1. Amsterdam based kickboxing promotion It’s Showtime! just landed a deal with HDNet that will allow them to air their latest events (on tape delay) to pick up the kickboxing slack that K-1 has left behind. While it isn’t official whether or not there will be a K-1 Grand Prix this year, it looks like HDNet is playing the safe card and introducing It’s Showtime! as the next big brand. With names like Giorgio Petrosyan, Daniel Ghita, Tyrone Spong and Badr Hari all on one card, it’s hard to deny them being the next big thing.
2. Watching Giorgio Petrosyan fight is always interesting. In these lighter-weight kickboxing matches, guys usually bounce on their toes and rely on head movement a lot. While Petrosyan has good head movement, he stays flat footed which SHOULD hinder his game. However, he utilizes hip movement, kick fakes, ring control and speed to pick apart his opponents.
3. Really? Giorgio Petrosyan just wrecked Chahid Oulad El Hadj chances of having a baby after he kicked him downstairs twice. The second time around hurt El Hadj so bad he collapsed and rolled out of the ring onto the entrance stage ramp. The first fight of It’s Showtime! on HD Net ended in a No-Contest due to a wicked ball-shot. I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.
4. It’s good to have some colour commentators on here that know what they’re talking about. At K-1 World Grand Prix 2010: Final 8, they had the rather annoying trio of Michael “The Voice” Schiavello (regular HD Net commentator), Mike Kogan (who always seemed to oversell every fight) and KING MO! King Mo doesn’t know a damn thing about K-1, and it was quite evident that he didn’t when he answered the question of who will win the tournament and why with “that old lumberjack dude (referring to Peter Aerts) because he’s always smiling!”. This time around they got it right; Michael “The Voice” Schiavello is still doing a good job and they paired him with former kickboxer Melvin Manhoef. Manhoef really does offer something special to the table here and I hope they keep him around for future It’s Showtime! or K-1 events.
5. Interesting Note: This European crowd is just as quiet and respectable as the Japanese crowd is with K-1. They’ll pop whenever a fighter connects with a good shot, but quiet down again afterwards.
6. Chris Ngimbi’s style reminds me a lot of Remy Bonjasky from the 1990s with the flying knees. Ngimbi is fluidly throwing these flying knees around like they’re as easy to throw as a left jab, I want him to be the new “Flying Gentlemen”. He’s currently the 70 KG MAX Champion at It’s Showtime!, and he successfully defended his belt tonight against Willy Borrel. The fight was stopped after Ngimbi drilled his left knee into Borrel’s nose, leading to Borrel’s inability to get back to his feet before the count of 10.
7. Watching Daniel Ghita end the match with repeated unchecked leg kicks reminded me of a thread I saw on a forum titled: “Would Nick Diaz do well in K-1?”. Simply put, the answer is NO. If you go back and watch Diaz’s fight with Cyborg, you can see that Diaz had no desire or simply didn’t have the reflexes to check Cyborg’s leg kicks. Diaz is an exciting and amazing MMA fighter, but he wouldn’t excel against the likes of Petrosyan or Masato.
8. Last time I saw Tyrone Spong fight, he put up a good challenge against The Reem at K-1 World Grand Prix 2010 Final 8. He looked good in that fight, but he looked even more complete tonight against Igor Mihaljevic. Spong will be celebrating his 10th year as a kickboxer in May, and it looks like he’s hitting his prime now. If K-1 returns for another year, Spong may be the big underdog to take it all.
9. Badr Hari against Gregory Tony was a destruction derby with only one really good car crash; it ended in a knockout but it left you wanting more. I have a feeling that It’s Showtime officials threw a can in the ring with Hari just so he could challenge for his It’s Showtime Heavyweight Title (which was awarded to Hesdy Gerges after their match ended in DQ when Hari kicked Gerges in the head while he was down). It hasn’t been announced, but expect Hari to get a rematch in the very near future against Gerges. Also expect that fight to not leave the first round, in favor of Hari.
10. Overall, I’ll say it was a fun show. It won’t replace K-1, but I don’t think it’s trying to. I think HD Net wants to give their fans a healthy variety of different kinds of contact sports, and It’s Showtime! happens to be one of the most elite kickboxing brands in the world. The fact that it’s free doesn’t make it any harder to watch either.
IT’S SHOWTIME! 48 Main Card Results:
- Heavyweight bout (Main Event): Gregory Tony (France) vs. Badr Hari (Marocco)
Badr Hari won with a first round TKO over Gregory Tony.
- Heavyweight bout: Igor Mihaljevic (Croatia) vs. Tyrone Spong (Suriname)
Tyrone Spong secured the first round knockout via a knee to the head of Igor Mihaljevic.
- It’s Showtime 73MAX World Title Fight: Yohan Lidon (France) vs. Marat Grigorian (Armenia)
Yohan Lidon won the title via a five round Unanimous Decision overMarat Grigorian.
- Heavyweight bout: Fikri Ameziane (Italy) vs. Daniel Ghiţă (Romania)
Daniel Ghita secured the TKO over Fikri Ameziane via leg kicks
- It’s Showtime 70MAX World Title Fight: Willy Borrel (France) vs. Chris Ngimbi (Congo)
Chris Ngimbi retained after knocking out Willy Borrel via second round flying knee
- 0MAX bout: Chahid Oulad El Hadj (Marocco) vs. Giorgio Petrosyan (Italy)
Giorgio Petrosyan had a No Contest due to Chahid Oulad El Hadji not being able to continue after a low blow.
