To be the king, sometimes, you have to beat the king.
So when Wellington kickboxer Alexi Serepisos drew two-time defending champion Sone Vannathy in the first round of last night's King in the Ring 62kg tournament in Porirua, he had it all ahead of him.
But Serepisos (19-8) defied theodds as he edged Vannathy (53-18-1) via split decision before squeezing past Kayne Conlon (16-6) via split decision in the semifinals after a sudden-death fourth round was needed.
That pushed Serepisos in to the final against Auckland's Joey Baylon (24-13-3), who made the showpiece lightweight fight via unanimous decision victories over Nic Aratema (7-7) and Chris Wells (20-14).
The technical striking of Serepisos continued to serve him well as he fought through the pain barrier to beat Baylon via majority decision to take the crown and the $10,000 winner's purse.
The 34-year-old has signaled he is near the end of a 20-year kickboxing career and although he has a handful of bouts left, last night's event was likely his last showing in Porirua.
"Thank you very much for coming to support me," he said in the ring after his fight with Serepisos.
"I was hoping to finish it in a nice fashion but it didn't go my way; apologies."
Vannathy had nothing to apologise for though, given his contribution to the sport, which continues through the coaching he does with young people in the Wellington region.
On the undercard, Lower Hutt's Gentiane 'AAA' Lupi (15-2) edged Natalia 'The Hun' Teller (10-12-2) via split decision in a women's 64kg bout, while Wairarapa's Zane 'Hybrid' Hopman, improved to 19-3 with a unanimous decision victory over Pati 'The Arsenal' Afoa (28-15-1) in a cruiserweight match.
Nick Taylor (19-5-1) handed Sean Redgrave (5-1) his first career loss with a punishing first-round knockout, while Nato Laauli (29-9) topped Thomas Peato (13-8) in a heavyweight bout.
