By Andreas Georgiou
After a busy 48 hours in the combat sports world, we take a gander at the top news stories making headlines in this new feature called ‘Rolling Thunder Roundup’. This week’s edition is dedicated to kickboxing and muay thai.
Smash Muay Thai Re-Sign Top Fighter
Liam “The Hitman” Harrison has signed a new two fight deal with Smash Muay Thai and is expected to represent the promotion on December 15 in Thailand as he faces Kem Sitsongpeenong for the WBC Diamond world title.
This will be the Bad Company fighter’s return fight after pulling out of a bout at Yokkao 11 against Kongsak Sitboonmee with a shin injury.
It was also announced that Harrison will defend the WBC Welterweight world title that he won at Smash 10 against Mehdi Zatout at some point in early 2015.
The Main Event
A 64kg B-class bout between Myk Estlick (Spartans, Manchester) and Jack Maguire (MASDA, Liverpool) has been added to The Road to the Main Event on November 22 in Ashton-under-Lyne.
Estlick fought at 63.5kg this past weekend, scoring a majority decision win over Kieron Jesspon at Yokkao 11 in Bolton. However, Maguire will be looking to bounce back against the Spartans fighter, having broke a four win streak, with a recent loss to Alex Bublea at Smash 10, Liverpool.
K-1 Buakaw Statement
A day after K-1 released their statement on Buakaw Banchamek walking out during the fight with Enriko Kehl at K-1 World MAX Finals on October 11th. Buakaw walked out of the fight at the end of round three, with no intention to return to the ring. The fight was however declared a draw and because of his inability to return, Kehl was given the win.
Today, in a press conference, Banchamek broke his silence on the matter: “I have loved and learned (Muay Thai) since I was seven. I am never been unwilling to fight. I have fought at my best. But this time, I felt that my profession’s reputation was about to be tarnished,” he said. “Someone may or may not understand what I did, but I insist that I did not abandon my duty in the ring. Whether it was victory or not depended on the judges. But I want the spectators to decide for themselves.”
He said he didn’t want to talk about the possibility his decision was related to gambling as he had already filed a complaint with police on October 7.
Surprisingly, he also stated he would honour his contract with K-1 which ends in December, 2015, and even stated he is open to a rematch with Kehl.
Confusing? Yeah that’s what we thought.
Contender Promotion Loses Main Event
President of North East based kickboxing outfit, Garry Bell has announced that Daniel Sam vs Tarik Khbabez in a Superheavyweight title fight has been pushed back to February 8 after work permit issues have kept the Vos Gym fighter from appearing on the Contender Promotions November 8 show.
The February event will also include Kennedy Freeman vs Lucy Lister, a current Contender Promotions champion.
Danyo Ilunga makes GLORY return
As we broke the news yesterday, Artem Vakhitov was forced to withdraw from the GLORY 18 Light-Heavyweight contender tournament, instead to be replaced by number one ranked Danyo Ilunga.
