Like the Don Henley song says, “In a New York minute everything can change.” And after seeing the main event at GLORY 48 end in violent and dramatic fashion, it’s a line that’s quite fitting for the occasion.
Kevin Vannostrand (13-1) overcame getting knocked down in the opening seconds of round one, and just moments later, after beating the count, knocked out Anvar Boynazarov (91-24-2) with a vicious step-in knee to the liver to win the GLORY interim featherweight title inside The Theater at Madison Square Garden.
The official time of the stoppage came at 1:16 of the first round.
“It’s a dream come true,” Vannostrand told Whitney Miller after the bout. He added: “Dreams come true when you put that work in. You just gotta put in the work.”
When asked if he knew Boynazarov was hurt after landing the knee, Vannostrand said, “Oh yes. Any of my training partners can agree to that. Any one of them.”
Vannostrand will now face current featherweight champion Robin Van Roosmalen to unify the two title at a future date.
OMG! THE ENERGY IN THIS ARENA IS INSANE! 0 TO 100 REAL QUICK! Kevin Vannostrand secures the interim featherweight title! #GLORY48 pic.twitter.com/VocwjZBLde
— GLORY Kickboxing (@GLORY_WS) December 2, 2017
In the co-main event of the night, former UFC light heavyweight Thiago Silva (1-0) was successful in his GLORY debut, defeating John King (7-5-1) by unanimous decision. Two of the judges scored it 30-27, with the third scoring it 29-28, all in favor of the Brazilian.
Silva looked quite comfortable in his kickboxing debut, and out-landed King by a wide margin Going forward, he should continue to improve under the tutelage of Mike Passenier.
Robert Thomas (11-5) defeated Mike Lemaire (19-5) and Wayne Barrett (6-6) to win the four-man middleweight “Qualification” tournament, earning the Ramon Dekkers memorial trophy.
In the tournament final, Thomas knocked out Lemaire with a brutal right hand, sending him crashing to the canvas where he landed with one arm draped over the bottom rope. The official time of the stoppage came at 0:18 of round three. The first two rounds were close, but Thomas began to pour it on with big punches in the final frame prior to the fight-ending blow.
Thomas bested Barrett in his semi-final matchup, earning a unanimous decision win. Two of the judges scored the contest 29-27, with the third judge scoring it 30-26. Thomas, who lost to Barrett by unanimous decision at GLORY 27 in February of 2016, dropped the native New Yorker with a left hook in the third round, but wasn’t able to close the show as Barrett came roaring back to close out the round. The Canadian was in trouble for a brief amount of time, but weathered the late onslaught and avoided the knockdown.
The first middleweight tournament semi-final of the night was scored a draw after three rounds of action. And in the extra round, Lemaire earned a unanimous decision victory over Matt Baker (21-7). All three judges scored the sudden-victory round 10-9 in favor of Lemaire.
Baker dropped Lemaire in the second round with a knee, but the French veteran was able to recover and turn it up in the extra round to secure the victory.
