Simon Marcus called “bullshit” after him and Artem Levin fought to a majority draw at GLORY 21 in San Diego. One judge gave the Canadian a 48-46 score, with the other two judging the fight as a 47-47 split.
Levin was deducted a point for continual clinching in the third round, and despite that he continued to implement that tactic throughout the remainder of the fight.
“The Lion” started the fight brighter, with his slick, Roy Jones, Jr. style of fighting, tantalisingly avoiding many of Marcus’s big shots early on.
However as the fight progressed, “Bad Bwoy” began to get more comfortable, and was able to start fighting on the inside. He landed some nice right hands, and a couple of front kicks to both the abdomen and the face of the Siberian fighter.
In all honesty, Levin struggled to get away many of his shots, and although the more accurate fighter, his strikes seemed to do less visible damage.
A rematch will more than likely be discussed for this bout, especially with such a controversial ending. Purely upon aggression and dominance Marcus looked like he won the fight, and he was rightfully enraged when the decision was announced.
The undefeated Xavier Vigney advanced to a heavyweight contender tournament later in the year, with two knockout victories in San Diego.
Vigney advanced to the finals with a lop sided, knockout victory over Maurice Jackson. The GLORY debutant seemed overwhelmed from the start, and once Vigney backed him into the corner and began unloading shots, Jackson dropped to the canvas, seemingly giving up after a couple heavy right hands from the X-Man.
In contrast, Chi Lewis-Parry beat Demoreo Dennis in the opposing semi-final. It was a tough start for “Chopper” Chi after Dennis seemingly rocked the Brit with two big right hands. However, the 31 year-old came back, and scored a huge right hand knockout to advance.
The tension was apparent in the tournament final, with no touch of gloves, both men immediately went in on the attack. Vigney saw success early on with his right hands, but Lewis-Parry managed to score some big shots of his own before the close of the first.
Both guys were visibly gassed, but the Brit more so, and prospect Vigney jumped on that, throwing huge left and right combinations, teeing off on Lewis-Parry in the corner which forced referee John McCarthy to intervene and call time on the fight.
In the GLORY 21 co-main event, as expected the spectacular Raymond Daniels delivered on the expectations, and finished Justin Baesman an extremely crisp spinning back kick in just under a minute.
Daniels started the fight on fire, already setting up his trademark back kick, and once he landed with precision; in the rib area Baesman, the referee called an end to the fight.
With such an emphatic win, GLORY can either put Daniels in a contender tournament; with Nieky Holzken likely getting the next shot at “Bazooka Joe” Valtellini, or as previously scheduled, a big match up with Brit Chad Sugden. Either way GLORY fans will more than likely get another chance to see the karate expert fight very soon.
