The K1 fight was part of the Generation 3 Muay Thai and K1 kickboxing event run by Waihi Martial Arts.
The referee intervened twice within the first 40 seconds to give Barnard a standing eight count, then, after more exchanges, stopped the fight.
Paraire Kearns had been scheduled to fight Barnard but was ill in the build-up, so Parkes stepped up.
Parkes said he caught his opponent early with a right foot and soon “went for the kill”. He finished the fight with knees to Barnard’s body.
Parkes said he treated mixed martial arts as his summer sport. He was the fittest he had ever been, he said.
His weight had to be down to under 80 kilograms for the fight.
Accepting the fight less than a week beforehand wasn’t ideal but he had been training hard so that he would be ready for five rounds.
“Anything I do, I take it seriously. I go the hardest I can.”,KICKBOXING
SAM Parkes already had a formidable reputation for throwing himself wholeheartedly into whatever he does.
Now the Ngati Porou East Coast rugby halfback has enhanced it — with a kickboxing title he earned through a first-round technical knockout.
Parkes walked in to the ring at the Waihi Events Centre on Saturday as a late replacement in the K1 fight against Waihi local Hayden Barnard.
About 97 seconds after the opening bell, the Gisborne Rangataua o Aotearoa fighter had the World Kickboxing and Karate Association Central North Island title.
The K1 fight was part of the Generation 3 Muay Thai and K1 kickboxing event run by Waihi Martial Arts.
The referee intervened twice within the first 40 seconds to give Barnard a standing eight count, then, after more exchanges, stopped the fight.
Paraire Kearns had been scheduled to fight Barnard but was ill in the build-up, so Parkes stepped up.
Parkes said he caught his opponent early with a right foot and soon “went for the kill”. He finished the fight with knees to Barnard’s body.
Parkes said he treated mixed martial arts as his summer sport. He was the fittest he had ever been, he said.
His weight had to be down to under 80 kilograms for the fight.
Accepting the fight less than a week beforehand wasn’t ideal but he had been training hard so that he would be ready for five rounds.
“Anything I do, I take it seriously. I go the hardest I can.”
