By Srithar Visuasam: The Australian Fight Series kicked off last night in Melbourne, Australia, with the eight man welterweight tournament providing four exciting bouts, with none going the full distance.
The initial card of the four stage first round of the tournament, last night’s fights provided enough action to suggest the winner of the tournament will certainly have to do well to take the mantle as Australian Fight Series champion.
The first bout of the night saw Rivan Cessaire (7-3, 4 KOs) of Victoria take on Brad Hemming (13-9, 5 KOs) of Queensland. From the opening bell, Cessaire was proving to be quite light on his feet, outworking the Queenslander, particularly to the body. In round three, Cessaire and Hemming had a clash of heads which saw Hemming bleed profusely from the forehead. After being cleared to continue by the doctor at the end of round 3, Hemming’s corner called a halt to the fight, with the fight called off 0:01 into the fourth round.
In the second fight, Victorian Jimmy James (10-3-1, 2 KOs) took on Alex Ahtong (5-9-3, 4 KOs) of New South Wales, which saw James start the fight quite busily and outboxing Ahtong in the initial stages. Like the previous fight, round 3 proved to be quite significant, with Ahtong knocking down James with a left hand late in the round. James, clearly shaken, was fortunate to hear the bell ring to conclude the round just after receiving his count from the referee.
In round 4, Ahtong took the attack to James in a bid to finish the fight. James was initially able to keep Ahtong at bay, but by a minute into the round Ahtong began to land clear shots on the Victorian with solid power behind them. After a number of unanswered blows to the head, the fight was called off by the referee 1 minute 11 seconds into the fourth round.
Local boy Tim Hunt (9-2, 4 KOs) arrived to his bout with New South Welshman Matthew Paulley (19-7-5, 7 KOs) to a rapturous applause and the energy of the crowd seemed to flow to his boxing in the first round of the fight, which saw Hunt attack the more senior fighter with speed and aggressive intent. After dominating the first couple of minutes of the first bout, Hunt pinned Paulley against the ropes and began teeing off on the veteran, with a flurry of shots to the body and head which left Paulley sitting on the middle ropes with no response. The fight was then waved off with Hunt the victor at 2:45 into the first round to the delight of his large group of fans in the crowd.
Hunt had appeared the most impressive of the fighters at this stage of the night, but the next bout showcased the fighter who would lay claim to favouritism for the series. 2008 Olympian Todd Kidd, (4-0, 1 KO), put on a display against fellow Queenslander Jason Kanofski (13-6-3, 2 KOs) that put every fighter in the tournament on notice.
Kanofski came out swinging, but Kidd responded in measured fashion and took control of the fight, which saw him score a knockdown early in round 1 by way of a right uppercut. Kidd continued his attack with Kanofski being unable to respond effectively and a series of unanswered strikes sent him to the canvas for the second time, with the fight called off at 2:44 into the round.
With three points being awarded for a knockout and two points for a victory by way of decision, the four winners of Friday’s fights have set up a nice buffer in the competition over the others in the quest to make the semi finals.
Round two is scheduled to occur in Sydney on April 2 with the draw being announced at last night’s show, with the fights being drawn as follows:
Alex Ahtong v Todd Kidd
Matthew Paulley v Jimmy James
Rivan Cessaire v Tim Hunt
Brad Hemming v Jason Kanofski
The draw essentially pits the four winners of last night’s show fighting each other with the four losers also fighting each other. With the draw panning out as above, if the winners of last night can repeat their result in round 2 with another stoppage victory, a ticket to the semi finals will be almost guaranteed. On the contrary, for the four losers of last night, another loss in Sydney will likely spell the end of their chances to make it to the knockout stage of the tournament.
After the first night of the tournament, scheduled over the next seven months, the Australian Fight Series is nicely poised after a night of exciting action with some very interesting results and has created enough buzz to suggest that tournament boxing may be here for a long time in the country.
Earlier in the night, 2008 Olympian Jarrod Fletcher (7-0, 6 KOs) proved too slick over six rounds for the tough Kashif Mumtaz (7-22-1, 5 KOs) of New Zealand who took the fight on 24 hours notice. The fight was scored by all three judges 60-54 in favour of Fletcher. Despite losing, Mumtaz was successful in breaking Fletcher’s streak of six knockouts, being the first fighter to take him the full distance.
In the main event of the card, Frank LoPorto (14-4-2, 6 KOs) proved too tough for Harry Venka (8-4, 1 KO) of New Zealand. LoPorto proved why he is one of the best 154lb fighters in the country in defending his PABA light middleweight title for the first time, aggressively stalking Venka and keeping the fight at close range in penetrating the body and working the head.
Venka was down in round 3 and twice in round 4 which resulted in referee Malcolm Bulner calling an end to the fight. A decorated amateur fighter, Venka was a five time national amateur boxing champion in India prior to calling New Zealand home and showed very good skill in the fight and was brave in defeat.
After the fight, LoPorto’s promoter Adam Wilcock reinforced LoPorto’s willingness to mix it up with the best light middleweights in the country, specifically mentioning Robert Medley and Ryan Waters in this mix.
The night was run by Fight Card Promotions, with the next stop of the Australian Fight Series being Sydney on Friday 2 April 2011.