino bull his way in with strong punching combos and Jones countering by faking the punch and sending chopping low kicks to the thigh of his opponent. Jones would find that combination early and often and throughout the bout, and also attacked with high kicks, and even flying knees to keep his foe off balance. The edge in power however belonged to his opponent who thundered in aggressively at every opportunity and scored with flurries of punches throughout the bout. In the end, the judges saw the split decision in favor or De Aquino who’s constant forward motion and aggressiveness thoughout the bout appeared to give him the edge in the eyes of the judges. The corner man for Jones didn’t quite see it that way however and was livid after the fight coming over the timekeepers and medical staff after the announcement of the decision shouting and complaining about what he felt was a bad decision.

In the third and final “quarter-final” match-up, KB-1 fighter Mike Duresne started off strong coming at his more tentative opponent Curtis Turcotte, scoring with aggressive hand combinations and leg kicks, but unfortunately for him he was the one that was bleeding over his left eye half way through the first round. Turcotte would find his mark in the second round and played a much smarter more efficient game and looked to tie up the fight one round a piece by controlling the action in the second stanza. The third round was another close one but Turcotte came on strong in the final moments of the bout stunning his opponent in the final 30 seconds and that appeared to be enough to give him the round and the fight, and he advanced to the “semi-final” round via a split decision after three rounds.

The second round of the tournament saw Todd Steen fresh off his first round KO take on Curtis Turcotte who had previously battled in a three round war, and although Turcotte was the much more experienced fighter and one of the heavy favorites to win it all, Steen didn’t quite see it that way. Steen continued to dominate his opposition, launching two resounding left hooks that connected for two downs and the referee stop victory. Steen had earned the upset along with his ticket to the finals against another local fighter and another one of the favorites coming in, Yuri De Aquina who had a by to the finals based on the uneven number of fighters in the 6 man tournament.

A heavyweight boxing bout was the semi main event of the evening and saw heavy underdog Willy Curry take to the canvas against the much younger, and heavily favored Edmonton product James Cermak. In wild and very entertaining back and forth affair that saw both fighters on the brink of defeat several times over, Curry would be unable to answer the bell for the fourth round due to what doctors told MMA Ring Report appears to be a broken hand. Cermak started the fight the stronger of the two and the talented young fighter from Alberta controlled the tempo of the fight controlling the action from the outside but Curry would not go without a fight and came on in the later portion of the first to bring momentum back his way.

The second was a back and forth but midway through he second Curry hurt Cermak putting him on the defensive and backing him up against the ropes and punishing him to the body and head, but Cermak showed grit and returned fire after Curry appeared to get a little arm weary. Curry was able to survive the late onslaught and the fight appeared close heading into the third round. Again Curry was able to hurt Cermak and appeared to have the fight in hand but Cermak again weathered the onslaught and bided his time until fatigue again seeped into Curry’s arms as they dangled by his waist, and Cermak took advantage in the latter portion of the third driving punishing body and head shots into his older opponent and almost finishing his opponent until the bell sounded to end the third stanza. The fourth stanza would never come however as Curry appeared to be complaining about a possibly broken hand and was unable to continue. Cermak wins via TKO in between rounds 3 and 4.

The finals of the 6 man tournament saw Todd Steen take on Yuri “Fists of Fury” De Aquino in the main event of the evening. The First of Fury lived up to his namesake in the early part of the fight as he appeared to have rested up well and controlled the first round with overpowering overhand punches that drove his opponent against the ropes and into the clinch several times over. The first round played out with Yuri looking strong but at the tail end of the round it appeared that fatigue had set in.

The second round was all Todd Steen as he stunned De Aquino and sat him down for a down with a hard punch combo that landed flush and it appeared it was the beginning of the end. Another combination wobbled the Brazilian and the ref stepped in again to issue the standing 8 count. Steen kept on firing and appeared to have the fight in hand but the bell sounded to end the second round in what was turning into a great fight.

Steen would not let up in the third round and stopped his opponent at 24 seconds of the final stanza to take the win and the prize money, and the title of the 2005 King of the Ring Champion with a shot to the head that stunned his opponent and gave him the victory. Although Steen took the win, Yuri De Aquino fought with a lot of heart and deserves credit for stepping up and fighting despite several injuries that would have knocked lesser fighters out of the event all together.

In other action

Both Lindsay Ball and Lauren Christianson were coming into the first fights of there careers but it was Ball who looked like the veteran maliciously stalking Christianson through out the duration of the short bout throwing a seemingly endless barrage of unanswered overhand punches to get the standing eight count two times during the first round. Christianson barely survived the first round but would be unable to continue and was unable to answer the bell for the second round.

Kende overwhelmed her 17 year old opponent Samantha Majors early, and after a standing 8 count had the towel thrown after an unanswered onslaught of overhand rights and lefts that left Majors visibly shaken. The woman known only as Kende took the impressive victory in the first round.

In an entertaining boxing bout that was stopped way too late, Bill Lawson took on Shane Wilson in a fight where he just seemed physically unable to hurt his opponent. Lawson landed some stiff jabs and hooks but Wilson literally laughed them off while the bout was going on and overpowered his opponent during the heavy exchanges. Wilson seemed content to take a punch to land a punch knowing that his power would eventually overcome and it did. At one point however he knocked his opponent down and while his opponent was getting the 8 count he did not go to a neutral corner and instead circled his opponent and taunted him while he took the count, sportsmanship be damned. On another occasion after scoring a down both of Lawson’s gloves were on the mat and yet Wilson fired off two more heavy blows to his downed opponent yet inexplicably there was no warning or point deduction from the referee! In the third round Lawson found himself in the corner taking unanswered blow after blow and despite the medical staff and commissioners screaming at the ref to stop the fight it wasn’t until he had taken far too much punishment that the ref stepped in to halt the action. Wilson wins by KO at 54 seconds of round 3.

Aaron Varga controlled most of his bout against Miles Loman by using his height and reach advantage controlling distance and striking with a varied arsenal that included high knees, spinning back kicks and spinning back fists. Loman was game and tried to counter where he could but Varga was too sharp firing fluid and well timed high kicks that kept his opponent off balance and took the fight 1:01 of the third round via Ref stop TKO.

To kick off the nights action, two fighters who play for the James Bay Rugby club in Victoria met in the ring as Mike Doyle took on Jamie Collins in a fight that was marketed as a grudge match between the two rugby players. The visibly bigger and stronger looking Collins bullied Doyle for three rounds including several knockdowns, on route to a unanimous decision.

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