'White Sniper' hits homecoming mark

Chris "The White Sniper" Johnson made a winning return. Photo/Glenn Taylor

Two-time world kickboxing champion Chris "The White Sniper" Johnson made a triumphant return home on Saturday night.

Johnson, 34, who has been Sydney-based for 10 years, beat Whanganui's James Griffiths with a second round RSC to capture the national K1 85kg cruiserweight title.

It was one of three feature fights at the inaugural Combat Kings New Zealand Rise of the Legends Show which was attended by 520 fans in the Hastings Sports Centre.

"I've opted to remain in Aussie because I get more fights over there. But Flaxmere will always be home and its awesome to be back in a venue I first fought in 20 years ago," Johnson said afterwards.

"Now I've got this title I might be back home more often for fights," he added.

Griffiths attracted plenty of praise for entering the ring with an injured leg he suffered in training last week. Johnson targeted the leg regularly and it was this injury which forced the referee to stop the bout after Griffiths had been knocked down for a second time in round two.

Johnson won a World Kickboxing Federation middleweight title as an amateur and another as a professional.

An accidental head clash in the third round of a scheduled six-round New Zealand Professional Boxing Association bout between Hawke's Bay's Leighann Banham and Wellingtonian Gentiane Lupi resulted in it being declared a technical draw. Both fighters are keen to meet again later in the year.

The main fight saw Dan Digby, of Hawke's Bay's Orphans Gym, take on fellow Hawke's Bay fighter Pane Haraki for the New Zealand Mixed Martial Arts light heavyweight title. It was promoted as a classic grappler versus striker contest and grappler Digby stamped his authority early by taking Haraki to the floor and forcing him to submit before the first-round bell.

Earlier in the day, Digby had taken 11 of his Orphans fighters to a Kapiti-hosted jiu jitsu tournament and they returned home with two gold medals and three silvers. Later this year or early next year Digby, a Brazilian jiu jitsu black belt exponent, will tackle a US Grapplers Quest event.

Digby heaped kudos on fellow Tamatea rugby player Haraki for sticking to the commitment following the death of an aunty. Haraki weighed in six hours ahead of the scheduled time on Friday so he could travel to Whakaki for the tangi and returned on Saturday in time for the fight.

"I have to congratulate Dan ... he is world-class," Haraki said afterwards.

Haraki first got into the mixed martial arts scene as a kickboxer but this year has been on the Professional Boxing Association circuit in Auckland.

"This isn't the end of my career. I just need a bit of time to think about my next move. It's likely to be boxing but I don't know if I want to take too many more knocks to the head," he added.

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