Kickboxing: Whanganui's Mike Makatea-Leylander beaten in Hamilton tag-team match

It was a tough loss in his tag-team debut for Mike Makatea-Leylander, left, but gym mate Swade Wallace picked up a victory in Hamilton on Saturday.

It was a tough introduction to tag-team kickboxing for Whanganui's Mike Makatea-Leylander, as he and Palmerston North partner Mike Kapi lost by unanimous decision to Hamilton's Jesse Morrow-Wilson and Adam Tanner on Saturday night.

The 76kg main event of the Tihipuke Muay Thai's fight night, Makatea-Leylander and Kapi struggled to adjust to the fast tempo the home town team laid down with their long-reaching kicks and jabs.

Morrow-Wilson and Tanner also showed good ring awareness, circling back towards their corner if they sensed trouble so to make a quick tag, or lure the visiting fighters towards them so the fresh member could come in swiftly and take over.

Makatea-Leylander has always prided himself on imposing his will and blasting out of trouble, but that meant he often got tied up with the Hamilton fighters in their corner, where they could just reach to tag, whereas he would have to work back over to his side.

Kapi got dropped by a good head kick followed by a straight right, taking a standing eight count, but recovered and in that same second round nearly turned the momentum after he tagged back in and smashed one of the Waikato fighters so hard he fell through the ropes.

With his partner groggy, the teammate fought defensively for the rest of the round and the first half of the third, as Makatea-Leylander began winging punches to try and press the advantage.

The Waikato team recovered and got back to their game plan, as a tiring Makatea-Leylander nearly slipped over a couple of times, while Kapi became the designated fighter to start each of the remaining three rounds.

They had their moments, but the Waikato team picked up the pace again and delivered hard jabs and knee strikes, while grappling back to their corner to cut off any visitor momentum.

"Gutted on outcome, my gas tank wasn't at its best – so much going on in my life at the moment, [my] mindset's been all over the place," Makatea-Leylander said on Facebook, referencing the fact the koro of his partner had died during the week.

"No excuses, I'll come back stronger."

There was better news on the undercard as fellow Assassins gym member Swade Wallace was victorious in his second kickboxing fight.

Wallace picked up a TKO victory in the third round of his 80kg bout with Tauranga Martial Arts gym member Matu Ririnui.