You're not supposed to give a good opponent a chance to set during a Muay Thai fight, but Whanganui's Che Barlow was vowed and determined not to let Henry Burns even breath in their savage three round war on the undercard of Night of Assassins on Saturday.
Experienced referee TerryHill earned his pay in the wild 110kg scrap where technique went right out the window in favour of wild mauling, brawling and warnings for hitting downed opponents, which included Burns having a point taken away in the second round.
Rivercity's Barlow would claim a unanimous decision over CKB's Burns.
From the opening bell, both men would lock the other up and crash down into the ropes, with Burns not getting any chance to put together any combinations as Barlow swarmed him, which included aiming a punch at his back when Burns fell into the ropes.
Barlow would slip in the ropes himself during the quasi-amateur wrestling exchange in the second round and when Hill had to drag Burns off him, the official took both men to neutral corners and read them the riot act, with Burns losing a point.
Barlow found his mark in round three to finally drop Burns legitimately and get a standing eight count, but both men were not done pulling each other down into ropes before the final bell.
Burns dancing around the ring to show he wasn't hurt did not impress the local fans, as Barlow's clean knockdown plus the point removal saw him get the judges nod.
Che Barlow connects with the jab on Henry Burns in a rare exchange of clean punching in their heavyweight tussle.
Proceedings returned to more of the sweet science of kickboxing with Assassins Muay Thai's Brendon Wallace getting a majority decision victory over Hamilton's Rangi Haggie (Stormforce Gym) in their 78kg clash.
Wallace started with a picture perfect head kick and some rapid fire jabs, while countering Haggie's initial shots and working him back into the corners.
Haggie came out more urgent in the second round in a series of rapid exchanges, but was soon moving back and away to try and find an opening, which Wallace was not offering with a series of leg kicks and jabs.
Haggie managed to land a couple of very good counterpunches to start the third round, making Wallace check his forward momentum momentarily, before both men scored with more leg kicks and Wallace got through with the jab, then evaded Haggie as he tried to rally at the bell.
In the first of two title matches on the card, Palmerston North's Connor Mooney (J's Gym) pulverised the face of a brave but outgunned Eden Phillips (CKB) to leave with the IKBF New Zealand lightweight title via unanimous decision after five rounds.
Mooney put Phillips down for a standing eight count in round one, which left his nose continuously running blood, which soon stained Mooney's white gloves red as he jab kept finding the mark.
In a fight for survival as he right eye began to swell from another cut, Phillips was grimacing by the fourth round as Mooney put three vicious body kicks into his ribs in a continuous dissection.
Phillips get coming forward and trying to drag Mooney into exchanges, but he was met with uppercuts and did well to grapple with Mooney and hang on to the bell.
In addition to the main bouts, Assassin's Jamane Wiari-Winiata and expat Whanganuii fighter Emily Kara (Scorpion Gym) fought in novice bouts at the start of the card, which are automatic draws.
Results Kodi Huffman Eltham (CYFC Hydas) bt Treigh Dombroski (Spartans) by unanimous decision; Virtue Maea Oliver (MMA South) bt Ami Williams (CYFC Hydas) by unanimous decision; Corey-Lee Robinson (Assassins Muay Thai) bt Nathaniel Fagg (Feilding MT) by knockout; Tom Darce (Spartan) bt Anton McIntosh (J's Gym) by unanimous decision; Yassin Yass (Dynamite MT) bt Brent Surgre (Fortitude Thai Boxing) by TKO (ref stoppage); Che Barlow (Rivercity Martial Arts) bt Henry Burns (CKB) by unanimous decision; Brendon Wallace (Assassins Muay Thai) bt Rangi Haggie by majority decision.
IKBF NZ Lightweight title: Connor Mooney (J's Gym) bt Eden Phillips (CKB) by unanimous decision.
